Help - My Son's Sleep Is Driving Me Nuts

I know all too well how miserable & frustrating sleep deprivation from a sleepless baby can be!

From my experience, traveling or getting out of routine for a while really can majorly throw off a baby's sleep pattern. That was my first guess as to the cause of his sleep changes.

Secondly, I've read that around 4-5 mos it's common for good sleepers to start fighting sleep. Just stick with a routine & let them cry themselves to sleep when it's bed time & in the middle of the night when they wake b/f it's time to get up.

That's my advice. It's awful hard to do, but it is the ONLY way we helped get our son back on track. Now we'll be dealing with this again soon with our daughter.

I've read all the popular sleep books out there & tried all of the alternatives to crying it out. After the most long & exhausting weeks of trying a lot of those methods out, which involved hours of crying on our son's part(& mine) even though they're supposed to be no-cry solutions, we let him cry himself to sleep & saw such quick results (3 days). We did this when he was 10 mos old, though it all started when he was about 4 mos old. "They" say you can let a baby cry when he's 4-6 mos old. I was just too scared to do it earlier.

I do hope this helps & that you can regain some normalcy & good sleep soon!

From the date of onset I'm guessing that you are suffering from the drawbacks of Daylight Savings Time. It impact all kids and in some greatly disrupts their sleep patterns. The good news is - it's temporary. The bad news - it can take up to a month for children to get used to the change. Several child development experts suggest moving bedtime to the new time slowly, 10 - 15 minute increments/night. Also, stick to normal nap schedules and don't allow the child to nap longer because they were up at night.

I hope this helps.

I completely feel your pain, we had similar sleep problems. I do not have an answer being as we tried everything, but I think just keep a routine. Keep lights down low, if he wakes do not talk to him, just change him and feel him if he needs it. At nap times set a routine and even if he does not nap, you are creating an environment that promotes sleep. You cannot make them sleep, only set up an ideal atmosphere to create a sleepy baby.

another idea, sometimes other people can do it for you. A couple nights of Grandma or Daddy always helped with my daugther, then she wasn't getting what she wanted and she started sleeping. good luck and know it will pass!

At 5 months do you think he might also be working on trying to sit up by himself? It seems that whenever a child is trying to master a new skill, they are so driven to do it that it can interrupt their sleep. I also had similar experience as the other mom who responded and did have quick results after just one or two nights of prolonged crying around 6 months old. It sounds like if you did have a week that was out of the routine, it will probably take about a week to get back to normal. Kids thrive on routine of course, so just keep at it as far as the bedtime routine in whatever way works for your family. As with all things in parenting: "this too shall pass:)" Best of luck!