How do I get my 5 month old breastfed baby to sleep?

Question

My 5 month old does not like to sleep! He does not like to take naps during the day, the only way to get him to sleep is to put him in his swing and play music until he falls asleep. I've been trying to get him out of this habit and so far it's not working. Also at night he refuses to sleep, I keep him up until 8pm, nurse him and put him in his crib, but he wakes up right away and starts to cry, if he does stay asleep it's only for 20 minutes at the most. I let him cry for a little bit, but he will work himself up so much that he chokes himself and can't breathe. He'll do this sometimes until midnight and when he finally goes to sleep it's only for an hour, and he then gets up every hour after that. Please help I am getting no sleep and have started to fall asleep sitting up while feeding him at night! Can't do this much longer.

I appreciate everyone's comments, I thought that maybe I should add a bit more information, he was also almost 10lbs when he was born, is now 23lbs, he still does not yet have the hang of eating rice cereal, he absolutly refuses to take a bottle with formula or breastmilk, he also refuses a pacifier. I have thought about the co-sleeping arrangement, but my boyfriend is such a sound sleeper that I know he would roll over onto him in the night, but I will check out the thing that attaches to my bed and see if that will work. Also we did just move into a new house 2 months ago, but he was used to taking naps here anyways because this is my mothers house and he has always had his room here whenever we would visit. Thanks everyone!

Answer 1

VERY HELPFUL LINKS AND ARTICLES REGARDING SLEEP for baby of all ages

http://www.babycenter.com/baby/babysleep/index/?s_evar2=baby%20sleep&s_prop2=baby%20sleep

Answer 2

Could be a variety of things at this point. Some mothers cannot produce what is necessary to fill the hunger of the child at this age. Personally, I had seen doctors over this very thing and was told to not set a schedule for feedings as this can cause eating disorders early. If your child is hungry, feed him. I had slept with my little one close by in case he were to get up in the middle of the night needing a feeding. At 5 months, my son was eating as often as he'd like and averaged about 6-8 small meals a day. Breastmilk is not as hard on the digestive system as formula is. Formula is rich in nutrients not necessarily good at this age and I was told to not introduce it unless there was no other way. And since I was able to give the appropriate diet myself, there was no reason to turn to that source. You can perhaps use a breast pump and contain feedings that way if you haven't already. You do not have to take your child off of breastmilk until he is a year old. At which point, he will be ready for whole milk. If you are weaning for comfort reasons or work-related issues, I would suggest a formula + the cereal as someone else suggested.

Answer 3

I know the feeling. My 20 month old still cries himself to sleep every night. He used to have a pacifier, and when he was a little baby, I would do the same thing every night for consitency. I'd feed him his solid food for dinner, then I"d give him a bath, then after a while, I"d give him a bottle (or bf) then I'd brush his 1 tooth, put him in the crib and give him his binky. He'd cry for about 5 minutes and it hurt so bad, but after a week or so, he started to fall asleep on his own without crying. Then when he was 1 year old, I took the binky away, and I have the sleep problem still to this day. Why don't you try to give him a binky, if he don't have one already, or read to him, I think it's up to you if you feel that he is mature enough to soothe himself to sleep.

Answer 4

Wow, sorry to hear.

I also have a (almost) 5 month old. I'm lucky and she sleeps from 8:30 to 8:30. She also naps well in the daytime. When you nurse him at night make sure that he is awake when you put him to bed. He may wake up crying because when he wakes up he, doesn't really know where he is. It may confuse him. It'll take time to change his habits but if you keep at it, it will work. The same goes for the daytime.

Answer 5

Sounds like he isn't getting enough to fill him up so he can relax and go to sleep. You should try pumping some milk and adding rice cereal to it and feed him that before putting him down for the night.
I know that my 5 month old who is 17 pounds right now is an eating machine. I give him 6 ounces of milk with 3 tablespoons of cereal and he falls asleep by the time he reaches the bottom of the bottle.
What your baby is doing sounds like what both my kids did when I was breastfeeding and I didn't have enough milk. You might try pumping one night to see how your production is doing. Might need to boost production if you have a lazy eater.
FenuGreek pills help. It's an herb and can be found at places like The Whole Food Market.
Best of luck.

Answer 6

I used to rock and breast feed my children to sleep. Once they were asleep I would lie them on their back in the crib. If your baby is a bigger baby you may want to ask your pediatrician about giving him some rice cereal mixed with breast milk. My son was just about 10 lbs when he was born, at a little over 5 months he wanted more than just breast milk. Put him to bed at 9:00 he slept 4 hrs at a time. Up at 6am. Napped 2x a day until 2yrs.

My daughter didn't want breast milk at 3 months, refused to eat, wouldn't nap either. Kept her up all day rocked her to sleep with a cup at about 8:30pm. She slept every night until 7 am. so each child is different. Good Luck....by the way you do realize you posted this on the Dog site ....right

Answer 7

He is refusing the bottle and pacifier because they FEEL different. Keep offering them to him, he will get the hang of them. If you are trying to wean him then stop offering the breast and only offer the bottle. Beleive me when he is hungry enough he WILL take the bottle, I've never seen a baby not when truly hungy. If he still refuses the pacifier, try giving him his thumb. Some babies do better with their thumbs.

Answer 8

You're going to have to learn your baby is okay, he is fed, he is loved, he is changed, and nothing is hurting him. He will have to cry himself to sleep and after 4 nights or so he will learn and be trained bascially to sleep all night. I've seen professionals do it and it's TORTURE for the parents but 4 nights is better than 4 years of no sleep! Get them started young or it could get very hard!

My daughter woke me up 5 times per night until age 6 months. It was SOOO frusterating! I was so exhausted and all she wanted to do was sleep with me. So I said "enough". And I let her cry and I still didn't get much sleep but after a few nights she stopped b/c she knew I wasn't coming to her rescue. She started letting me sleep all night...the advice from professionals worked!

Answer 9

Keep the baby on your side of the bed, not between you and your boyfriend. Get a bedrail or put your side of the bed up against the wall. You can also take one siderail off the crib and wedge it between your bed and the wall and use it like a cosleeper.

Answer 10

Have you tried co-sleeping?
this may sound like a hippy answer,but both of our kids are breastfed and we co-sleep.My wife sleeps without a tshirt on with the baby next to her ,and the baby just nurses when she wants to ,we originally tried the quote unquote normal method ( baby in a crib) and had no success or sleep,then we started to co-sleep ,and its been great ,it may take a couple of weeks to adjust,but definately worth it ....I hope this helps

Answer 11

Sleep with him. Humans have been doing that since the dawn of time. Its what your baby is biologically programmed to expect, as it is the only way our ancestors could kep their babies safe. Can you imagine a cave baby asleep away from his mama? Mmmm food for the wolves!-)

He will outgrow the need to be slept with in a couple of years, until then MEET HIS NEEDS!!