My DS was never a good sleeper but I do remember that his sleep deteriorated at about 5 months. I hear that it's quite common - between all the crawling, starting food and other developmental leaps, it must be hard for their little brains to wind down at night.
I also had 2 consults at sleep school, the NCSS book (and about 10 others) and very quickly found that it was a lot easier to just go with it - some things work and sometimes nothing works. Just in the last week DS's night sleep has improved and he's 1 now. (Hopefully it's not a fluke )
Also you might want to try staying in DS's bedroom if he wakes at night, even for feeds. I always kept the lights low, no playing etc at night so DS knew it was sleep time. It sounds like you're probably doing all that anyway, but just a thought.
Good luck Salsa - our bubs will grow out of all of these difficult stages. We just have to hang in there - it's so hard when you're tired and just want sleep!!!
Hi Salsa, you poor thing, it sounds exhausting for you!
Just a thought...what is his bedtime routine? Does he get to the droopy-eye stage in the bedtime routine, or is he pretty much wide awake when you put him to bed at night?
I found that DD was falling asleep during the last feed of the evening after her bath, and that lead to more night wakenings, because I was essentially feeding her to sleep. Now I feed her and then give her a bath, so she is wide awake at bedtime. She self settles really well, so she is then asleep without a peep at 7pm.
When he wakes after 40mins, could you send DH in to do some rocking or patting or cuddling? I find if I go in DD just wants a feed, but accepts a cuddle from dad more readily.
Also, I introduced a comforter toy, and that has been great to help DD resettle. I put it in her hand as I do up her sleeping bag, and then she sucks on it to go to sleep. When she stirs, she then just sucks on it to resettle.
Hmmm...that's about all I can suggest. I hope you get some sleep soon. GL with it...
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