Hi.

my gorgeous boy is 4.5 months old. It took me ages to work out his sleep cues and then his general sleep routine. He's never been one to sleep quite as much as he apparently 'should' - tends to have only 45 mins at a time during the day, but that's ok. He used to be quite good at going to sleep - could put him down and he might grizzle a bit, then just turn his head to the side and go to sleep. Then it started getting a bit harder and I started to rock him until he was either asleep or right on the edge and then put him down, and that was working fine.

A few weeks ago he gave some beautiful big night-time sleeps - ten hours!!! - but now he's back to waking every 3-4 hours for a feed. He self- settles quite well during the night, although if he wakes up after 4am often won't go back to sleep...

Anyhow, the big problem now is getting him to sleep during the day, and down for the evening. As soon as I put him in his cot he starts yelling. I pick him up and rock him until he quiets, but as soon as he feels my weight shift to put him down he's yelling and screaming again. He's also started waking about 5 minutes into a sleep looking absolutely terrified and screaming.

I rang the MCHN help line yesterday and was advised to 'let him cry'. I can't do that. I'm ok with letting him grizzle to himself, but not when he's distressed and upset. So what can I do? I know that he *can* put himself to sleep and do it calmly, cos he's done it before. I can't keep going this way tho - sometimes just to ensure he actually gets some sleep during the day I end up with him on my lap. And he's getting bigger quickly - I'm not going to be able to keep up the rocking for much longer

Sorry, this is a bit garbled - I'm tired and it's all a bit stressful.

I hope somebody has some suggestions!

Cheers,
Catherine

oh, and I'm 99% sure he's not sick - when he's awake, he's happy - gurgling and laughing. Not rubbing his ears, drooling a lot but can't see any other signs of teeth.

90% formula fed with BF 'top up' / comfort (long story, suffice to say not what I would have chosen, but that's the hand we were dealt)