Wont sleep longer than 30 minutes....

[Belle with the bump]

Help! my boy is nearly 5 months old and he wont sleep longer than 30 minutes during the day. I have had one of those midwives come out to the house, that hasnt helped at all. I have bought a baby hammock, which doesnt make any difference. He is grumpy all day because he is sooo tired, has anyone got any suggestions?

[aussienic]

have you tried just laying down with him and cuddling?

It makes things so hard when they don't sleep

[monnie]

Oh you poor thing...that would be really tough...both on you and your little boy.

What about a swing?

I've used a swing with my little boy (he's 6.5 months) and it's just been fantastic.

[Matryoshka]

My son was like that, he only slept longer than 15 mins when he was being held by myself, whether it was in my arms or my laying next to him. You could try wearing him in a carrier (i used the hug-a-bub)?

[Neenee Jellybeanie]

You poor, poor thing. My heart goes out to you, you must be SO tired. Sleep deprivation is a form of torture for a reason, ykwim? Of course you do, you're living it. *Hugs*

What did the midwife suggest? Are you co-sleeping? I don't know where you live but perhaps you could attend a sleep clinic at Ngala? There's a fee but its negotiable. I think the times you go are from 9am - 3pm. Though to be honest, I don't think they're very gentle-parenting orientated (they told me that NOT co-sleeping was the answer to my daughters sleep problems, which was untrue).

edit: just read that you're in Perth, so yeah give Ngala a call if you haven't already and attend a sleep clinic?

[Belle with the bump]

Hey everyone, Thanks for all of your suggestions but I have tried all of them, swing, sling ( my bub is 9kgs, so too heavy these days to carry around ) Ngala ( only the 2 hour workshops) I dont really agree with the way they suggest, I dont find it comforting for the baby at all, thats just my personal opinion.
I did try and lay down with him today, he slept for 1.5 hours! He woke every 30 mins though and I had to shhhhhh him back to sleep... I will try and do this for 1 of his sleeps a day as I want him to get used to the cot as much as possible but I do admit I really look forward to our little nap together in the afternoon..
Did anyone elses baby have the same problem? and did they grow out of it in forecoming months?

[Willow]

Yes, it is a very common problem in young babies. He is waking after one sleep cycle and is unable to resettle himself.

What do you do when he wakes? Do you try to resettle him? How does he go off to sleep in the first place?

[Matryoshka]

Yes but for us it was breastfeeding, he was waking to breastfeed every 15 mins, 30 mins, 1 hour etc round the clock. It only lengthened at 6 months when i introduced solids, then he would go 2/3/4 hours. We just ended up co-sleeping out of necessity, which if you don't mind can be a wonderful experience, we are still doing it now. He can sleep in his own bed when he wants to, but at 20 months he still wakes up once/twice in the night so having him in our bed is more convenient for me.

Some babies are just frequent feeders/wakers. I found it got easier once i stopped trying to force him to go in the cot or sleep for longer - i also didn't like the advice from Ngala. It worked out best for us by myself just following his lead, luckily i stay at home with him so i have that luxury. It can be really hard to get stuff done around the house but that gets easier as they get older and want to get involved.

[bucca]

My 5 month old DD also sleeps only 1 sleep cycle during the day resulting in her only having 4 30-45 minute sleeps all day.. however unlike in your case she wakes up alert and very happy and doesnt need another sleep until a couple of hours later so she obviosly only needs this amount of sleep (in the nights she doesnt go to bed until 10pm but will sleep in until around 8:30am, even though shee feeds twice in that time).

While looking up on a few things to help her (from which i found out i needent bother) i found this link, hope it can help you, for more just Google 'sleep cycle', 'catnapping' and 'baby' or similar terms.

Solutions for catnapping and longer day sleeps - The Sleep Store, New Zealand