Every single damn night!!!!

I am nearing my wits end and am sitting here banging my head against a wall in frustration. Every single night my little 5 month old DS starts screaming and will not stop for over an hour. I try to feed him, wrap, hold him, DH holds him, try to settle in his cot. Every other sleep he settles himself in his cot with no problem at all. His night time routine doesn't change. He gets up at around 5pm after his catnap, b/f, play, bath, b/f top up, wrap and into his cot. That's when it starts. I give him a chance to settle himself but when he gets worked up I get him up and settle him.
I'm completely at a loss as what to do. Each night I dread it coming up to 8pm because I know it's about to start.
Is it possible that he is overtired because I've stretched him out a bit longer than normal or is it something else I'm missing?
Please help me out girls, what can I do? Each night is a nightmare in this house.

TIA,
Dan.

:hug: hun.
id try putting him down earlier, 3 hours seems a long time, maybe try 7.30 or 7pm and see if thats makes a difference.
at that age DD2 could wake at 6pm have a bath, boob and go back down by 7pm!

How long has this been going on for?

Is it a wonder week perhaps?

What is a wonder week??

I would say he is overtired I would try to put him down at 7pm. 3hrs is a ver ylong time for a 5month old check out the Ngala website there is a chart that shows you how long they can stay awake for approx at different ages

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What is a wonder week??

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Liviam if you google 'CYH wonder weeks' you'll get a great web page with heaps of info about them.

I was also going to suggest putting him down earlier. For my DS as the day progresses, his sleeps get closer and closer together. He will catnap around 5pm too, but he's normally wanting to go back to sleep by about 7pm at the latest.

Good luck Liviam, I remember those days, it's really hard going :(. Not that my DS ever self settled until he was two!

I might remember the crying, and the stress, but as for how to manage...........man, I'm screwed! I've forgotten sooooo much stuff. I guess it'll all come back to me over the next year!!!!! ;)

Thanks so much gorgeous ladies. I'm going to rearrange our night time routine so that I can get him to bed at 7. So fingers crossed that sorts him out. I'm off to google the websites suggested.
Thank you so much for helping a stressed out mummy!

Our Monster is 4 months old (almost) and he still can't go for longer than 1.5 hours awake without needing a nap and getting really cranky if he stays up any longer. We have found that between his last afternoon sleep and his bedtime he usually only lasts 1 hour. I think that regardless of how much they sleep during the day, with some bubs, by bedtime they are really exhausted. Our Monster usually has his last bottle for the day at 5pm and is usually in dreamland by 6pm. I know that this is really early, but it may just give you an indication of just how much sleep some babies need and how early bedtime may need to be for the tired ones! Good luck, I know how hard it can be and how you do dread those tough times of the day. Please let us know how the new routine goes. Big hugs, you are doing a great job! x

how did you go tonight hun??

First night = failure :(. It's ok it's only the first night and we started off with him tired anyway so it was to be expected unfortunately. I just don't know how I'm going to feed him at 5, cook dinner, DD having her witching time, battle with DD and dinner, bath them both, top up feed and settle him by 7 when DH doesn't get home until 6. It's just going to take aot of organisation and get dinner prepared in the arvo so all I have to do is turn it on. Sorry thinking out loud. It really does make a lot of sense that he is so hard to settle because he is so overtired. I know we'll get him there.

:hug:
its tough but it is do able! we follow a very similar routine
i get the girls dinner ready prior to 5pm, usually by 4.30 if i can and sometimes earlier whilst DD2 is still asleep, they eat at 5.30, bath at 6pm together (DH usually gets home at 6pm, he takes over the bath and i run around getting bed stuff ready, out of bath around 6.20pm, we take one girl each, then its book and boob (for dd2) then bed.

with DD's dinner what i found easiest in the beggining was the save her a portion of our tea from the nioght before and reheat it for her, saves cooking and time!

Well second night (sunday night) was another failure :( but tonight was a success!!! YAY!! I totally stuffed up cooking times for tea so we bathed the kids first and while DD ate dinner I fed DS and he was in bed at 7 and what do you know he went straight to sleep without a fight, crying or cuddles and is still sound asleep :cheer:. I wasn't happy with how the night ran but with fine tuning and giving us all time to get used to our new routine I think this might actually work. Keep everything crossed for me.
Thank you for all your help/suggestions ladies. It's so appreciated.

That is wonderful news - I am so glad you had a successful night :) As you said, some fine-tuning will be neccessary, but before you know it things will all just fall into place and you, bub and the rest of the family will be so much better off for it. So very happy for you x

:cheer: for a relatively easy night gorgeous! Our bubbas are only a couple of days apart and we're still trying to find our feet with a routine that works for us with the 2. DD has been really unsettled most nights like you described and I have no idea why either really! Might give your routine a go and see what happens. Does your precious poppet have a day sleep still?

I am so glad it worked well for you. My DH gets home a bit before 3 so I think you are amazing doing the night time routine with ur dh getting home at 6. Maybe you could try a fe wthings with dinner-

i.e slow cooker meals, cooking up double batches of things and freezing so you don't always have to cook. Lots of vegies you can cut up and store in a container in the fridge and then that makes it a bit easier at night?

So glad it is falling into place for you, I hope it all gets easier and works well for you

What a fantastic idea Jas of cutting up a heap of vegies and storing them in the fridge - I love it!! That way I only have to grab them out and throw them in the steamer. I would love to use a slow cooker but DH doesn't eat casserole, stews or soups which is a major pain. I'm getting a slow cooker for christmas (hopefully) and he's promised to try a few things to make it easier for me. Fingers crossed I can find some he likes. I honestly never thought of preparing a few nights of vegies ahead of time. How long do you think I can store them for in water in the fridge?
Oshani I'm so lucky as DD still has a sleep after lunch. She has 1 1/2 hours still but I don't let her sleep any longer than that or night times are a nightmare. I've been using her sleep time to catch up on some sleep but now that I'm starting to get DS more settled I'm going to try and use that time to get dinner organised and go to bed earlier. I'm definitely learning that you have to be so much more organised with 2 than I did with one.

Glad things seem to be improving for you! I just wanted to pop in and let you know that you're not alone. We always find that putting him down for the night is the hardest one, sometimes it goes without a hitch and other times it's awful. In our case there seems to be no ryhme or reason to it, I think sometimes he just doesn't want to go to sleep for the night because there is too much fun to be had when dadda gets home... Hope tonight goes well for you x