5 month old will not sleep

I'm getting desperate. Last night my son woke seven times between 8.30 and 6 am. He used to have maybe 2-3 wakings BF up until a month ago. I keep just thinking, oh, maybe teething but really - a whole month of no more than 90 mins of sleep at a time all night? Panadol doesn't help. Settling in his cot doesn't work. Shush and pat doesn't help. He only calms down when I pick him up. Reflux maybe??

He's started solids and loves them and seems to have a big appetite so I'm making sure he gets plenty of milk before and after solids so not to affect the milk feeds.

Sometimes the dummy works, BF will always work, although he's not actually hungry for milk except for one or two of the wakes. It gets worse as the night goes on. Falls aleep no problem between 6-7pm, used to sleep till at least midnight but now sometimes doesn't even do that, then after midnight it's usually something like 2,3,4,4.30, 5, 5.30 and we get up at about 6am. About three I'm almost in tears and just throw him into bed with me to get access to boob or dummy but I don't co-sleep well.

At what stage do I go right, I have to try some non gentle stuff like letting him cry, or even consider a "sleep school"?? Has anyone else had this sudden change in sleep that then fixed itself?

Big hugs :hug:, it's so tiring isn't it? It is actually really common for your bub's sleep to go downhill at 4 months of age. If you Google "4 month sleep regression" you will see you are not alone!

All my babies have gone through this at the same age, they did eventually go back to sleeping well again.

I know I'm not much help, but I just wanted to let you know that it is a common age for sleep to regress and it does eventually pass :hug:.

Some of the more intense stuff like controlled crying isn't recommended until 6 months. They will go through phases anyway when start waking, persistence will usually get you through. I'd suggest limiting as much as possible the things that they become attached to in order to get back to sleep that will make it harder to break the habit of waking and needing re-settling, such as bf and a visit to your bed. If he puts himself to sleep during the day and firstly at night, then it sounds like just a phase and will probably grow out of it.