Baby can't sleep, waving arms keep him awake

starjumper

Okay so that's a long title which is my problem in a nutshell, but ....

My 5 month old baby naps like a dream during the day, will sleep anywhere and will go off without too many problems, but at night he's a nightmare.

He has a bedtime routine which includes bath, stories, milk, cuddles etc. We put him down and he's so tired, rubbing his eyes and yawning all the time, but he really fights sleep, I mean physically fights it, OH has to hold his arms down to get him to go off most of the time, during the day it's not a problem, we think it's pretty odd.

So apart from swaddling (which we did from birth and then realised he really hated it so dropped when he was about 2 months, plus he's a big lad now so we'd probably need a huge sheet to swaddle him in) has anyone any ideas about why he does this or what to do.

He is teething but the thrashing about pre-dates this I think. I just feel sorry for him because he's so tired but won't drop off. Up until about 3 weeks ago he;d fall asleep fine before 8pm and sleep right through for 11 or 12 hours.

Any help gratefully received!

rachbc

Is he overtired? Have you tried putting him down earlier?

Also, your gonna hate me saying this as you have clearly worked on getting your routine going but I found with mine that sometimes if something was going 'wrong' it was almost as if the routine reinforced the negative thing - so instead of becoming lovely peaceful sleepy associations the bath, story etc become 'thrashing about' associations. I know it goes against everything but I found that sometimes I had to shake up the routine if it had got out of kilter and almost start again creating new associations. He clearly has good sleep assocaition for his day time nap - could you use some of these at bedtime?

starjumper

He probably is a bit overtired by the time he finally goes, tonight he had a nap and woke up at 6pm, bit of play with Daddy and then a bath, 7pm feed and then bed, at 8.45 after a bit of a fight he nodded off.

During the day I just look for his sleep cues and then bob him down with a dummy, easy peasy. have tried that at night but he starts fighting it.

Will have another look at his bedtime routine, OH is generally in charge of bedtime (nice for me) but I think sometimes he overdoes the bath and play time to the point where baby gets very grumpy.

It's just odd how he fights it, pick him up and he's all smiles, put him down again and he's thrashing about. Poor lad.

pigpen

Would he like something to hold.. such as a muslin square?
If he has a sleeping bag could you try a jumper under it to keep his arms warm?
Could the bedtime routine be started half an hour earlier? I am mean I am forcing mine to go to bed half an hour later.. she sleeps 12-13 hours but wants to go to bed at 6:30/7pm and wants to get up way too early.. so I am trying to get her to go down about 7:30/8pm.. that hour in a morning will make a massive difference to me and getting the girls ready for school.

starjumper

We've given him a little doggy soother blanket thing which does help a bit I think. Will try the jumper idea, he's a hot little bunny so we dont wrap him up much but he could be a bit cool, he usually sleeps in a sleeping bag unless it's warm. Will also get OH do do bedtime earlier, he starts it about 6pm and the routine lasts about an hour. I'm hoping it's jusy a phase and he'll chill out soon, once he's asleep a brass band could strike up and he'd sleep though it.

pigpen

Mine get warm too but she won't settle without her sleeping bag.. I think she likes the closeness.. without she flails and wriggles and rolls onto her front then screams because she is uncomfy She likes her cardy on as well.. so she has a bodysuit, sleepsuit and cardy and her sleeping bag.. then she has her favourite blanket and her cow.. lol.. Cot full of tut!

McKneff

Sounds as if she maybe a bit cold, also please get your OH to stop holding her arms down,
I certainly couldnt go to sleep if someone was holding mine down.

Probably just a phase, just go with the flow.

Savvy_Sue

McKneff wrote: »

Sounds as if she maybe a bit cold, also please get your OH to stop holding her arms down,
I certainly couldnt go to sleep if someone was holding mine down.

Probably just a phase, just go with the flow.

DS1 went through a phase with his daytime naps of pulling himself up to standing, howling the place down, falling over because he'd fallen asleep standing up, and waking himself up in the fall.

So yes, I sometimes resorted to gently holding him down to stop him standing up. He was sooooo tired but couldn't stop fighting it.

If swaddling doesn't work, I don't know what to suggest, apart from changing routine to see if that helps.

liney

starjumper wrote: »

He probably is a bit overtired by the time he finally goes, tonight he had a nap and woke up at 6pm, bit of play with Daddy and then a bath, 7pm feed and then bed, at 8.45 after a bit of a fight he nodded off.

During the day I just look for his sleep cues and then bob him down with a dummy, easy peasy. have tried that at night but he starts fighting it.

Will have another look at his bedtime routine, OH is generally in charge of bedtime (nice for me) but I think sometimes he overdoes the bath and play time to the point where baby gets very grumpy.

It's just odd how he fights it, pick him up and he's all smiles, put him down again and he's thrashing about. Poor lad.

Waking from a nap at 6pm is probably the problem. I think he is sleeping too late in the afternoon.

At around 6 months my son would have a morning nap from 10am - 11am ish, and then a nap after lunch from 1pm - 3pm. Bed at 7pm and up at 7am.

If he slept past 3pm because we were in the car or simililar he didn't want to go down at bedtime.

I used to swaddle DS in a cot bed sheet, nothing special.

JC9297

Are you putting him in his cot for a sleep during the day or just at night? Perhaps having a routine for daytime naps as well would help.Put him in his cot at the same time everyday, not when he looks as if he is falling asleep, and hopefully he will learn that being put to bed means time to sleep. Obviously sometimes you will not be home at 'naptime' but if you can establish an afternoon nap routine first that will not be a problem. He needs to know that he will be put in his cot and left to fall asleep when he is ready.

snookey

Hi try putting a mirror, child proof of course ,into his cot. He will amuse himself until dropping off. Also great if you have an early waker.