Is this normal? 5 months old, constantly needs attention, noisy all night but asleep?

[Jody R]

I tried to get as much in the title as possible because I really don't know what's going on and hope someone might be able to advise me.

Joseph is almost 23 weeks now and although I wanted to wait until 26 weeks we have just put him onto baby rice and baby cereal because he just wasn't satisfied with his milk anymore. We fed him these for the first time on Sunday and we decided it was time because he was crying at the end of a bottle and had started to behave differently.

Since last Friday he has been very clingy, he cries when we leave the room, cries if we just put him down on his playmat, doesn't want to entertain himself at all when before he was happy to be playing alone for awhile. He makes moaning noises almost constantly when he is put down or sitting in his chair. All he wants is attention, to be held and talked to and entertained.

But it's worse at night, he will go to sleep well in his cot but after an hour or so he starts talking and moaning in his sleep and this quickly turns to crying. He's still asleep for most of it and barely awake for some of it but once he starts it's happened every hour. He also has started to roll onto his side or his tummy while he sleeps.

A drink of water while he is still in his cot usually soothes him back to quiet sleep but I am worn out from his needing attention all the time and then waking up so often in the night.

I can't get anything done because I can't leave him without him screaming and when he does sleep I have started sleeping too, just to try to keep up. The house is a mess, I need a bath and I am getting stressed.

Is this a normal thing and how long does this last?

I forget to say, he will nap in the day for about twenty minutes at a time, maybe two or three times a day. And at night the drink of water only settles him to quiet sleep for an hour at best before the noises and crying start again.

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Is he teething?

Is he still drinking his formula or using a dummy? I've heard that when you start weaning you have to be careful not to suddenly cut back on their time spent sucking as it can unsettle them.

Starting solids can also unsettle them for a while, while their system gets used to digesting them.

Will he sit in a bouncy chair or bumbo on the kitchen worktop while you do chores? Or in a highchair? Ruby won't play on her own really, but loves watching me cook and wash up. She's happy to just watch what I'm doing if she's nearer my level iykwim. Thank god cos otherwise our house would be even worse than it is.

If your OH gets home at a reasonable time you could have a bath with your LO. (I think this is tricky to do without someone else present.)

 

[Jody R]

He's been dribbling a bit and chewing on his fists but he doesn't have the rosy cheeks or other signs of teething.

He's never used a dummy but he is having the same amount of bottles, four a day. But the night noises and fussiness started before we gave him baby rice, they were part of the signs we decided meant he was ready to start weaning.

I was hoping they would stop when he was getting a bit of food inside him as well as his milk.

I will try having him in the rooms with me while I do the housework, that's a great tip thank you. Hopefully when he realises that he can still see me and is sitting up he will realise he doesn't have to be in my arms all the time.

But the bath will have to wait, my DH is in the Navy and works away from home a lot, he's not back until next weekend now. I might get one of those upright bath seats to help though. Thank you.