Not sleeping well, @ 5 months won't sleep through the night

[elykyle15]

I have a 5 month old and he doesnt sleep through the night. I understand that almost all parents have to deal with this matter but we cant seem to find out why he wakes up. Besides dirty diapers and hunger he wakes up for no immediate reason and is constantly rubbing his eyes. And if he lays on his stomach he'll begin to rub his face in the mattress. He's had several ear infections and they've gone away but he has this problem and everytime we mention it to our doctor he always says it's an ear infection although he doesn't have a temperature. He does get really sweaty when he starts crying really heavy. I'm just wondering if anyone has had a similar problem and what they did do resolve it. I think it's allergies but im not sure.

[PrairieMom]

As for not sleeping through , It is completely normal for a 5 month old to not sleep through the night. my last 2 didn't sleep through until much later. Like, 11months. They wake normally, just like you wake up, to roll over, change positions, stuff like that, but they haven't learned to sooth them selves back to sleep yet. Its totally a learned behavior. One thing that can help is swaddling. When they are little they don't have control over their limbs and it can scare them when they move their arms and legs. Keeping them tucked in can help with that.
At this stage is when parents start to get desperate and thing about things like adding rice cereal to bottles. DON"T DO THAT. It can actually make the situation worse by giving immature digestive systems food they aren't ready to handle, and gives baby a tummy ache. Not to mention can increase risk of allergies later.

I don't know anything about ear infections. Sorry. Mine never had issues with that.