u/InformationOk8463

Baby started crying while MIL was holding her, but she was busy talking to other people and didn’t really pay attention. Then my husband’s nephew accidentally hit the baby, which made her cry even more. MIL still didn’t comfort her and just carried on talking.

I went over to take my baby back, but as I pulled her towards me, MIL actually pulled her back and wouldn’t let go. I was honestly shocked and upset, so I just walked away mumbling under my breath. Another family member noticed what happened, took the baby from her, and brought her to me.

My husband agrees what she did was wrong, but he thinks she probably got caught up in the moment and didn’t fully realise what she was doing. I still can’t stop thinking about it though because it really upset me.

My baby is nearly 6 months old. Before around 3.5 months he used to sleep really well — most nights he would either sleep through or only wake once for a feed. Then suddenly everything changed and it never really improved. We’re exhausted and I genuinely can’t figure out what’s going on anymore.

At the beginning of the night he usually sleeps fine in his cot for the first 3–4 hours. Then the second half of the night becomes chaos.

For a short period (maybe a week) he seemed to love sleeping on his stomach and would settle there fine. But now what happens is we put him down, he rolls onto his stomach, after 5–10 mins he pushes himself up on his arms crying, then while crying he flips himself over and keeps crying.

He can roll both ways independently. He also doesn’t really sleep well on his back either. He likes sleeping on his side but during lighter sleep he rolls onto his back or stomach and wakes himself up.

Honestly I sometimes wonder if his startle reflex is still lingering because sleeping on his back just does not seem to work for him at all. Is that normal at nearly 6 months?

He gets fed and rocked to sleep because every time we’ve tried “drowsy but awake” he just cries and gets more worked up. He contact naps for most naps during the day too because otherwise he barely sleeps.

We use a Woolino and we’ve also tried the Zipadee Zip but honestly nothing really seems to help.

If he rolls onto his stomach in the second half of the night, he just cannot seem to stay asleep long. It’s like he wants to be there but also hates it?

We’ve ended up cosleeping for the rest of the night because otherwise nobody sleeps, but I don’t really want to continue long term.

He also has eczema so now I’m wondering if discomfort/itching could be contributing too.

I just want him to sleep better but I honestly don’t know what the actual problem is anymore or where to start. Is this developmental? Overtiredness? Sleep associations? Eczema discomfort? Something else? And did it eventually get better without cry it out? I don’t feel comfortable leaving him to cry alone.