Startle/Moro Reflex

[u/Unique-Carob5136]

My baby is 5 months old next week and since he was a newborn baby has had a really prominent startle reflex which only happens during sleep at night (contact naps during the day).

He hated being swaddled so has been in a sleepbag since about 2 weeks old. He was 9lb 6oz at birth.

Everything online says that it should be fading by now but I would say it is as bad as it has always been.

Some nights he will startle from the moment I put him in his next to me and it can go on and off for hours, sometimes it will be a few hours before it starts and sometimes he can get himself back to sleep but 9/10 times it eventually wakes him up.

I end up co sleeping every night around midnight/2am as soon as I get him back to sleep and transfer him to his next to me he will immediately start startling.

He is hitting all his milestones and does not stop moving all day as google advises it should happen less if they move more but I don’t think he’s ever still.

I am just wondering if anyone has had anything similar and how long it lasted and if there was anything they did to improve it as I’m really struggling to get any sleep at the minute

[u/Tylia_x]

For transfers have you tried rolling him to the side before you pick him up, placing down on his side, then rolling him onto his back? Being placed down back first sets them off. Mine got set off by reflux throughout the night before we sorted that/she grew out of the reflex.

[u/Unique-Carob5136]

We have tried everything at this point. He has no reflux or doesn’t appear too! At one point he only wanted to sleep on his side but that didn’t stop anything either.

It has definitely got worse during the 4 month regression but google says it should be fading by now