7 month old waking persistently through the night - pls help!

[ejlk]

My 7 month old would never have won any prizes for being a good sleeper, but in the last few weeks he has been off the scale. He goes to bed at 7:30 - 8 beautifully but then will wake at some point after midnight and then persistently every hour until the morning. I'm at the end of my tether. He doesn't sleep much during the day - 2 naps of 45 mins, is on 3 good meals a day, and 3 good milk feeds. I've tried feeding him an extra bottle during the bottle in case he's hungry but it makes no difference, he's the correct temperature and doesn't have a soiled nappy. His 1st 2 teeth came through a fortnight ago - maybe he's still teething? It seems it's just about comfort because as soon as he's in my arms he's all smiles - faker! Any ideas anyone? I'm losing the plot! Thnx in advance.

[PhDiva]

Sounds like last night, except add 'waking every hour before as well as after midnight'.

Do you co-sleep? It was behaviour like this that drove us to co-sleep. 10 month-old Ds's habits haven't changed that much, but I do get more sleep, as I barely wake up to feed him. If you bottle-feed him, could you work out a way to do that and co-sleep?

[talktothebees]

I'd take him into bed with me but appreciate not everyone feels comortable with that. Is he learning something new at the moment like crawling maybe? I've heard anecdotally that when babies are starting to crawl they can have a few days or weeks of restless nights almost like they want to be up and practising their new skill.

[geordiemacminx]

You should visit the April post natal thread - we are all going through exactly the same thing - it mst be a "7 month growth spurt" that no=-one told us about

[Maveta]

Hi, There are a load of us on the April 2007 postnatal thread going through the same thing at the moment and we have tons of theories flying around to why it could be. My ds is also 7mths and has always woken at least once or twice in the night but for the last while it´s been atrocious.

Co sleeping does not really work for us as I can´t relax for fear of him suffocating or one of us rolling on him Mine also has his first two tooth, might be teething, shouldn´t really be hungry, isn´t wet or dirty.. I don´t know!!! Sorry I can´t help but maybe knowing you aren´t alone is some small comfort?

If you figure out what it is, please let me know!!

[Maveta]

lol, hi GMM!

[hmummy]

Hi - it's good to know that you are not alone! Everyone elses baby I know of sleeps from 7 - 7 !! (lying!?) I'm afraid my dd started this at 5 months and is still going strong at 8 months!! By the way, we co-sleep (see other thread!)

[love2sleep]

hmummy - can I be a teeny bit offended about the implication that mums with 7-7 sleepers are lying. ds1 was like this. He slept 7-7 from 9 weeks and only ever woke if he was very poorly. Some babies just do this. I have frequently been accused (usually behind my back) of making this up which used to really bug me. Why would I lie about this? If anything I played down his fab sleeping habits because I didn't want to make sleep deprived mums feel even worse.

Now I'm in the same boat as all of you - ds2 is 7.5 months and wakes intermittently all night for no reason that I can fathom.

Hopefull they will all grow out of it soon and we will all get some sleep.

[ejlk]

Thank you so much for all your replies, we don't co-sleep as a rule but he inevitably ends up in our bed because I lose my resolve and it's the only way to stop his crying. This does allow me to b/f - I'd tried a bottle during the night because somehow I thought this would be more 'detached' and encourage him to become less dependent on me during the night. I just worry that taking him to bed with me just rewards his waking up. Off to the April thread now, I'll keep you posted, thanks again x

[PhDiva]

AAhh! Why do you want your baby to be 'detached'? or less dependent on you? You are, at the moment, his entire world, and this is normal. Co-sleeping is actually more normal and natural than putting a baby to sleep by itself in a cot. They know that.

[love2sleep]

How guilty do I feel. After lots of whinging about ds2 not sleeping properly I've just found out he has a really nasty ear infection. Bad Mum

[PhDiva]

How did you find that out, love2sleep? I have been wondering about DS's ears as he has recently had a nasty cold and is very restless at night.

[love2sleep]

Phdiva (love the name btw) - we only found out when his eardrum burst and filled his ear with nasty gunge. There weren't any obvious symptoms before this, just restless nights and manic dummy sicking. He's now back to his sunny self and is on antibiotics.

If you're worried I'd ask his GP to have a look - I think they can see if pressure is building up in the middle ear making the eardrum bulge. I wish we'd thought of this earlier.

Good luck.

[PhDiva]

Hmmm.... think I'll take him round to the doctor's tomorrow. Better safe than sorry. Burst eardrum sounds nasty.