7 month old waking every hour

[Mumtoislatui]

Hi all,

I'm news to Mumsnet and have never posted on a forum before but I'm at a bit of a loss of where to turn and hope for some advice from all of you out there!

I'm a first time mum to little Isla at 7 months old. She is a total darling and I am loving being a mum, but woah am I sleep deprived!!!!

She has 3 naps a day and goes to sleep at 7pm. Recently, she wakes up approx 4 times before I go to sleep at around 10pm. Then she continues to wake up throughout the night, say 6-8 times.

I breastfeed her, and cosleep and she is definitely using feeding, her dummy, and rocking as crutches to get to sleep.

I'm not a fan of the Cry it out technique for sleep training, and I wonder what the alternative is?

I want to encourage self soothing, but apart from CIO I feel I have tried everything else; regular naps, bedtime routine, using a comforter.

Any tips!?

Thank you!!!!

[arbrighton]

The alternative is keep doing what you're doing and it gets better but bear in mind it might get worse first during the 8-10 mo sleep regression. That's all we've done. He's gradually getting more able to link sleep cycles himself. And I do not see anything as a 'crutch' to get to sleep, they need help, just as we do sometimes but can do ourselves

Is she maybe ready to drop a nap?

[MagicFajita]

Check her gums , she might be teething.

We had this for a week or so then two teeth popped out.

[Mumtoislatui]

Thank you both for your reply, it means a lot when you're feeling kinda desperate and helpless!

It's interesting to hear there's no other 'technique' - I'd thought as much.

I've always been of the opinion that little babies need the comfort of their carers in such formative years, and that CIO techniques are about making babies fit into our lifestyle rather than us accommodating their needs.

It's really hard to remember that you just need to grin and bare the hard times (because they're just babies, and babies are hard work!) when so many people use the CIO technique. Everyone's telling us to do it, and in my sleep deprived state I don't have the strength to give a good enough argument back to why we don't want to use it.

I do think she's teething yes, her gums are so bumpy and she's constantly putting her hands in her mouth, but this has been going on for on and off, some months, and still no teeth.

I suppose what I'm trying to figure out, is if we as parents are doing something wrong to encourage this progressively more frequent night waking, or if it's just teething or a developmental stage????

Thanks all!!! Good to have a sounding board!

Katie

[PlanetMJ]

Have you read the no Cry sleep solution by Elizabeth Pantley? There is the "pantley pull off" technique where you gently break the feed to sleep association. It is slow but has started to work for us. We are down from co sleeping with 10+ wakes pet night at around 9months, to 4-5 wakes with DS in his own room at 11 months.

It's slow and hard going but it's progress for us.

[Mumtoislatui]

Thanks planetmj, I shall definitely look into it. What does the technique involve? I'm glad your LO is sleeping a bit better now!

[PlanetMJ]

The book is obviously loads more detailed but basically, When your baby has finished actively sucking and swallowing, just doing the fluttery comfort sucking, you use your little finger to break the latch. You then hold their mouth closed by putting your finger on their chin. If they protest, just let them suck and try again. Do this gradually earlier and they start protesting less until you can unlatch and start rocking them to sleep .

You then separate feeding and just rock to sleep which you then gradually reduce.

I've explained really badly, sorry! Half asleep.

[arbrighton]

I'd recommend 'the gentle sleep book' by Sarah-Ockwell Smith