Baby waking in the night

[Natnat96]

Looking for some advice;
My baby is 7 months old and has always been a good sleeper, up until about 2 weeks ago he would only wake in the night for 1 bottle. Now he wakes up about 6/8 times in the night just for a cuddle. Once I pick him up and cuddle him hes straight back to sleep but as soon as I try and put him back into his cot hes awake again.

I dont want to keep picking him up and cuddling him everytime he wakes up because it will only continue but if I leave him to ride it out hes fully awake...

Any ideas on how to get out of this habit??

[LouiseTrees]

It might be a regression. I would let him get fully awake. Then go out of the bedroom and offer a bottle, do another settle routine. It’s also highly likely you are rushing to put him back down when he’s not actually fully asleep. Do you check to see he has flat relaxed hands and hasn’t moved for 5 mins before you put him back in?

[Natnat96]

Thank you ive looked into sleep regression and I think it is that, ive tried leaving him to self sooth but then hes awake for 2/3 hours. I just dont want to get into a routine of cuddles in the night.

[MaMaD1990]

Regressions are awful! We've just come out the other side of the 18 month one. Killer. We end up reverting back to our sleep training routine. We use Jo Frosts method of controlled time crying (or something like that!). You put them down as normal, say good night and leave the room. When they cry wait 2 mins and go back in to tuck them back in and say good night again and leave the room (no cuddles) then wait 4 mins and repeat. You double the length of time you go in each time so 2 min, 4 min, 8 min, 16 min etc etc. It works like a charm for us, especially as ours was absolutely fine and she just wanted to party and scream because she wasn't getting her way. With yours being 7 months, just make sure he's not ill or teething or has a dirty nappy. It will pass, just takes some time unfortunately!

[Natnat96]

Thank you, hes pretty much back into routine now so luckily for us it didn't last that long lol

[Uponmytiptoes]

Please don't sleep train. It's extremely damaging to children of all ages not to mention extremely cruel and inhuman.