7 month old will NOT sleep

[frodojodo]

Help, please!
My 7 month old fights every nap & is now wakening every hour during the night. I am at my wits end. She's never been a good sleeper but this is just next level.

She has never slept through the night but would go down at 7pm and then wake around 9:30 for a feed then back to sleep for another few hours. Recently I've been putting her down at 7pm and she's awake at 8pm and sometimes won't fall back asleep for an hour or two. Then as soon as I get her back to sleep she's awake within an hour and so on until morning.

I don't know what to do anymore. She just cries and cries unless I pick her up and play with her, I feel like the walking dead.

Have you ruled out things like ear infection? I learned from personal experience this year just how much worse they hurt when you lie down. Does she want to feed constantly, in which case probably heading into a big growth spurt? Or if not feeding, another warning sign for ears. Um... been a long while since I had one that little, but try calling the health visitor or doctor.

Oh, and . My first was a brilliant sleeper, my second terrible, and I swear I would never have had a second had it been the other way around. If necessary and if possible, get helpers in.

It's horrendous, but fairly normal. All kinds of stuff happening at 7m..not least still getting used to solids and the utter relentless hell of teething.
Be consistent with your routine and beg / demand all help you can but if they are otherwise happy, healthy and thriving, don't waste your time trying to 'fix' them. Sleep is developmental. Save your energy trying to find a solution and just hang on in there. It does get better.

i’m with you. my 8 month old has never slept through and is exactly the same. it’s brutal!

I remember those days, they were the pits. I always found it was just before she would go through a growth spurt. Could anyone have her for the night? Any friends or family members? Or if you don't feel comfortable with that could a friend or family member come to your house and sleep on sofa and get up with her during the night? Failing that, could someone take her for a full day so you can sleep?

I think even just a stretch of 8-10 hours will make the world of difference for you.

@larrydavidisagenious gosh how I'd love that!!! I'm a single Mum so I get very little help unfortunately. My parents both work so they can't do nights

Have you tired a dummy to help soothe?

Try a comforter teddy too, start giving her one at every nap. Eventually she will start to look forward to it. The smaller jelly cat ones are excellent.

She’s likely as overtired as you are. Is she crying or winging? If she’s crying always settle her, the first time if you can without picking her up from her cot. Winging, you can leave her be.

White noise too?

In terms of night feeds, could you do scheduled longer feeds during the day to help her reach her quota? Assuming your weaning, keep it up as she may also be hungry.

Try a 7-7 schedule or 8-8.
Bottle/feed @ 7
Breakfast at 8
Nap at 9:9:30.
Bottle/feed at 11
Meal at 12/12:30
Bed at 1ish
Bottle/feed At 3ish
Meal again at 4:30/5
Bath, bottle/feed and a story at 6:30.
Bed 7.

If you try and follow something like this daily, you’ll be surprised how quickly she might get into the swing of it.
Some love routine others hate it. If you don’t have a routine, try it. Babies like predictability in my experience.

I have been where you are. My son now at 18 months old sleeps through fine but it's been a long road and his sleep didn't improve until he was about a year old. Things that worked for us:

1. Engaging a sleep consultant. We used millpond.

1. Getting our son a really nice quality sleep bag and putting it on the radiator before he goes to bed so it's nice and warm.

1. Massaging my son before bed. However this didn't really work until at least a year old.

1. is your baby hungry, maybe time a feed just before bed?

Admittedly this is probably a difficult age as your baby's tummy will be small so she will wake frequently but I think trying to get her into a routine of feed, play, nap every few hours will help and could maybe increase her sleep onto 4 hour chunks through the day. Try the huckleberry app for suggested nap times.

I'm sorry if you've already tried these things. Unfortunately there's no magic wand but paying a sleep consultant helped us massively. I gave up breastfeeding after a year which I think helped too but I wouldn't want to suggest this as some people give up breastfeeding and it doesn't make any difference.

Good luck and I hope you get some sleep soon xxx

I had a bad sleeper, at 7 months we got a sleep trainer consultant, and we did the disappearing chair method. There was some crying but we were in the room with the baby and it worked the first night! PM me if you want the details (appreciate sleep training isnt for everyone)

I feel you. Mine was much the same at 7 months. We just had our first night of sleeping through at 10 months and there have been times over the last few months where I thought I might die of tiredness.

I don’t actually have any advice, I just wanted you to know that you’re not alone, and unfortunately I think it is fairly normal.

I thought I should also mention we did gradual retreat with the sleep consultant at 12 months old which is portrayed as a gentle sleep training method. Actually it was not easy and my son would cry and scream for a long time while I tried to comfort him and it took weeks before he slept through the night. However he is now very confident and actively wants to go to bed. If he wakes in the night I always go and comfort him so he knows someone will be there if he needs and I will strike his head until he falls asleep. There's no right or wrong way but trust your instincts. We're all muddling through as best as we can

Just chill mama has a course, it might be cheaper. Or get the Nanny Louenna app, it’s just amazing.
When I sleep trained I learned that I was too soft, being a little more firm and sticking with the routine helped massively

*Stroke not strike his head (aghh autocorrect)

This sounds so difficult, especially if you're doing it on your own, I can't imagine.
My son was a terrible sleeper from 3 months to about 8 months. He would wake up every hour or two and napping for 30mins. I was EXHAUSTED.

I got him self settling at about 6 months old by gradually changing things from feeding to sleep. I introduced a comforter every time he fed and slept. I habit stacked and changed feeding to sleep to shush patting - started patting his bottom and shusshing whilst feeding then eventually he associated that with sleep and was able to pull him off the boob sooner then eventually did it in the cot with the comforter.
Had a bit of crying when I left him to settle with the comforter but only had to go in and out a few times. I calmed him down with boob then put him back in the cot. It was easier than I thought.

Once he was self settling the stretches of sleep got longer and naps got better but he would wake a lot towards the morning. I think he had tummy trouble and eventually I gave up dairy and stopped giving it to him.

I think things got better when he was crawling around using more energy, eating more solids, self settling and possibly giving up the dairy.

Good luck, it will get better. My boy started eating through the night when he turned 1, it was amazing. You will get there too.
Xxx

@Monkeyrules

*Stroke not strike his head (aghh autocorrect)

🤣 I knew what you meant!

Thank you so much for all your replies & advice. It's nice to know I'm not alone in this exhausted state

She has a dummy that she uses at naps & bedtime, she cries and it falls out so I'm constantly hanging over the cot putting the dummy back in until she falls asleep.

I feel the CIO method doesn't work with my daughter as she literally just cries and cries until she is red in the face!! I think I will definitely look into a sleep consultation.

She seems to have a really bad relationship with sleep, when I walk up the stairs taking her to her cot she knows what I'm doing and starts to cry a little.

The main thing getting me through is knowing it won't last forever!