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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

7 month old STILL not sleeping though!!!

25 replies

Crinster · 04/05/2011 21:09

My DS has been a terrible sleeper since the day he was born, he improved so he was sleeping 5 hours then waking and sleeping another 5 hours, which was great but recently he's slipped back into not sleeping. I have a bedtime routine sorted and have no trouble getting him to sleep at the start of the night. He then sleeps for 3.5-4 hours before he wakes, I then feed him and put him back down, then after this he wakes an hour later i can usually get him back to sleep with out picking him up but after this he wakes up every hour and is unconsolably crying tucking his legs up so i assum he has stomacvh ache, I try everything to get him to stop crying but in the end i give in and feed him (I'm still breast feeding, but trying to stop), this goes on till about 6am when he finally goes to sleep. I end up sleeping in the spare bed with him as it's the only way i can get some sleep.
My health visitor said that by his age he should be able to go the whole night with out a feed, but this seems to long to me. Just wondered if anyone else has had a bad sleeper and found a technique to get through this?

OP posts:

MiniMousse · 04/05/2011 21:12

hmm no, I am afraid not. I have a two and a half year old who still wakes most nights. Has done since birth. I think some people are just not heavy sleepers / are wakeful.
I on the other hand LOVE sleeping and have slept for Britain since birth. I think its just the luck of the draw whether you get 'a sleeper' or not. My sympathies to you!

madwomanintheattic · 04/05/2011 21:12

ds1 fed every two hours day and night until i quit bf at 10mos through exhaustion... then he slept through pretty much straight away.

so in his case he really didn't need it, it was just about the comfort and cuddles, with more milk a bonus.

no technique in my case - i just couldn't cope any more. hopefully someone else will come along with some sensible ideas. 7mos is still v young - dd1 had self-weaned at that point and slept through, and dd2 didn't sleep through until she was 2yo (and then went straight into night terrors lol) so i'm pretty useless... bumping though!

firstsupermum · 04/05/2011 21:18

my DS was like that, the HV told me the same thing but to tell you the truth i didnt care no more, i just woke up and feed him anytime he want, i know that the breast is not like the bottle so the baby doesnt get enough from it.
now he is 2yrs and 1month and still weak up durant the night, i just have to get him back to sleep

Cosmosis · 06/05/2011 18:15

I thnk it's completely normal not to be sleeping through at 7m, ds is 8m and isn't. I mostly only feed once a night, but he wakes 3 times on a good nght.

choceyes · 06/05/2011 20:27

My DD is nearly 9 months old and not sleeping through (breastfed). Her brother who is 2.5yrs old is also not sleeping through!

MigGril · 06/05/2011 20:29

Why do certain Health profesional's have this obseasion that babies should be sleeping through the night from 6months?

DD didn't do it untill 13months and then only did it randumly untill 2.5years when she stopped napping. I also know quit a few small children who are like this and it doesn't seem to matter how they where fed either. Weaning didn't help either but I never tired formula.

I would end up with DD in our bed by the early hours of the morning, just to get some more rest. Wish we'd just cosleep full time as I would have had more sleep. This is what we've decided to do with DS he's in a bedside cot. I get more rest, he's a better sleeper then DD but still wakes during the night at 6months. The big difference this time round is I don't expect him to sleep through I know he'll do it when he's ready.

carve133 · 06/05/2011 20:34

Is he teething? DS has always been a naff sleeper (still wakes most nights at 20 months) but especially so at 7 months when the top two were coming through. Waking frequently suggests pain to me.

The technique to get through involves doing whatever you need to do to maximise your sleep/sanity and repeating "this will pass" a lot. Oh and cake.

Bumperlicioso · 06/05/2011 20:46

Hv talking crap. Perfectly normal though crap so I can understand you wanting to do something about it my dd2 still isn't asleep right now is 7 months and wakes 2 or 3 times a night.

chocolatebourbon · 06/05/2011 20:50

Only you can decide when is the right time to stop breastfeeding at night. Personally I felt seven months was way too early. At eleven months it felt like the right time to get my sleep back as I was absolutely exhausted and back at work - so I gave up breastfeeding at night and after a few very difficult nights DS accepted it and became an amazing "through the night" sleeper (I think he had only ever done it once or twice before that). Touch wood, he has stayed like that ever since (16 months now).

Newbabynewmum · 06/05/2011 21:27

I've been told it's 9mo that babies can physically make it through the night without a feed. But there you go. Always get told diff things.

My 7mo wakes twice on a good night & wakes at 530am everyday and will NOT stay in bed under any circumstances.

I know there's nothing I can do about it. They sleep when they're ready. My only tip is to sleep as much as u can. I have lots of early nights, couldn't survive without them!

plipplops · 06/05/2011 22:50

Neither of mine slept through until 9 months, bf DD1 until 6 months and DD2 for 9 weeks so formula/weaning made no difference. DD2 is 2.5 now and still wakes at least a couple of times most nights, but DD1 sleeps fine. All children are different, I do think if you're breastfeeding they can get used to a cuddle. Good luck

Rev084 · 10/05/2011 10:59

Maybe he's going through a growth spurt? The stomach ache you describe could be real hunger. If this is your first child, you need to get used to the idea that babies/tots/kids don't listen to HV's or read parenting manuals. In short, the reasons why kids wake in the night is varied and vast. Once you've got through this growth spurt or whatever stage it is, you might find him waking regularly with teething pains.

Don't think switching from BF to FF will make your life any easier, my DD was FF and from birth to 18months, she was a terrible sleeper. At least when your DS cries, you can just put him straight to the breast instead of messing around with formula. Perhaps it'd be advisable to just ride this stage out, whenever he cries just give him the breast before anything else, as they say 'procrastination is the killer of time' and thats time you could both spend sleeping. Also, breastfeeding I hear is the best answer to teething and illness so at least you'll be covering all bases.

mousymouse · 10/05/2011 11:00

18 months old STILL not sleeping through...'tis normal

Flisspaps · 10/05/2011 11:01

DD is 14mo and FF (so that doesn't help) and obviously weaned onto solids (so that doesn't help) and has slept through perhaps 5 times in her entire life.

The HV is talking bolleaux.

daimbardiva · 10/05/2011 11:20

I would say that 7 months is pretty young to be sleeping through -my ds was 8 mo and now, luckily for me, is a dependable sleeper-througher, but IME this varies sooooo much.

My advice is to ignore your HV - there is no should or shouldn't here, so long as you and your baby are happy and healthy you should just take things as they come.

I think it's largely luck of the draw really...

Octaviapink · 10/05/2011 15:54

It's important to remember, when healthcare professionals talk about 'sleeping through', that the medical definition of sleeping through is sleeping for five hours. It actually means sleeping through a feed. Any HV who expects a 7 mo baby to sleep all the way through the night from dusk till dawn has either encountered some very exceptional babies or is too young to know better!

Bicnod · 10/05/2011 16:02

DS only started sleeping through consistently in January this year when he was 21 months old (although he still wakes at night maybe once or twice a week). He was nowhere near sleeping through at 7 months.

Elizabeth Pantley's 'The No Cry Sleep Solution' helped me retain my sanity and improved his sleep gradually from about 6 or 7 months.

Baby #2 due in July and I'm clinging to the hope that he/she can't possibly be as bad a sleeper as DS!

cheekeymonkey · 10/05/2011 16:13

DD was 4yrs old before she slept through. Have always had a routine, some children just are that way. I have observed that good eaters seem to sleep best. I have aged 10 years in the last 4 yrs. Snoooooooor

mrsravelstein · 10/05/2011 16:16

ds1 and ds2 slept through round about 13 months when i stopped night feeds.

so with dd, un peu knackered, i nightweaned at 8 months thinking she would sleep through. guess what, she slept through at 13 months. so i obviously just make 'em that way.

(my sympathies though, it's flippin hard work)

Debs75 · 10/05/2011 16:19

DD1 slept all night from about 7-8 months but she is the only one of 4 and now her favourite pastime is sleeping.
DS would only sleep if he cuddled me and even now he wakes several times a night at 12 years old
DD2 is still not sleeping through and she is 2 and a half
DD3 is 9 months and I think she might sleep through if she wasn't co-sleeping, she is a really light sleeper.

Ignore your HV, most children wake for some reason or another until they are at least 2. It wouldn't bother you if he could self-settle as you would then be undisturbed. Try and wean him off being fed to sleep, it is hard, it took me several months with dd2.
FWIW I need a lot of sleep and I haven't slept well for 3 years so I feel your pain

petisa · 10/05/2011 16:51

dd1 slept 12 hours a night from 10 weeks
dd2 is 8 1/2 months and wakes at midnight and fourish every night for a feed. Sometimes is up laughing and shouting for an hour at 2am. Sometimes wakes 3/4 times a night for a feed. Coping strategies - co-sleeping, hoping she'll sleep through by a year, remembering it's normal and not for ever, etc etc

petisa · 10/05/2011 16:52

Oh and when she wakes she drinks a lot of milk and seems v hungry, it's not just comfort.

brandnewme · 10/05/2011 20:59

Re: HV and various books, manuals etc IGNORE IGNORE IGNORE! All kids are different...DC1 slept through at 19 weeks, DC2 21 months (arggh!) DC3 12 months....I did nothing different, all had bedtime routines, breastfed for 6-7 months, then bottles.........sorry but one day they'll sleep.

Do what you have to do to get some sleep and survive.....my deepest sympathies (i;ve been through hell with my rusbbish nights over the last 6 years....we're only now at a point were they sleep 5 or 6 nights out of 7)

naturalbaby · 10/05/2011 21:14

at this age with ds1 i was at my wits end. i did my best during the day to stuff him with as much milk and food as i could - pasta/potato for dinner, supper just before bed, then if he wanted a feed in the night i made it as short as possible. after a few weeks i got him to stop feeding in the night but he still woke up so i then did self settling with him. i had tried everything in the no-cry book and it wasn't working.

PartialToACupOfMilo · 11/05/2011 20:45

Another experience here, won't necessarily be yours I know.

My dd didn't sleep until 8 months. At the time it felt like she was practically grown up and still waking through the night, but looking back she was tiny really.

I went back to work when she was 6 months old and by 8 months I decided I needed more sleep and that it was time for her to be in her own room. So we moved her into her room, but kept the routine the same. Took 3 nights until she slept through and it was really fine. I was (am!) still BFing so dh went in to her when she woke on the first couple of nights so it wouldn't be so stressful for her.

She's now 17 months old and since then has only woken about 5 times during the nights and then only when unwell or needing something.

There is definitely light at the end of the tunnel :)

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