7 month-old waking every 1-2 hours in the night - HELP!

[ChateauMargot]

For the last week my DD has been waking every 1 or 2 hours in the night, feeding very briefly (if at all; often she seems to fall asleep in my arms within a minute or two) and occasionally waking within minutes of being put down again; otherwise she'll be fine for another hour or two before the next waking. The longest stretch she'll go is usually the last one, from 5ish until 8am.

The crying is more of a whine and restless whimpering than anything particularly pained or panicked. It's really starting to take its toll, but I don't know what we can do about it as I can't figure out the cause. Teething? But then why does she settle so quickly in my arms? Growth spurt? But then why doesn't she feed that much?

It's very frustrating as between 4 and 6 months she was only waking up once or twice at most in the night.

She's never been a big daytime sleeper: she goes down for about 30 minutes in the morning, up to an hour at lunchtime, and another 30-40 minutes in the afternoon.

Any advice/reassurance would be HUGELY appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Is she still exclusively breast fed then? I was just wondering if there could be a way of filling her up a bit more in the evenings, as it could be hunger (though I'm really not much of an expert, only had one DD and she was a good sleeper from quite early on)

I doubt it would be hunger, as you have mentioned that she has the opportunity to feed but is only feeding for short amounts of time. That seems more likely to be about comfort. It seems possible that teething might be a reason - bf is very reassuring for babies, it's not just about feeding.

Does teething gel and/or calpol make a difference? It might be worth trying this to see if it is pain related.

Sorry not to be of more help :-(

Have you tried leaving her for a bit longer before you pick her up? I used to offer my DD the boob at the first sign of restlessness, then I realized she was just going through a lighter part of sleep and I was actually waking her up and disturbing her when I didn't need to.

I found an interesting article about sleep cycles, which says that babies have deep sleep cycles that last between 45-90 mins, then they surface a bit into a patch of lighter sleep before going into the next deeper sleep cycle. This could be what your DD is doing.

Read about infant sleep cycles here

Is she in your room?are you exclusively breastfeeding?Both mine were like this at 7 months,and were breast fed and in my room.By about 8 months when they had more food intake and I had virtually stopped breast feeding and moved them into own room the sleep suddenly improved.Both my boys are quite different but I remember that 7 month stage as very tiring with similar sleep patterns to your dd.I kept them in the cot next to my bed as I thought it would be less tiring but actually moving them out co-incided with better sleep all round.

MoM, you may be right - I think she's coming out of light sleep cycles. Am reluctant to leave her once there's been a proper cry, though - partly as I worry that she'll wake up properly and be harder to settle, but mainly as DH has early mornings and I feel bad disturbing him...

Bp, she's in our room and I'm exclusively breastfeeding (though doing solids now, too). Reassuring to hear you've been there, too, and that it gets better! We may just have to hang in there until she's 1, when we'll be moving house and she'll finally have her own room...

Could it be a wonder week or teething perhaps as its a relatively new thing? Could you try going in just before she would normally wake and stir her slightly so that she's out of the waking cycle?

I'm sorry I cant offer more help, I'm having the same problems with DS2, but he's older.

Am having the same problem and mine is 10.5 months. He sleeps in the bed with me and its been this bad since about 7 months. I'm too exhausted now to start sleep training him. I've started to let him cry a bit next to me in the bed instead of feeding him back to sleep (which he wants - it has become his main sleep association), and it works, but I don't everytime as sometimes just too exhausted and give in. He falls back asleep, sometimes quicker than other times. As i feed him so much at night I worry it would be bad for breasts to stop all at once. I agree that they are coming out of sleep cycles. I think leaving them a bit is good. I don't really have the answer, just what is (sort of) working for me, but I'm in the same boat apart from bed sharing. i think they want the comfort of mums and now associate it with falling asleep, so need new sleep associations. Am torn as to how to proceed exactly with moving him into his own room, as it will be really hard for him now, or to do it suddenly. If anyone has any tips or has been in the same boat, let me know! Sorry ChateauMargot to jump in on your thread - I'm new to this and I don't have enough time to go back and start a new thread (rarely possible to even get this far). To sum up - try leaving her to settle herself back as picking her up and feeding her again will only wake her up more, that seems to be working for me. Hope it works out for you.

Yup, I think separation anxiety might be coming into it, too. She's pretty good during the day, but I notice she's 'asking' to be picked up more frequently now...

Gustawind, sympathies!