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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 non sleeper

16 replies

fl0b0t · 07/04/2014 13:25

I'mMy little one is 7 months now and bar a short period at 3 months old he's not really been a sleeper. For almost 3 months he has almost exclusively been sleeping in 90 minute to 2hr blocks.

General info:
-he's ebf and a bottle refuser
-he has a touch of reflux
-he has slept in his own room for about 5 weeks which has made no difference to his sleep
-we have been weaning for 5 weeks too and that has made no difference either
-he us generally happy and cheerful
-when he wakes at night we either fed him or cuddle him back to sleep
-we have tried leaving him a little but he always cries and itescalates and he will not settle without a cuddle or feed
-day time naps are in the pram/sling or on me.

I'm clearly exhausted. Every now and then he has a good night but nothing is different. I.e last Sunday he slept 8-6 and woke once. We did nothing different that day.

Any thoughts? !

Took him to the dr today who was nice but unconcerned. She prescribed some gaviscon (which we didn't get on week with when we tried it before), which I'm going to try on the evening feeds.

Would welcome to heat anyone else in a similar situation, or any ideas of how to stretch out his sleep!

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

carolinementzer · 07/04/2014 18:51

My daughter was the same and it went on for about 15 months until we did something about it. Needless need to say I was completely exhausted and at my wits end. I just couldn't leave her to cry, and nothing seemed to work. Anyway, at 3 yrs old she's an amazing sleeper now. I discovered loads of ways to help her settle more easily and sleep longer and have blogged about a few of them. You may wish to take a look: mydaughterwontsleep.com/2013/12/27/the-sleep-inducing-power-of-acupressure/

rootypig · 07/04/2014 18:55

he always cries and it escalates and he will not settle without a cuddle or feed

He has a sleep association with these things and cannot go back to sleep without them. You need to stop doing it. There are various ways and methods to choose but ultimately, you have to stop feeding in the night, in particular. We did it very gently with DD as I don't like leaving them to cry, we reduced her milk gradually, but there had to be a crunch point - we would only offer water, she cried (but not for terribly long), we held and soothed her, and she went to sleep.

MarrogfromMars · 07/04/2014 18:56

Hello, my 6 month old wakes every 90 minutes in the night too... I have no helpful suggestions whatsoever!

Cinnamon2013 · 07/04/2014 19:04

Rootypig - how did you reduce milk at night, did you time it? I'm trying to do this with wakeful 9 month old

carolinementzer · 07/04/2014 19:14

rootypig is right; baby sleep cycles at 7 months old are about 90 minutes long, so your son is just using a feed or a cuddle to transition from one cycle to the next. This is fine as long as you're fine with it. But if you've had enough and it's wearing you out then taking away the night feeds will help.

When I reduced milk at night (I was breastfeeding), the only way that my daughter would accept it was if my husband went into her. If I tried to comfort her she'd just get very upset. My husband made a camp bed next to her bed and every time she woke he'd talk to her 'it's time to sleep' etc. He didn't pick her up. She did cry a bit, but she was never alone. After a few days she slept about 9 hours straight.

Do make sure your son is having enough food/milk in the day though. Some babies are hungry in the night at 7 months old. He is still very young. Good luck with it all, you'll get there.

rootypig · 07/04/2014 19:30

Cinnamon she was on a bottle by then, which made it somewhat easier. But it was 1) I resolved to do it - this may seem obvious but took a while! she was 9 months and had been waking 3/4 hourly since birth. She was ebf to 6 months and I made the mistake of feeding her every time she cried at night. anyway at 9 months she was having two 6oz feeds every night . So 2), method. What I would do was start with 6oz in the bottle, and every 2oz pull it out of her mouth. If she cried, she got it back, but if she settled, great. After a few nights of this she was maybe settling with 5oz, so I would repeat the shenanigans with a 5oz bottle, but take the teat from her mouth every oz or so. After a few more weeks of this she was settling with just a mouthful of milk. At that point we bit the bullet and only offered water. Well, she was pissed. But you have to hold your nerve at this point. She cried but we held her and rocked her and spoke soothingly. (She is not a fan of this ) After three nights of waking, crying and being offered water (the longest crying spell was maybe 30 mins) she slept through.

What really helped was realising she was crying because she was exhausted and couldn't get back to sleep. Once that thought struck me, night weaning seemed kind, if anything.

I think that the gradual reduction was the kind way to do it, as she was having so much. I read (on my GP's advice) Dr Ferber's Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems, which gave me so much confidence re sleep cycles and sleep associations, I would recommend. I knew in advance I didn't agree with the method (controlled crying - leave them to cry in their cot and go back at intervals) but I still found the book enormously helpful. Where Dr F and I differ is he thinks if you hold the child they will develop a sleep association with that, instead of whatever it was. For us, that wasn't the case. But DD doesn't like to be held and rocked in general. For others, it may be an issue.

Hope that made sense!

Original poster

fl0b0t · 07/04/2014 20:53

I don't think I understand. Cc is not for us anyway so that's another matter.

. I've tried pupd technique which I did for bloody hours on end andhe refused to sleep. I tried hand on his chest which almost works but not quite. Up until recently he was reverse cycling so was waking up hungry in the night having only fed a few times during the day. Short of offering the breast more which i do and actually force feeding him during the day I don't know how I can get him to cycle back?

OP posts:

naty1 · 07/04/2014 21:33

What worked for us at 11m
Trying starting with daytime naps putting in cot (had been sleeping on me). Several opportunities a day.
Putting down to nap about 3hrs of waking when rubbing eyes etc when seemed tired (but not necessarily crying from it.)
Sleeping on tummy (not recommending but DD was older at time and did seem to suffer from reflux causing waking). And could crawl etc. Though this meant she tried to crawl when waking in night.
CIO this took less than 2weeks. So we went from several wakings a night to 12hours sleeping. This has continued since really except during teething. And she will sleep with ibuprofen.
I was still BF at the time but stopped BF to sleep and rocking etc.

riskit4abiskit · 07/04/2014 23:05

My ds is 7mths too and a very similar story. He does seem actually hungry tho when he wakes up every two hours so I breastfeed him. He goes straight to sleep after a feed, no need to settle after.he is on three small meals a day too.

I think I would try some light sleep training if I thought he was waking for comfort only. Watching thread with interest...

Original poster

fl0b0t · 08/04/2014 08:45

riskit exactly this, he is currently hungry when he wakes. Trying to feed him more during the day but he's not much interested in food (apart from houmous)

OP posts:

rootypig · 08/04/2014 09:25

At 7mo he may still be hungry. I didn't night wean until 9 - 10 months because I was uncertain. That said, I highly doubt he is so hungry that he needs to be fed every 90 minutes. What is more likely is that he is tired and desperate to get back to sleep, and feeding is the only way he knows how. See if your local library has a copy of Solve Your Child's Sleep problems, I found the information on sleep associations enormously helpful. It gave me the confidence to work out a plan to address DD's issues myself.

Original poster

fl0b0t · 08/04/2014 15:48

Cheers. We are currently looking at silent reflux too. Stated gaviscon last night and he slept well, no idea if it's linked though! !

OP posts:

Cinnamon2013 · 08/04/2014 19:14

Rootypig - thank you so much for the detailed advice! just exactly what I've been looking for. Appreciate you taking the time.

rootypig · 08/04/2014 20:33

You're welcome. I've been there!

Original poster

fl0b0t · 11/04/2014 10:07

Ok, baby has been showing me up this week by only waking up about twice a night! Wonderful! and we've not been trying to sleep train him or anything. Just started to turn a corner. Might not last any stretch but it's lovey now

OP posts:

rootypig · 11/04/2014 10:16

Brilliant. Based on my own mistakes, I would say try to build on it by if he wakes, wait a little while and see if he does settle himself. If he doesn't, try a shorter feed than usual, then see if he settles. Just giving him the opportunities to go back to sleep without much help, iyswim. Good luck!

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