7month old sleep help, I'm getting desperate.

[Tigs0609]

I've posted in chat for traffic.
I have a 7 month old DS, who just refuses to sleep. Throughout the day, he is an angel unless he starts to get tired. However, around 6pm, his personality changes. He whinges, screams, cries etc all night.

He wakes between 7.30-8 and has his breakfast at 8.30. Usually, he has two naps during the day (sometimes this is difficult, especially when we are out as he doesn't sleep for long periods), his first one is around half 10-11 depending on how quickly he settles. This lasts for around 30-40 minutes (occasionally longer), once he wakes, it's impossible to get him back to sleep.

He has lunch around 12-12.30 and I try and put him down for another nap between 1 and 2.30. This nap lasts around an hour, sometimes he has an hour and half but it is rare. Dinner is usually somewhere between 4.30-5.30, he then has a bath and is changed for bed. By around 6.30/7 he is having his nighttime bottle and has between 5-7 oz.

Once he has had enough, we put him down in his cot and sometimes he goes straight off, and others we leave him chatting away in his crib until he settles himself. Usually after about 40 mins to an hour, he wakes up crying. If we put his dummy in, he spits it out.

We get him out and wind him, check he doesn't need changing and he is fine then. Until he goes back into his crib. Then he starts crying again. If we talk to him soothingly he laughs, smiles, kicks etc and is wide awake. So we put his dummy in and leave the room, as soon as we're out of the door he screams. I poke my head back in, he sees me and laughs like its a game.

I know he doesn't need anything, he isn't hungry, soiled etc. Every time he sees me or DP he stops crying, and starts squealing with excitement. I have tried sitting by his cot and stroking his face, whispering gently. He does calm down and starts settling back to sleep, but again as soon as I leave the room he cries again. I have even tried sitting by the door of his bedroom, leaving him to cry for a couple of minutes, and then going back in to reassure him. Nothing seems to work.

Sometimes he will sleep if we put the Hoover on, if we leave it for 15 mins-1/2 an hour. Then as soon as we turn it off he's awake again. It can take from 7pm until 10.30 to settle him back to sleep most nights. I wouldn't mind so much, but he is still waking 3-4 times throughout the night. So it's not like he falls asleep and then stays asleep for a while.

During the night when he wakes, we leave it as long as we can before going into him. He starts off by just mumbling and talking to himself for a while (we hope he might fall back asleep on his own but no such luck) before he starts screaming. He isn't hungry and in most cases, will go back to sleep when we put his dummy back in. It's as though when he wakes up throughout the night, he
cant settle himself back to sleep and gets himself worked up.

I really don't know what else to do, I'm exhausted and wondering if it will ever end. Sorry this post is long, I just needed a rant and/or some advice if anyone has any. I'm getting desperate now 

Overtiredness at bedtime I think. DD2 had a similar nap pattern at that age and also was overtired at bedtime - it was hard to tell as she's a very happy baby but the waking and crying 40 min after bedtime is the giveaway. Overtiredness will also be contributing to frequent wake ups at night.

Try taking him out for a walk in the pram at about 4.30 to get him to have a tiny top up nap - but no more than 15 min sleep or else he won't want to sleep at bedtime. (This can get a bit ridiculous as it can take 20-30 min walking around to get him to sleep only to wake him 10-15 min later! but this is only a phase, you won't be doing it forever). That should help to avoid the waking up 40 min after bedtime.

The other (and better) solution is to try to make his post lunch longer - but this was impossible for DD2 at 7 months, she has just started doing a 2 hour afternoon nap at 9 months. So if you can't manage the longer post lunch nap, try the short pram induced top up nap.

Mini- Thank you! I will give the pushchair a go, I'm willing to try anything. Sometimes, he does have his lunch later during the day. More often than not, when he hasn't had a nap early morning and he is overtired around 12-1. Thanks for replying

My DS used to be a bit like this. We used to bring him downstairs and he would sleep on the sofa until we went to bed and then into bed with us. I'm not sure if he might have been slightly younger when we did this. He gradually just stopped waking in the evening or if he did, easily settled with a dummy. He just needed to be close us to sleep peacefully when he was small. He still wakes in the night for a dummy once or twice a night at 18mo and occasionally still needs to sleep with us to settle. It's all normal for babies and toddlers and I don't care where he sleeps as long as I'm getting sleep too.

Thanks, I have tried to put my DS into bed with us numerous times when I've been exhausted, it doesn't seem to make much of a difference though .

I have also tried letting him fall asleep downstairs until we're ready to go to bed, but he still wakes 3-4 times from when he goes to sleep, to when we go up. Argh!

I sleep trained my DS at 9 months and he used to play up in much the same way as yours does, he still does now at times.

It's a case of letting them know that just because you're in the room doesn't mean any interaction is going to occur.

I was told to enter his room, walk towards him in a way that he knows I mean business, don't make any eye contact, lie him back down whilst saying firmly "it's bedtime" and then just walk out the room.

He soon got bored when he realised crying out for my attention and presence was pointless