7 month old sleep problem

[Babynosleep]

Hi,
I am desperately looking for advice on helping my 7 month old sleep. He's never been a great sleeper but we took him away for a few nights 2 weeks ago, and since then the nights have been awful.
He has reflux and is on medication for this, and is crawling and pulling up. He is so tired he has bags under his eyes constantly but I cannot get him to catch up with sleep.
Since going away he has been very difficult to settle for naps and bedtime, he will only fall asleep in my arms, not for husband. He will then wake in the middle of the night and be awake for an hour or two, if left in cot he cries.
One night after he cried for over an hour at bedtime we put him in his cot to see if he would cry himself to sleep, but he got so worked up he was sick.
He has always been very difficult to feed so will only take bottle when drowsy and still has a night feed.
Any advice would be great. Also we won't sleep in car or pram anymore.

Mine did this a few weeks ago at a similar age and it was due to teething. Baby Nurofen has helped us massively, and after his last wakeup at about 5am he stays in bed with me for a couple of hours rather than fighting to get him back in the cot when it's light. He normally drops off again til about 8.

On holiday, did he sleep in the same room as you? And if sol is he back to his own room again now?
He will need to relearn to self-settle at bedtime and to be able to resettle himself when he wakes in the night. You can choose either to do this gradually or go cold turkey - depending on how serious the new dependence on you is and also how you feel about some crying or tantrums!
If you want to use a gentle and gradual approach, think about the end goal of your him not needing you there and work back from there. Break it down into small steps and allow yourself a week or two to work through the steps.
As you start, try some relaxing bedtime music that you can both listen to as your child falls asleep. Also give him something to cuddle (other than you!), such as a blankie or soft toy. You also may want to use a night-light if you don't already.
You could start by lying next to the cot while he falls asleep. Explain you will stay there until they fall asleep. Then the next night move to sitting next to the cot while they fall asleep, again listening to the music together. Do this for a night or two, then move the chair a couple of feet away.....and over the next week or so, move the chair towards the door. Hopefully he will get used to you being further away and will also be getting used to the relaxing music and cuddly as cues to fall asleep. Leave the sleep music on repeat if he is waking in the night, as this can help him resettle without needing you!
If you are looking for a quicker approach to solving your holiday sleep problem, and you are OK with short periods of crying or tantrums, then you could use a verbal reassurance technique. You leave him to self-settle for 5 minutes. If he is still protesting after 5 mins, go inside the door and go half way to the cot and verbally reassure him. Then leave the room and wait for 10 mins before repeating. Again wait for 15 mins and repeat. With this process you don't go over to him and pat, cuddle or pick-up...the idea is that the quicker you expect him to self-settle, the quicker he will learn how to sleep without you helping them.

Could be the change of routine when you went away. My wee guy never sleeps in an unfamiliar place then takes about a week to get back to normal.

If he'll fall asleep in your arms, why don't you let him do that? What's the obsession with making them do things which are convenient for you? He's a baby who is telling you he needs you, it will pass eventually, just hold your baby for the love of god!!

And to the PP, babies of this age do not self settle, they must give up!!

Ahem, just not must!

I would just let him fall sleep in your arms then to be honest...

Mine's a similar age and at first I was worried I'd spoil her if I let her sleep in my bed when she's fussy but it doesn't seem to have affected her so far, on good nights she still sleeps fine in her cot. And she has several feeds at night still as well, that's normal too at that age.

They can't let us know yet why they're crying and I wouldn't want my baby to be in pain or scared without someone comforting her.