7 month old woes

[AngelDog]

Just a rant, really - I wanted to get this off my chest and there's only so much whingeing I can inflict on DH.

DS has never been a great sleeper but now wakes 2 hourly through the night. Usually he wants to either play or feed when he wakes up. I always feed him and he generally goes back off. He sleeps on a mattress on the floor next to me so I can feed him lying down and not worry about moving him after feeds.

Last night I fed him at 02.45 and didn't manage to get him back off till around 5.45am as he wanted to roll and play on his stomach. I didn't manage to get back to sleep at all - boo.

During the day I feed him to sleep. He will feed to sleep and stay asleep on my lap, but if I try to put him down, he wakes instantly and won't go back to sleep. Previous attempts to feed him to sleep while lying down & then leave him on the bed have been unsuccessful as he's not that keen on feeding lying down during the day.

Pushchair / car naps often involve a lot of shrieking before DS goes to sleep (if he does), and he usually wakes after 20 mins unless you're still moving. The sling always works but I'm not supposed to use it due to suspected back problems.

I have about a million things to do in the house and am beginning to get a bit fed up. We have Very Low Standards when it comes to the housework but DS is now picking up bits of dirt around his mouth when he's playing on his tummy.

DH helps (bless the man, he made cakes last night - neither of us copes without it!) but I do all the nights since he's had problems with insomnia in the past, and hasn't been able to get DS to sleep without the sling or pram since he was a few weeks old.

I know it'll pass. I just wish it would hurry up!

Moan over...

What, a site you've not read?? It's a fairly good site IMO, although she's pretty pro-CC ('return and check', she calls it) and thinks that feeding to sleep is A Bad Thing after the age of 6 weeks.

My DS has a lovey but frankly he could take it or leave it! When are you back to work?

You're not really convincing me about the Ferber book...

Iggly, if you're around, hope you had a good holiday.

An update. Apart from a few problems the last few nights with teething / nappy leak / wind, DS wakes once (maybe twice) in the night and only once in the evening. He unlatches himself after feeds and goes to sleep. He is also sleeping until nearly 6.30am (our get-up time). So all good.

Tonight he didn't do his usual waking after 45 mins as I rocked him to sleep instead of feeding, so I'm thinking about trying that as a strategy to eliminate that 45 mins after bedtime waking.

I've not quite cracked naps as DS he's usually still doing 30 mins in the morning and usually 2 hours but with lots of resettling at lunchtime. He is now in his cot for all of it, though, which is good, and I'm tinkering with making the naps earlier to see if I can persuade him to get between cycles himself.

A whole lot of us are now working on the nap scheduling and reducing night wakings plan here.