7 month old, another bloody sleep regression?!

[Booboostoo]

DD is now 7 months old, she bfs on demand and co-sleeps. She has always bfed a lot during the night but we had a sort of routine of both of us managing to half sleep which she fed so I was getting some sleep. She would also stay in bed for 12 hours at a time.

Things have gone downhill the last week. She has been waking up during the night but not hungry. She appears completely awake, moves a lot, talks, etc. and stays awake for a couple of hours all in the middle of the night, as well as the 'regular' bf sessions during the rest of the night.

Needless to say, I can't take it! I was sleep deprived anyway and not much good for anything but now I have trouble simply carrying her around (she is a massive 10 kilos which doesn't help!).

OH has tried lying with her (we sleep in separate rooms so that he at least gets some sleep), or taking her with him to his bed but then she starts crying and wailing. I have tried ignoring her and she scoots over and punches and kicks me until I pay her attention. I have tried swaddling her and holding her close through the kicking and punching which works but only about 50% of the time.

Any ideas? I need to get some sleep!!!!!!!!

No advice really, just empathy and reassurance it will get better... DD was exactly the same, also cosleeping, bf, heavy and exhausting. I was at the end of my tether, reading all sorts of forums and books on methods to get your baby to sleep (just left me feeling totally confused and guilty that I wasn't doing it 'right'). I even tried giving her a bottle of formula before bed, I felt like I was feeding her rat poison (totally irrational I know) and it didn't make any difference anyway.

So my only advice, unless you want to go down a more drastic CC etc route, is hang on in there, get sleep where ever you can, and remember, like everything babies do, it is only a phase. Things will get better and you will get through it. You are doing a marvellous job and your baby obviously has a very strong attachment to you!

My DD is 16m now and finally started sleeping through the night a couple of months ago (which coincided with her walking). Once she started crawling she was only waking once a night - you might find things get better as DD gets more active.

Good luck!

Thanks JimbosJetSet!

How did you manage to survive for so long? I used to sleep during the day when she slept but now she no longer sleeps during the day anymore and I just can't catch up! OH and I both work from home, although I have hardly worked since DD's arrival and he helps as much as he can but we are struggling to fit in the basics, e.g. shopping, cooking (we also have loads of animals which doesn't really help either!).

I'm off to encourage DD to crawl, perhaps that way lies salvation!!!

my son is also 7 months and was sleeping through the night but since last month he has started to wake up during the night only the once between midnight and 3am. he has been bottle fed since he was born he is having 3 meals a day 1 sometimes 2 naps a day he sometimes falls asleep after a feed sometimes he stays awake for a good hour and a half. is there any ideas on how to get him to sleep through again

Chester - I've been there too, I used to find the fact that I'd wasted an hour and a half of my life trying to get dd back to sleep (when I might as well have just got up with her and gone down stairs) as irritating as loosing the sleep. Again, sorry, no advice other than it is a phase, and your dc's sleep pattern will change again soon (and hopefully for the better!)

Boo - that must be really hard if dd has no sleep during the day. Perhaps if she survives on so little sleep it means she will be a genius when she grows up?!
Seriously though, is there any way you could send her to a childminder for a day or a couple of mornings a week so you could catch up on some rest (not work!) it might be the best ever £40 you have ever spent!
Does she sleep in her cot at all? DD used to until about 11pm and then end up in our bed for the rest of the night. At about 7 months we moved her out into her own room (I put it off for ages because it just seemed like too much hassle getting up a million times a night). But after a week her sleep did start to improve, I don't know if being in our bed disturbed her sleep as much as ours So that might be worth a shot, you haven't got much to loose if you are not sleeping anyway!

A genius?! That'a all I need! Apparently Thatcher survives on 4 hours of sleep a night but Einstein needed 11!

She seems to be super attached to me at the moment! She cries if I leave her in her pram but stay withing sight/sound, she seems to have mastered "Mama" and uses it all the time to call me, she's OKish with DH but not very keen on anyone else so I suspect a morning at the childminder's might be a nightmare for both of them!!!

She starts off sleeping on her own at around 19.30 and then I join her at around 22.00 so she can cope on her own. She also prefers to sleep on the other side of the bed from me without touching, it's just that when she wakes up she is TOTALLY awake! She bfs so much (7 times last night!) that physically I just could not cope with getting up and taking her out of her cot to feed, I would literally drop her!

Zombie thread I know, just hoping OP is still around to give me some hope let me know what happened eventually? I'm in a very similar situation (although DS is crawling and no improvement) really don't know how much more sleep deprivation I can take!

@mmmammma I am also in the same boat. Last week it was rocking and trying to crawl, this week it is teething. I am shattered! Honestly I think all you can do is go to sleep a bit earlier in the evenings and ride it out. These things are always a phase. Here's a and some though in solidarity!

Thanks @crazycatlady5, good to know its not just me, sometimes wonder if I'm doing something wrong! and for you too, hope you get some rest!