OUR 7 MTH OLD WAKES FREQUENTLY IN THE NIGHT ....HELP !!!!

[jmae1973]

Hi we really need advice !!!! we have a 7 mth old baby boy who since birth has woken frequently during the night at the moment he goes to bed fine at 7o' clock in the evening but despite getting a dream feed at 11 0' clock , still wakes up to five times in the night and will not be pacified till he gets a quick drink this is affecting all areas of our life and i'm really down because i'm returning to wirk next week. Our first child was a dream and slept brilliantly so we have really found it all difficult and seem to have lost focus .We have read book after book and have read conflicting advice . During the night i start off determined to not give in but i get so tired by 4am that we end up giving him a quick drink just to get some sleep, please help.

Whilst this is not a popular strategy, it worked for us. We did some sleep training which involved 10 nights of controlled crying. 10 nights is MUCH longer than any book says it will take but eventually it worked. complete nightmare at the time but has nopt woken before 6 since except when jet lagged or when ill

we co-sleep with our 7 month old

Poor u jmae1973. I totally empathize. DS1 was not a bad sleeper. Slept through after a bit of CC at 8 months but DD was a complete nightmare - waking 8-10 times a night (we didn't feed her in night past 8 months) but she didn't sleep through til she was nearly 3. We tried every form of sleeping training there was. So I know how completely exhausted you must be feeling.

Have you tried any form of sleep training at all? CC or PUPD? Its def worth giving some form of sleep training a go. You just need to decide which one your going to have a bash at first.

jmae, I have exactly the same with my 8.5 month old. I go through phases of being fairly accepting of it and just feeding and going back to sleep and phases where I feel I just can't do it anymore. But when 2am or whenever comes around I haven't the strength to do anything but feed!

Has anyone resolved this without CC as I don't think I can face that yet!?

Am still struggling but have some success in that he doesnt need feeding to get him off and number of wakenings has reduced from a RIDICULOUS number to 2-3. What I did was use PUPD for naps as I am awake enough to keep going. Do whatever you normally do til drowsy-feed/rock/walk etc. Put down in cot or wherever baby sleeps drowsy but awake. Mine screamed. Took me 40 mins of picking up comforting putting down patting and shushing to get him to sleep the first time but now I can put him down drowsy but awake and he turns onto his side and goes to sleep.
like you I was confused by all the conflicting sleep (and indeed parenting) advice but got the tip (doing it for naps) from another MNer-sorry cant remember thread. Oh btw-at night you do the same as youve always done until you have cracked the naps then you extend to bedtime then you extend to wake ups-hth

jmae, I am in exactly the same position. My dd is absolutely hopeless at sleeping and it is driving me insane. My dd is 7m and shares a bedroom with my 3y ds. There are times when she has slept wonderfully and I think 'triumph, we've cracked it'. Then, she gets a cold and now is currently teething and its all gone pear shaped. I start back to work on Wednesday and am dreading it as I am a walking zombie. I will leave her to cry, I have no qualms with that (I go in and check on her every so often as she moves around so much in the cot she sometimes gets stuck). I just move her back, stroke her head once for reassurance and then leave. The last two nights she has cried from 11.30pm - 3.45am (with the odd 10-15 min break in between). In the end, I am so knackered from getting up so often and am concious that my ds is getting disturbed sleep (he generally sleeps through her crying but he has been poorly and so has been a bit disturbed so I don't want added sleep deprivation on him as he is usually a superb sleeper) so, I end up putting her into bed with me for the remaining few hours and voila, a silent, sleeping baby (bloody typical). It is comfort she wants - she hates being on her own. I am just going to continue with the cc and only use the bed thing as the last straw....its bloody hard work though so I totally sympathise with you and hope you crack it soon!

Let us know how you get on Larlylou. Most people seem to sat baby cries around an hour first night then it gets less and less until they sleep through a few nights later. I'm scared to try as I'm so sure dd would keep ccrying all night and I know I couldn't stand it. She stands up in her cot and gets so worked up I can't see anyway she'd go to sleep after. Does PUPD work with older babies or just the young ones?

bobblehead. Over the last couple of days I've been reading Dr Richard Ferber (I think that's his name) Sleep Book and it has some really useful information so, last night I decided to get strict! I will never go to her immediately but after about 5-8 mins I do go in just to check she isn't stuck, I stroke her head then walk out, never talk to her but last night I took the kitchen timer to bed with me and after I left her for 5 mins I then timed the next stage to 10 mins. At night time 10 mins seems an age but you know, she always settled within the 10 mins and I never had to go to her. She did wake about 5 times though (starting at 8.30pm). She woke up this morning at 6.50am which was great. Tonight I will take my new friend to bed with me but I will not go into her until 10 mins first off (if she is stuck then I am just going to have to hope that she will either cry more frantically to tell me or will dewedge herself!). You just have to get your mind around it and it doesn't seem as bad. PUPD does not work for my dd - it seems to make her more distressed as the whole reason for her crying is to be picked up - leaving her to cry with my regular reassurance is working much better.

Thanks Larlylou. I think I may try it. Last night I wasn't home in time to put her to bed so dh did it and said he left her screaming for 5 mins before she fell asleep. That was without a bf too so I feel alittle more hopeful. I've also started to be a bit slower responding ans a couple times she has gone back off herself. Its so hard though isn't it? Who'd have thought 5 mins could last so long! She is supposed to be napping now but cried when I left the room. Now chatting away to herself so obviously not too distressed!

Let me know how tonight goes

Another sufferer over here. We have had an ave of 8 wakings a night for weeks now and its exhausting. People keep saying "I don't know how you do it" and I agree! We've tried co-sleeping but its not for us (dp and i get less sleep as ds wriggles so much) We've had some success by doing a few things 1) Predicting when ds wakes e.g. 1.00 and feeding him 30 mins before hand so he's not waking for a feed but still getting some nutrition. 2) Rather than CC we try and settle DS in his cot without picking him up. This involves me putting head/ hands on his shoulder and trying to stop his hands from flying all over. He does get quite angry but eventually has gone to sleep. Not sure what the difference between this and CC really except that its more of an angry cry and i don't feel guilty for abandoning him. However its difficult to keep your strength up at 3.30 in the morning.