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Sleep

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Original poster

7 month old has NEVER slept through the night

69 replies

sleepdeprived62 · 16/10/2012 15:57

My 7 month old little girl has never slept through the night.We have tried everything it feels like and are almost at breaking point. We have had a bedtime routine for a while now and although she goes to sleep ok, its only a couple hours later she starts crying again. If you go in and settle her at this point she usually goes back to sleep but then it will happen again a couple hours later without us being able to settle her.She can scream for a good couple of hours. We have tried soothing her, leaving her to cry it out and nothing seems to work.Any ideas?

OP posts:

BlingLoving · 16/10/2012 20:22

What time is bed time? We also found that an earlier bed time led to better night sleep. If dinner is at 6:30 bed can't be before 7:30/8? We had him in bed before 7 or he'd wake more and earlier.

akaemmafrost · 16/10/2012 20:22

I agree that at 7 months, she is needing a feed.

Climbingpenguin · 16/10/2012 20:22

neither of mine slept through before one (DS still isn't but only just turned one).

DD night weaned at 14 months but still woke every two hours for ages.

half of one year old's don't sleep through but it seems to be some big secret that doesn't get out that often.

Climbingpenguin · 16/10/2012 20:24

no harm in trying a bottle again is there?

personally i wouldn't have the conviction of trying to get her to sleep if I wasn't certain food wasn't required.

jkklpu · 16/10/2012 20:25

And isn't "sleeping through" usually taken to mean sleeping for about 6 hours at a stretch?

aufaniae · 16/10/2012 20:31

FWIW DS definitely needed a feed at that age.

AngryGnome · 16/10/2012 20:32

Sorry to agree with others, but it is pretty normal for a 7 month old not to sleep through. DS was up 7/8 times a night every night till he was about 21 months old.

It sounds as though we were in a similar position to you in that as he got older there was no 'reason' for him to wake up - not hungry, not teething, not too cold/too hot, didn't need changing etc. he just seemed to wake up and decide it was getting up time. He used to cry when we tried to restettle him - basically, I think he was crying because he was frustrated about being resettled, when he wanted to get up and play. Some children do just need less sleep than others.

He still has bad nights now, but now he is starting to talk he tells us why he is awake and not wanting to sleep - he wants to play with trains .

Our only strategies were/are:

make sure he eats well and often so he is unlikely to wake up hungry (lots of protein in evening meal is supposed to help with this)
keep a regular evening routine
pick-up put-down bedtime technique (lots of threads on mn about this)
lots of activities to try and tire him out during the day

Good luck, and just remember, it's unlikely to be anything you are doing 'wrong'- I think kids just sleep through when they are ready to. And they all do. Eventually.

JollyJackOLantern · 16/10/2012 20:33

I agree that your bedtime seems too late.

We did controlled crying at 7mo and that's what got Ds to sleep through. (Not arguing for or against anyone else using this, just telling you what we did.)

Original poster

sleepdeprived62 · 16/10/2012 20:34

Ok guys, will try the night feeds again. and get back to you.BlingLoving, her bedtime is about 7.30. It used to be 7 but had to push it back so her dad had some time with her when he got home from work. Thanks everyone.its nice to know im not the only one out there with a wakeful baby! Feel loads better and not completely inadequate as a parent after this!x

will get back in a couple of days and let you know how we get on...

OP posts:

akaemmafrost · 16/10/2012 20:40

Dd started sleeping through at about 11 months. She still woke but I offered water and when she took that and went straight back to sleep then I knew she was able to get through the night without a feed. From then on it got easier. I would definitely go back to night feeds at 7 months and then maybe try offering a drink of water in 2 - 3 months.

emsyj · 16/10/2012 20:42

Agree with other posters that if I had a 7 month old that was waking and screaming for hours in the night, I would assume it was a hunger issue. I only know one baby (out of a group of 15 of us who all had babies in the same month) who did not get fed at night at 7 months. Have you tried feeding her and see what happens...?

legalalien · 16/10/2012 20:44

Sleepdeprived - sounds all too familiar - for me first three years were difficult and then it all went right. High maintenance baby and low maintenance toddler - there is hope ...

emsyj · 16/10/2012 20:46

Cross posts! Good luck, you might just find that a feed and you will have a much much more peaceful night - if you're only getting up to do a quick feed and that's all, it's got to be more liveable than hours of screaming!

My health visitor told me DD should not need night feeds at 6 months and 'told me off' for feeding her in the night at that age . I'm not sure what information and research she based this on - I think she made it up.

Lavenderhoney1 · 16/10/2012 20:46

My dc - ds- finally at 4 then dd at 3. Bf both til 2. 7 months IMO is normal. Dd I had in bed with us in the end. Ds was a real fidget so I just used to get up. 7 months is very young to sleep through, give milk, offer tepid water, and cuddles, change, is my advice though everyone is different..

HanSolo · 16/10/2012 20:47

I don't mean to scare you... but my eldest was 5

I advise you and your partner to start going to bed earlier, to bank some sleep before she wakes!

Lavenderhoney1 · 16/10/2012 20:49

Oh yes, my hv told me ds at 4 months should be shut in his bedroom at 7 and ignored til 7 next day. Teach him a lesson apparently, but not a nice one!

Lavenderhoney1 · 16/10/2012 20:52

Sorry to drip:) but maybe it's a growth spurt and needs milk?

Original poster

sleepdeprived62 · 16/10/2012 20:53

I wish I hadnt read your post HanSolo...5 years is a loooong time. My sympathies.I feel bad having complained now. Its just we have loads of friends who have kids, the youngest of which is 12 weeks. And ALL of them say 'oh yeah, they've been sleeping thru since 7 weeks, 10weeks, 3 months etc...and you wonder what you are doing wrong...

OP posts:

Original poster

sleepdeprived62 · 16/10/2012 20:54

btw partner and i were in bed at half 9 last night. sleeping by 9.45 and up again at 10.45 til midnight.

OP posts:

xlatia · 16/10/2012 20:54

Nothing new to add, really. DS is 11 months and still wakes up countless times. For the sake of my sanity I just shut him up with boob (we cosleep), so I manage.
A question for those who suggest an earlier bedtime, does that really help with sleeping longer stretches? We've tried it a couple of times and ended up having a baby wide awake and ready to start the day at some ungodly hour, so went back to put him to bed at 8 / 8:30.

BlingLoving · 16/10/2012 20:55

Sleep : I was the one who didn't get to see ds because he went to bed too early. It was horrible for me, but better for him to go to bed with dad at 6:50 than stay up until 7:30 to see me. And in fact, we found that even if I got home before he was asleep I had to let myself in v quietly as if he saw me he got over excited and would not sleep until later, starting the cycle all over again.

It's awful to not see them but sometimes you have to take that hit for the sake of everyone's sleep. I used to come home much much earlier one night a week so I could do the whole bed time routine with him.

TempusFuckit · 16/10/2012 20:57

I'll try and make you a bit more hopeful and say my DS slept through at 13 months. Still a way off 7 months .

I'm far from being an expert, but from my extensive lurking of the MN sleep board and patchy sleep guru reading, may I suggest shh patting her to sleep instead of cuddling, and encouraging a comforter? The first helped my DS dramatically cut down the frequency of his nighttime wakes, and the second finally nailed the sleeping through.

BlingLoving · 16/10/2012 20:58

Xlatia: it's the "text book" theory. For us, it was true more than it wasn't true. It did not solve the problem, but did help bits only recently that dh and I have stopped being so obsessive about getting him down by 7:00.

AngryGnome · 16/10/2012 20:58

Just come on the sleep boards here, you will find lots of us with poor sleepers - you are not alone!

Teahouse · 16/10/2012 20:58

DS2 was 4 before he slept through...teenager now and weekends he rarely gets up before 11.
Good luck

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