7 month old waking up more

[Littlebigcat]

My DS hasn't slept as well since we moved him to his cot/own room at 5 months and he's getting worse.

We have wake ups roughly every hour till midnight and usually 2 or 3 between then and 7am, times vary each night. He is EBF bar the odd bottle of formula in the afternoon trying to get him to accept a bottle. Thing is I'm not even sure he's that hungry, I think sometimes he's after the comfort and sometimes he's just run out of cot to shuffle up. He's not settling as well after feeds now either. Should I just continue to BF every time he wakes in case he is actually hungry? It's hard to tell exactly how much he's had. Or is there anything I could be trying to discourage waking up for comfort? I feel mean even asking that but some days I'm just so tired and he used to be so settled.

I've read on MN that a baby that wakes frequently before midnight is an overtired one. I'll say that is also true of my DS.
At 7 months he's still quite young, I think a baby that age will need feeding through the night, it was only really when DS got much older (past 1) that I knew he wasn't hungry and waking up for no bloody reason except for boobies
sorry its a killer isn't it, you are not alone :)

I've just been through something similar with my DS (now nearly 8mo).

In the end I tried sleep training using Andrea Grace's book. She reckons no baby needs night feeds after 6 months. Not sure I agree, but I started to time the night feeds and then gradually reduce the duration - 10mins then 7 then 5 etc. The idea was to eventually get to 3mins and by then he's supposed to realise it's not worth waking up for.

Only managed five nights before the heatwave struck and it all went tits up but we were down to five min feeds. He was still waking loads (not sleeping more than 90mins at a time, usually a lot less), but the main thing was that he didn't mind the short feeds so I guess he wasn't that hungry afterall.

In the past week we've gone down to two or three feeds, which I've probably just gone and jinxed! But he's done this all by himself, with a bit of help from DH who seems to have now learned how to settle DS after nearly 8 months. I guess the time was right for these things to come together.

Two night feeds is fine with me altho it does suggest that he is hungry in the night afterall? Dunno. But you could try shortening the feeds and see if your LO protests. Or get someone else to settle them - if the bar's closed then they might not wake to place an order.

Well we had the worst night sine he was a newborn last night. Up hourly from 8.30 till 11.30, then wouldn't go to sleep for longer than 20 mins till 4am. Not sure what was up with him, resorted to Calpol in the end thinking there might actually be something keeping him from sleeping and a final feed and he was down till 7am.

Swivel- I do think he may be over tired, he resists naps most of the time and will wake up as soon as we get in to the house. Might have to look at his daytime routine or lack of

Butternut-I think I have probably made a rod for my own back in someways. I am far to over reliant in BFing him to sleep, especially since he's gone to his own room so can't imagine being able to take him off still awake and him sleeping. He used to self settle really well in the moses basket but cries as soon as he goes in the cot. Apart from boobies I have no other ways of settling him either.

I was happy when we only had one or 2 feeds and it was up for 20 mins then straight back down afterwards. We went on like that for months and it was fine but i think the problem now is he's not settling as well afterwards so it feels harder.

Oooh that's rough... hope last night was better for you. We are still totally dependent on boob for naps snd bedtime. He always falls asleep while latched on - doesn't detach on his own, so times when I nodded off I'd wake an hr later to find him still attached.

Now I wait until I think he's sleeping rather than feeding (not always obvious as he still sucks when sleeping) then detach him. Usually after ten or fifteen mins. Then comes tricky transfer to cot. If that fails then I usually nurse him again!

You cd always get him checked by Dr to rule out ear infection etc. Apparently weaning can also cause more waking as their tummy's working overtime. But could just be a bad patch so nothing wrong in doing whatever it takes to get him back to sleep. I got really stressed trying to figure out why DS was waking and wondering how to fix it but when it gets really bad think you just got to go with it. When the mist's cleared a bit then you can think about what you can change so you both have better nights.

A little better thank you. Still didn't get much of an evening but he settled by 11.30 then slept through till about 4.30 and again till 7.30. We are exactly the same with boob and he seems to hate his cot. It

We resorted to calpol again last night and it seemed to do the trick but I hate giving it to him for no good reason. I don't think it's likely to be an ear infection because he seems so chirpy during the day but will keep an eye on him and see if he show's any signs now it's been suggested. We thought it might be teething but he isn't showing any other signs really. We could be feeding solids too late in the eve or it could be the lack of naps or just a phase.

I'm handing him to the GP's this evening for a couple of hours, my dad tends to just let him sleep on him rather than put him down and isn't put off by crying so think that will suit him quite well at the moment, with any luck a change will break the pattern though won't hold my breath.