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Sleep

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Original poster

help me oh dear god help me. 7 month old gone from perfect sleeper to evening lunatic

19 replies

aitch71 · 24/07/2006 21:23

it's just happened over the last few days, so i'm hoping it's the heat but i'm not sure.
basically she has always slept through the night beautifully, as of about 6 weeks. we started weaning her a month ago and she started waking up earlier, say 6am instead of the more benign 8am that we had become used to.
and now for the last wee while she has been inconsolable in the evenings... she's only just gone to sleep now.
it could be teething (she has two through) but calpol or tooth gel don't help. it could be the heat, but she is sleeping in a vest so i don't know...
tonight she was out of her bath by 6.30pm but, as exhausted as she was, the poor thing, she just couldn't stop crying hysterically and just go to sleep.
is it an age thing? any ideas?
please help...

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Beauregard · 24/07/2006 21:25

Is she overtired?
The heat is probably a major factor ,do you have a fan you could put in her room?

MrsJohnCusack · 24/07/2006 21:28

it does sound as though she's a bit overtired - you could always tell with DD, hysterical crying and unable to sleep even though knackered

maybe the waking up earlier is making her more tired, especially in the heat, and she needs more sleep in the day? my DD (19 months) is having the most unbelievable amount of sleep at the moment and I'm sure it's the heat.

Bagpuss30 · 24/07/2006 21:29

Oh, I would also be interested to read any replies to this too. ds2 is 12 months and we have the same hysterical screaming . Have no idea why as he was fab at going to sleep before. Huge sympathies with you .

bonkerz · 24/07/2006 21:33

This has just started to happen with my DD to who was 7 months old last week. Problem i have is her tears are so fak and when i had gone in to her she would stop the minute i picked her up and start again the minute i put her down. For the past 3 nights we have been tolerating her 'tantrum!'. Sat night she winged and cried for 2 and a half hours, went in every 20 mins and put dummy in eventually went off. Sunday it was and hour and a half before she settled and tonight it took an hour and 10 minutes so i think she is learning it dont work!!
Health Visitor said that its about now they start to know what buttons to press and that if you give in it becomes habit and i tend to think i may have pampered to her for too long and now im having to break the cycle.

Original poster

aitch71 · 24/07/2006 22:32

interestingly enough, bonkerz, yesterday my DH cracked and brought her back out of the room 'because she is distraught' while the little minx smiled triumphantly at me.
i do think she is overtired, as well, so that's why she was in bed tonight at 6.30pm rather than 7pm. tomorrow night she'll be going down even earlier if i have my way.
and i don't think that she is too hot, necessarily, as the window in the room is open and we aren't quite do bad up here in scotland, but by the time she gets a good paddy going she is roasting hot.
bonkerz, i really hope your HV is wrong about this one... i can't bear the idea of controlled crying. (not cos i'm a hippy or anything, i just can't be fagged doing it.)
i will make sure she sleeps as much as possible tomorrow and get her down early and we shall see...
thanks all
h

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SittingBull · 24/07/2006 22:36

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shazronnie · 24/07/2006 22:43

IME it is definitely an age phase - she's seeing what she can get away with! Beware of pandering to her!
If you don't fancy controlled crying try sitting in her room, but not speaking or looking at her. That way she knows she is not abandoned, but realises eventually you won't let her out of bed.

MrsApron · 24/07/2006 22:44

Thia may sound daft but she might be hungry. Most starter solids have far fewer calories than milk (of whatever description ) and take longer to move through their system so they actually get less calories overall.

Just another thing to try!

Original poster

aitch71 · 24/07/2006 22:59

my sympathies to sittingbull, bonkers and bagpuss...
and thanks MrsApron, she does tend to go down eventually after another bottle but she's not drinking her bedtime bottle properly. perhaps she's not hungry yet... i wonder if we should forget about dinner at 5-ish and give her it earlier?

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MrsApron · 24/07/2006 23:13

Might be worth a try her wee tummy might still be full of dinner but what she wants before bed is a tummy full of milk?

Got to be worth a go anyway!

jambot · 25/07/2006 12:41

Had this a few times with DD at that age.It's often around the time they drop their late afternoon nap. Some nights she was in bed by six. I would give her her dinner by no later than 5, have a 15 quiet play and straight into the bath. Try to get the bedtime routine underway before you see tired signs, not after. It sounds like she's overtired and then too worked up to sleep.
And by the way, the earlier bedtime never her wake earlier. There's a theory that if you leave it till they're stressed and overtired to put them down, extra adrenalin has been produced by the body to keep them awake, and that's when it's really hard.

jambot · 25/07/2006 12:43

Sorry. ..never woke her earlier!

SittingBull · 25/07/2006 16:30

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Original poster

aitch71 · 25/07/2006 20:06

yaay!
thanks to my and dh's incorporating every single piece of advice on this thread (more sleep during day, earlier to bed, earlier to eat so she would have her bottle etc etc), the monster was asleep by 7.30pm.
we will try to get her down even earlier tomorrow but the problem tonight was that she just didn't want to go for her afternoon nap at two (somebody posted that she's trying to drop it, i think that's true) so by 4pm she was getting crotchety and I had to take her out for a walk in the heat to get her to drop off for an hour.
so by the time she was going down she was getting a bit screamy but managed to calm herself. and she nearly finished her bottle which she hasn't done for ages, so we'll have to put even more in tomorrow night.
oh, plus think that having a full 15 minutes of stories (in reality the same book over and over and over again) rather than just reading it once or twice really helped.
fingers crossed for tomorrow, i hope everyone else has had some success too.

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flutterbee · 25/07/2006 20:21

DS has been like this for about three and a half weeks now and he is 8 and a half months old.

He is exhausted rubbing his eyes and nose, throwing his head around trying to get to sleep but the second he is down and we leave the room he screams the house down. The first few nights my idiot husband bought him out of the bed and eventually let him sleep in with us (he totally ignored my protest). I have finally now got in under control and DH admits he was wrong.

I put ds down and left the room, I would then leave him for 15 mins if he hadn't settled I would go back into the room and sit next to the cot not looking at him or talking to him, he would notice I was their and only wimper a few times before rolling on his side and dropping off, I probably sat in their about 10 mins maximum.
Now thank God I put him down and yes he screams but he knows he is going to sleep and drops off pretty quickly (touch wood).

He has always had his last meal and bottle in between 4-5 (generally nearer 4) and then his bed time bottle around 6.30pm this is now routine for him as he crys for the bottle at this time which is ace and he gulps all 8oz down so food had nothing to do with his change, I suspect it is just a phase they go through.

lofty66 · 27/07/2006 12:35

Thank god for the internet. Reading this thread has given great relief. My lo 7.5m has just started to act up at bed time, prev. whent down 'almost' like an angel. I thought it was something I was doing wrong. Will try out some of your suggestions. Thanks

SittingBull · 27/07/2006 12:41

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Original poster

aitch71 · 27/07/2006 13:11

likewise, Sittingbull,
i think we were giving her food far too late and that was one of the main things causing the problems. now no food passes her lips after five pm and for the last couple of days she's been fine. we've even had to increase the about she's had in her bottle as she is drinking nearly the full amount. bless you , mrs a, and all who sail in you...
and many thanks to everyone else, because i think she also wasn't getting enough sleep.
good luck to everyone who is experiencing this, it is QUITE a shock to the system.

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Original poster

aitch71 · 27/07/2006 13:14

sorry, also meant to say congratulations to you SB. now we just have to act like we expect there never ever to be a problem again... my daughter can smell fear.

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