No sleep after grandparents babysitting

[Nuttynortherner]

My LB is 7 months. I've been working one day a week since he was 6 weeks old when DH has had him, now I'm back a second day with DM and DMIL taking it in turns. DM had him yesterday and instead of sleeping through from 7 til 4/5 he was up 3 times in the night. He's just taken 30 mins to go off in his cot instead of usual 5 mins. I know both mums have let him fall asleep on them which I've tried to stop him doing. Do I need to speak to them or could it just be teething? I don't want to upset them as he loves his days with them and it helps us out a lot.

Could be a number of things at 7 months. Teething, developmental or even to spend time with you if you have been away all day. However, if the naps that dc is getting with grandparents aren't great because of a disruption of normal routine ie. Sleeping on them, then it may contribute to overtiredness which may cause nightwaking. At 7 months I would suggest dc is settled the same way for naps and sleep to ensure consistency. That way if nightwaking is still occuring you can rule that out and look at other causes.

Thanks mintbiscuit, I'll see how we go this week before I raise it. He's got some good naps in today so hopefully he'll sleep better tonight

It's likely to be the change in routine and not enough daytime sleep.

Rather than speaking to your parents about holding him to sleep, talk about how the sleep he is having - how often, how long asleep, how long awake

It might be that if your Mum is struggling to get your LB to sleep and stay asleep, that holding him to sleep may be the best option. If he can and would sleep in a cot for you Mum then great. But it might be that she can't get him to sleep that way so was trying her best by holding him.

Better that he has as much sleep as possible however it comes about for that one day a week, than not enough sleep and the resulting issues from over tiredness.

It this arrangement with your Mum/MiL is a new thing though, let it settle before you ruffle any feathers unnecessarily.

My little boy is just over 12 months and we made the mistake of rocking him to sleep from birth. About 3 weeks ago we started to self sooth, putting him down when he is half asleep and going In every 3 to 5 mins, now he is great, In His cot for 7.30 and wakes up at half 5.
But like you I had the trouble of the grandparents rocking/holding him to sleep. And all my hard work was out the window, so I sat them down and explained all my troubles and said try doing it for one night and see how you get on, and if not we will have to come up with another plan. So when I was next due to work they had him over night and was a little bit unsettled at first but went straight to sleep on his own.
Good luck xx

Thanks Theomummy, I do find it funny that they were both saying 'oh leave him to cry a bit' as they did with us but they can't bear to do it themselves! FATEdestiny, yes it is fairly recent so I'll see how it goes for a bit before I tell them off