7mo sleep problems - suggestions needed please

[CaitAgusMadra]

Please help - lack of sleep is killing me & I can't catch up during the day as have a non-napping 3 year old.

We put my 7 mo to bed at around 7.30 - I try to aim for 2.5 - 3 hours after last nap of the day. He is formula fed and has an 8oz bottle at bedtime. He drops off to sleep on the bottle quite happily. Then about 20 mins later he wakes up and will only settle if someone sits with him, holds his hand etc. He then proceeds to repeat this pattern for a couple of hours before finally going into a deep sleep at 9.30 or 10. He also wakes several times overnight - again just wanting some comfort. He will appear to be fast asleep but the minute I stand up to leave the room the eyes pop open & he starts crying. It can take ages to get him settled into a deep sleep again

I'm confident he's not hungry overnight. He eats really well & isn't that keen on his first bottle of the day until he's been up for 30 mins or so.

He has a dummy for naps & night time. Most times he still has the dummy in his mouth when he wakes

I have introduced a teddy comforter but he doesn't take much interest in this & it doesn't seem to have helped.

He is in his own room & has been since about 5mo.

I'm not sure what we do to - considering CC but not sure it's for me or even how we would approach it.

He's generally a happy smiley little boy who is a joy during the day...I just need him to start sleeping now!

Hi, I'm on night two of cc on the recommendation of a sleep HV. Last night it took 30 mins at bedtime, she then woke at 12.20 and took around 5 mins to settle. Unfortunately it didn't work this when she woke up at 4.30 - gave her a feed, she kept muttering, tried controlled crying from 5.30 before giving up at 6am and getting up (I'd be quite happy if she could sleep til 6!).Tonight it only took 10 mins at bedtime and I'm keeping fingers crossed for the rest of the night and a later wake up tomorrow😁
HV told me to build up to 5 mins & then go in every 5 mins (you do this every time they wake). She also told me to use a stopwatch so I'm bang on time So:
1 minute crying - go in, don't say anything, avoid eye contact (she suggested looking at her body) & then leave.
2 mins crying & repeat above
3 mins crying & repeat
4 mins crying & repeat
5 mins crying & repeat

Once you're at 5 mins you do it every 5 mins until they're asleep.

Hope that helps, I know cc isn't for everyone.

Like many babies he sucks himself to sleep and then when he comes into a lighter phase of sleep he wakes up and wants the comfort of the way he gets to sleep. Trying to put him in his cot when he is still awake is the only way to tackle this but easier said than done I know. A technique that helped me with twins sleep problems is pottering around at bedtime, so go in and out the room very frequently putting stuff away but not being there constantly. The idea is to teach them to learn to drop off on their own and be very boring. Doing this is quite like controlled crying at first to be honest but after about 3 days it started to work well for us. Good luck.

Thanks for the replies. He does go into his cot awake initially, wasnt clear in the OP but he gets very drowsy drinking his milk, I then wind him & put him down drowsy but awake. He seems to drift off happily enough. It's 20 mins later when he starts his waking for the evening that the problems begin...

We're doing a fairly gentle form of CC this evening -so far he's been crying / us going in for about 50mins.

Ginger When you** go in do you settle them til they stop crying before leaving again?

Hopefully he'll settle soon but he's a stubborn little bugger like his mother

The problem is, mine doesn't stop crying. He'll cry all night :/
If he fell asleep after an hour or so I'd do cc but....

Sympathy Zuarak - it's not working for us. Poor little man just won't stop crying, he just gets more and more upset til he's totally hysterical. Not sure what to do next but don't think I can cope with the screaming