7 month old sleep regression - for the past 6 weeks and counting..

[Mrssarahbeee]

Ok so maybe my luck ran out - my daughter managed to go through from 7pm-6am ish from aged 3.5 months until just beyond 6 months. THEN..

She started waking every other night or so, just once..we defaulted to giving her a bottle back then and she'd go back..

Now though, oh, well we haven't seen a sleep through for about 3 weeks and even then that was a one off. Her wakings are very inconsistent in terms of times and she doesn't always need or want milk - in fact rarely we offer or give it to her...so I really don't think it's hunger.

She'll start tossing and turning and then whining and escalate then to crying. Most of the time the second we pick her up she stops so I'm pretty sure she's not in pain (ie, I don't think it's teeth at the mo). I'm at my wits end as this so-called sleep regression has been going on for nearly 2 months and is getting worse. She is bottle fed and naps ok in the day and isn't a very hungry baby.

It COULD be all manner of things - I started trying to wean at 5 months but she's not very interested and spits most things out / she's still in our bedroom which I am NOT loving as she stirs when we even breathe / she is maybe going through some kind of seperation anxiety thingy / she was teething but still no sign of those buggers.

What can I do though? We have a 3.5 yr old too and the days I have him I'm just wiped out and it's just plain rude that she's lulled us into smug security that she CAN sleep through but now has thought, nah, sod that!

Is there an end in sight? Can I do anything to help her stop waking - part of me thinks we shouldn't go to her at all but we all know how we fell at 3am and just want an easy life. She mostly is frantically trying to get back to sleep sucking on her thumb and will go quiet for a minute then start moaning again..

Has anyone else been through the same?!

Thanks for any advice
x

No suggestions I'm afraid, but I feel your pain. My 5 month old slept through similar times to yours from 13 weeks until 2 weeks ago. Now that is a distant memory, he's now up twice a night and up for the day at 5, sometimes randomly being awake between 2 and 4 before getting up at 5 anyway. It's a killer! I really hope it doesn't last until 7 months!!!

Between my 7-month old and my 3-yr old I think I slept for a total of 2 and a half hours last night! It's horrendous, isn't it?? No advice really but chin up and try not to feel like it's just you. You can help them learn good sleep habits but at the end of the day they sleep through when they're ready, IME 😥

Do you try and settle get to sleep without picking her up?

At this age I would re-insert dummy, stretch my arm over the cot and do some reassuring patting, shushing or just a hand in chest (all while lying in my bed and without opening my eyes), putting dummy back in at any murmur until back to sleep.

Thanks all - we do half-hearted shhhing from the bed but admittedly cave in at stupid o'clock and pick her up - for fear of her waking her brother next door too.. I try not to hold her for long before then putting her back and shhiing her with my hand on her tummy and this does sometimes work.. It's why she wakes up in the first place I'm wishing I could try and lessen too?..

She uses her thumb to self-soothe, which helps a lot but then will cry in between taking it out and putting it back in to get back to sleep :( x

I feel your pain! As you can possibly tell with the time that I am writing this. My lb is nearly 8 months and has been doing this for weeks now. He wakes up from 2 and carries on every hour until I can not cope any more. Tonight I can not cope, I caved in and we are down stairs. He is teething but this doesn't seem to bother him so I have no idea why he keeps waking up. I hope this ends soon. I can't take any more. Sorry I'm no help but hoping someone else posts and we find a solution! X