7 month old wakes 6-10 times a night

[lizzyttc2017]

Since about 3 months old my daughters sleep went really downhill. I put it down to the four month sleep regression but it's never got any better and I'm so exhausted.

We've always done a bedtime routine at around 6.30/7 of bath, baby massage, breastfeed and bed.

She also has a dummy which does help send her off to sleep (not sure if this is causing more problems than it's worth though as she may be waking and looking for it?)

When she wakes it isn't always to nurse, I do nurse her for some of the wakings however she will often just go back off with a cuddle or her dummy. Sometimes she will wake up and be awake for 1-3 hours just wide awake.

I start her off in her cot but she's in bed with me when I go to bed (after 3 or 4 wake ups in her cot).

She has no trouble with daytime naps and usually has about 2 naps morning and afternoon (sometimes a third cat nap too) which last around 1 hour each.

I'm not sure what to do, I don't look forward to going to bed because I know how rough nights are, not to mention my partner usually ends up sleeping on the sofa so he can get some sleep for work.

Has anybody else been in this situation and found something that works? (I don't want to do cry it out)

Thanks :/

Poor you, sounds tough! Is she in her own room? Is she on solids yet? Between 4-6 months my daughters sleep was pretty bad then once she was in her own room and solids things dramatically improved.

I feel your pain, I have a 10 month old that has never slept through the night and we're up similar amount as you 😩

We've invested in the crazy priced sleepyhead and a white noise machine that has a cry sensor ( Ollie the owl ) , both have improved sleep , not fixed it but it has definitely helped !

@Aspenn17 She naps and starts the night in her own room but wakes up in her cot so much that she ends up co sleeping with me for most of the night. She is on solids and eats really well but no change in sleep unfortunately:(

@homegrownmumma we had the sleepyhead but put it away a couple of months ago when she discovered a preference for sleeping on her side. She still slept terribly in it before anyway haha! Also we have a white noise machine, not sure how much good it's doing haha x

I never really tried a bedtime routine, I hate rules.
Mine used to sleep quite well with us. It was lovely, cuddling up. We were quite safe and all slept through the night.

OP you have described exactly what our nights are like with my 6 month old. It's been this way since 4 months. She started refusing a dummy ages ago so that isn't a factor for us and her sleep is still awful
I've read a lot and asked a lot of questions of people and the understanding I've reached is it's just the way it is and they'll improve one day when they're ready. Unless you want to sleep train, which I do not. Google Sarah Ockwell Smith and Gentle Parenting, it may reassure you to read some of her material.

2 yo still not sleeping through
Some hate sleep.

My 8mo is the same. I’m not sleep training, but we have a bedtime routine. He’s still in the same room as us, in his cot and usually he moves into my bed at 2am. It’s just easier this way. Things have improved a bit in the last month and he has longer stretches of sleep now. I’m glad we stuck it out and didn’t do cry it out.

This sounds almost word for word like what we are going through! We are considering trying to move him to his own room at night to see if it helps. Did you ever find something that worked for you?

@lizzyttc2017

@KatrinaAmelia Hi Katrina, sorry to hear your going through this, it is tough! As rubbish as it is to hear she just grew out of it gradually, it took a while and it only got slowly better when she was almost one (still waking but less). She’s now 21 months and sleeps through most nights which I never thought would happen. Just be kind to yourself and know that it will get better (and make sure you treat yourself to chocolate and caffeine 😅) x