Sleep training 7 Month old

[snackmammy]

Hi ladies,

Just looking for any advice, reassurance or similar experiences I know sleep can be a touchy subject and we all choose to parent differently but I have been at my wits end recently so have decided it's time to sleep train DS who is 7 months!

From 6 weeks he slept through we really thought we had hit the jackpot! Then came the 4 month regression and slowly hints got worse & worse...up until this last week night waking could be anything from 2-8 times and some night he would be having 3 bottles. Myself, DH & DD have been absolutely shattered. For the sake of letting DH & DD who have work & school sleep I have rushed in with a bottle or cuddles every night and we have got to the point now where non of us are getting decent sleep so last night I decided to bite the bullet and give controlled crying a try.

DS settled at 6.30 then woke at 8pm managed to settle him within 20 mins, he then woke at 10pm and did not settle until midnight, myself or DH would go in every 5/10 mins pick up, rock, put dummy in, shush etc and he did eventually fall asleep until 5am this morning when he was up for the day.

I am quite sure he doesn't need bottles through the night as he is having 4/5 7oz bottles in the day plus food and some nights he will only have a couple sips from his bottle them fall asleep so I think it's more something he relies on to sleep.

Has anyone had a similar situation? Am I doing the right thing or do I need to try something different? I am generally quite laid back and know babies wake etc if it was just one wake I would cope but it's affecting us all now I feel I'm starting to go a bit loopy, have no energy at all & have been suffering with headaches.

Any help or even just reassuring word would be appreciated!!

X

People on here will tell you he is too young, but I sleep trained mine 20 years ago when it was less frowned upon and everybody was happier, including the babies who learned how to self sooth. I didn't let them cry for hours or anything but i did let them grumble and cry a bit without picking them up. I actually can't remember exactly what i did as it was different with each one as they were different ages. DS2 was put on a Gina Ford style routine fitted round DS1s activities/nursery etc. He never actually needed further training! DS1 was about one and i had to go into him and give reassurance and then increase the gaps between coming back into him until he feel asleep. That worked fairly well, although he stayed an early riser for a couple of years. DS3 was a bit of a mixture and i was a bit more slack with him but he was a bit of a milk monster and eventually DH had to take over at night to stop him comfort feeding (he was a toddler by then).
I think seven months is fine if he's a good weight and getting plenty of food and milk during the day.

How did last night go OP?

@FATEdestiny

How did last night go OP?

Surprisingly well! Put down wide awake at 7pm and settled after 10 mins of fidgeting and moaning then woke around midnight I went in gave dummy and stroked face for a minute he dropped back off until 6am when he woke for the day! I'm not expecting it to be that easy every night but going to stay strong and not give in and give a bottle in the night :-)

Well done, hopefully he'll carry on like that (barring the odds illness /teething).

My girl, now 10 months, went downhill with her sleep with the 4 month sleep regression and I think her record was 13 wakes a night. I tried a lot of things and I think I’ve read nearly every article on the internet about baby sleep! From my experience, reading and general opinion if your baby doesn’t have the temperament for settling by themselves then it’ll be pointless and painful for the both of you. But if it’s working for you then great! Persue it but don’t force it. My girl would just scream more and more the more I tried it. We now bedshare (have done since 7 months purely for survival at first but now I like it) and she wakes maybe 2/3 times a night but mostly settles herself back down until there’s a leap going on. From my reading I’ve learnt babies don’t have the ability to learn to self sooth, that part of the brain isn’t developed yet, so if they don’t respond to being left to settle then chances are they won’t. I read something that said they don’t learn to self sooth they just learn no body comes when they cry for help so they stop, and that just broke my heart. So I guess my point is your not alone, and try it but don’t force anything! Work with your baby not against! And it does get better. Sending positive vibes OP