Baby 7 months on Tuesday - constantly waking through the night for over a week

[LML40]

Hi,

So, my LO has never been a great sleeper, but there was a stage where he was only waking up 2 times in the night (he's breast fed). For the past week he goes down at 7:30/8 for 3 hours or so and then he's up every hour and sometimes just 20 mins. I've started to introduce food, but just for fun tastes and he doesn't seem to have any problems when it comes to poo's etc. He's very regular!

He's 7 months on Tuesday - is there some kind of regression? He's been putting everything in his mouth for as long as I can remember so was thinking maybe it's getting worse now and it's his gums/teeth?

I feed him before bed each night, but he doesn't fall asleep when doing that now, but I do have to soothe him. He goes down for naps fine and doesn't fight, but I do have to put lullaby's on and rock him a little before he goes down. Maybe I'm doing everything wrong!!!

He's not too cold or too hot either.

I'm absolutely exhausted and just yesterday my dad was diagnosed with cancer for the 2nd time so everything as it is has become so overwhelming and with no sleep it's worse than ever.

Any advice would be great!

Hello, can I join the no sleep club? 👋🏼

My little girl is 6months old and has been up every two hours for weeks, I cannot cope much longer!
She settles fine for bedtime around 7 but up every two hours from then until 7am.

Have tried taking her into my bed but it makes no difference. She's in the next to me cot at the moment - I have put the side up and moved it a little away from my bed to see if that helps, it doesn't!
Nothing seems to make a difference - good naps in the day, bad naps in the day, eating lots in the day, tiring her out etc etc etc 🤪

Oh @Tee20x that’s so tough. Wish I’d checked here earlier cos I was def doing the same at that time.

The Silver Cross ones are lovely and we have a gorgeous one from John Lewis that converts to a toddler bed. DS seems to spend half the night normally in it before coming in with us.

Last night was tough again. He woke up after an hour so I just lay down next to him upstairs from about 8.30pm. We had three wake ups before midnight, then a decent stint till 4, then every hour until 8.30.

I do think it’s a combo of teething/growth spurt and developmental. His bottom gums are so hard and bumpy, plus he is only crying at night when lying down. He is eating so much - he ate more than my husband for breakfast this morning and he has taken baby steps this morning, just 2-3 but I think there’s a lot going on in that brain!!

@MaverickDanger ooh congrats on the baby steps 🥺🥺 so cute! How old is your LO. Yes the hard gums does sound like teething :(. I had wondered if mine is teething too, she got her bottom 2 teeth about 2 months ago and I heard that the top two normally follow shortly after but no sign of them yet. Though I'm wondering if they're travelling through the gums & will make an appearance soon.

It's awful when they're waking up every hour. As soon as you start drifting off yourself you're woken back up. We just have to keep pushing through with the knowledge that we will get through it.

In relation to cots - I saw silver cross had a bundle deal with a chest of drawers (I think) and cot for £400, so 50% off normal price which is good. Normally I'd love a bargain like that, but am coming to the end of Mat leave & in the £0 pay phase. Don't think my credit card will be too happy.

I had planned on just getting something cheap and cheerful with good reviews for now, until I move and then can get a "proper" cot. At least then she would already have one spare at grandparents house as I'd just leave it behind & not have to faff thinking about breaking it down and bringing it to the new house.

@bunhead34 welcome to the club :(

@Tee20x

This is tough! I'm also literally dead on my feet today.

I do genuinely believe that as @MaverickDanger has said it's a combination of teething, growth spurts, developmental etc.

When you're sleep deprived it's so hard to think rationally, but we must try and remember this isn't forever. All we can do is perhaps try different methods and persevere.

They're still so teeny tiny and I think we will look back and no matter how hard it was, we held our babies when they needed, rocked them to sleep, fed them to sleep and didn't worry about the other stuff we were told we should do.

My DS has just woken from a nap, but I knew he was still tired, so put him on the boob, sat in my nursing chair and put a blanket on us and he's asleep again. He's definitely out of sorts, so I'll do what I can do comfort him.

@bunhead34 welcome!!! Let's look at the positive here. You might be knackered, but I think it's great your LO loves their food.

We've got this ladies. We're superwomen!!

Let's keep this thread going because I know that one day we will all have a break through and should meet to celebrate 😉

I think my sleep deprivation is causing me to waffle, but I hope I make some sense!!

Stay strong xxx

T@Tee20x That's such a good deal with JL. I got my silver cross bundle from their too,but it was way over double that so as much as I don't think your credit card would appreciate it. You've got to get it 😉 !! It's so so so worth it! Sorry for encouraging you to spend, but......

This phone 🤪

Their *

There * 🙄

@Tee20x the transition to cot involved me getting in with him and nursing him to sleep then using my ninja skills to escape! It did work though and eventually my husband was able to settle him!

@Cotswoldmama as in in the actual cot ?! I didn't know they could support the weight of an adult.

I've seen a video of a lady who transitioned using a travel cot - one of those where the side can be unzipped. Seen one on Argos for £30. She layed on the floor to feed to sleep and then was able to zip up the side and escape.

Wondering if that may be of any help or to go straight for a proper cot ??

Hi,

I've not posted before but I think I belong on this thread. My boy is 6.5 months and sleep has been awful since 3.5 months. I can count on one hand the number of times I've slept more than 3 hours in a row since then. Around 3.5 months we hit the 1 -1.5 hour wake ups, nap refusal, 2am party sessions. We had a brief respite at about 5.5 months when we had a couple of glorious weeks of 2.5 - 3 hour stretches on a semi regular basis and now teething / ear infections etc reared their heads and it has all gone backwards again. Although last night he seemed to be slightly happier and decided not to be wide awake for 1.5 hours at 3am as has been the norm all this week, so that was lovely.

He is very active, alert, doesn't like missing out on anything. He is happy with about 10 mins of an activity at any one time before he starts grumbling and I have to mix it up again. I'm finding it very hard work but all normal I'm sure! He's an absolute sweetheart in general though. Everyone has said it gets easier but we have been hearing that since the day he was born so we no longer believe it! it's easier to be out and about with him in the day rather than staying at home but mustering the energy to go out some days feels like a monumental task.

The sleep deprivation is pretty torturous the moment and everyone says we must sleep train him and it will only be a few days of letting him cry etc and we will be transformed. I'm sure some babies take to it fine and I'm absolutely of the opinion of each to their own. It's not something I'm personally prepared to do. I feed him to sleep every time he wakes because it's the path of least resistance (if that makes me lazy so be it!). It has stopped working in the day and not always at night, which I'm a bit gutted about! It's the only way which feels right to me personally with my particular child.

Thankfully we seem to have had a breakthrough with naps in the last 3 or 4 weeks. Previously we contact napped every single time. I gave him the opportunity here and there to nap in his cot and if he woke up, we gave up and cuddled instead. Until one day he seemed to just sort of get it and started settling in his cot! I honestly never, ever thought I'd see the day when he would nap without me. I didn't do anything special so I think it just goes to show they will all just get there when they are ready.

Since he's breastfed could you not take him into bed with you? I couldn't be dealing with all that- I got a good nights sleep throughout the baby years by bed sharing. Only really woken up during periods of illness.

No need to make life hard for yourself, if it can be avoided. Sorry if this isn't helpful, it is a bit of a cheat to do this so it might not solve the problem for you.

@Tee20x it was a toddler one that could be converted into a toddler bed!

I just remembered having similar with my eldest. He suddenly started taking hours to get to sleep, he wasn't breastfed. We were rocking him singing to him, patting his bum. Everything we could think of then one day I was just fed up. I got him straight out the bath put him in his pyjamas and then put him straight into his cot said goodnight and left the room and he slept! It turned out it was us keeping him awake with all the singing etc! I'm sure we were just lucky but when you've tried everything it's worth a try!

Hi guys,

How have you all been over the last few days? Any improvements in sleep at all ?

Hey @Tee20x we’re getting a great improvement in the evenings. We used to suffer really badly with false starts and never be able to enjoy even a 45 min episode of something!

Last night he went down about 7.30 and didn’t even stir till 11.45! Honestly the first time he’s ever gone that long. Then awake every 2 hours from then till 7.30am, feeding for 20 mins each time.

I think that’s what I’m finding tough, he’s always been such a quick feeder - he’d wake for a 5 min feed and go straight back off, but now I’m fully awake by the time he’s done.

How are you guys doing?

This is going to be so long so sorry in advance

I'm having a terrible time of it tonight. She's still up. Literally won't go down. So frustrated I could cry. I just don't know what to do. Well I do lol but I feel like I am resisting doing it because I'm still living with family and don't want to expose them to tears and tantrums when everyone has to get up for work in the morning.

If it were left up to me and I had my own space I think I would have cracked by now and just left her in her cot and gone to a different room and left her to get on with it and put herself to sleep.

Im all one for loose routines but this is ridiculous. I'm so tired now so will be looking to go to sleep as soon as she's gone down so have 0 time to myself from the moment we wake up.

I really feel like I'm distracting her and that if I weren't around she would fall asleep easily. But that's easier said than done as all other rooms are occupied :(. At the moment she is yawning away but is fiddling with my necklace. Anything she can get her hands on she will fiddle with to keep herself awake whether that be bra straps, earrings etc etc.

Tonight started off like all other nights, nappy change, pyjamas, story & feed with white noise playing. She didn't fall asleep while feeding so was rocking her and patting her bum - 40 mins later we were still there. Eyes were closing but kept waking herself up.

Sometimes when she does this I can lay her down on my bed and feed her for a while and she will go off to sleep herself - not this time, kept crawling away.

By this point I've just had enough - I know she's not hungry, nappy is fine etc so put her on her front to pat her back to see if she would go down that way - nope. Queue crawling around, climbing on me, climbing up headboard & tears when she realised I wasn't going to engage with her.

Currently sitting with her on my chest - she's still fiddling with my necklace etc but I'm just so over it. I refuse to feed her to sleep as well because she's been feeding on and off for over an hour while I've been trying to get her to sleep. I think things need to change because I cannot go on like this at all.

It's funny because I always used to read on here that cosleeping and feeding to sleep etc etc works until you know it's time to stop. And I always used to think how do you know.

But I think I have cracked 😂😂😂. Send help.

Still here rambling - but on nights like these where she goes down ridiculously late, she wakes up so frequently during the night too & then will wake up early.

I think she's finally drifted off to sleep, on my chest with her head resting on my neck, but I dare not move to check just incase I wake her up.

This is no life for anyone to live!!

I know I'll look at this post tomorrow and laugh at myself for the dramatics (probably while feeding and rocking her to sleep) but just needed to rant to get it all out of my system.

Definitely think these days are wearing thin though, she's far too big to be laying on me and being rocked to sleep, even if mentally I could manage it, physically it's getting tough too.

I'm supposed to be going on a trip within the UK with a friend next week & staying a few nights. Sort of dreading it now that I'm in this rough patch with DDs sleep as I foresee our evening having to be spent in a pitch black room trying to get madam down. Friend insists she's not bothered and that she will help out during the night as & I quote "it's only a few nights for me but you do this everyday" - bless her. But still annoying when you just want to relax.

Will do some reading on independent sleep and self settling to see if I can work something out & I think contact naps will be no more.

@MaverickDanger

Hey *@Tee20x* we’re getting a great improvement in the evenings. We used to suffer really badly with false starts and never be able to enjoy even a 45 min episode of something!

Last night he went down about 7.30 and didn’t even stir till 11.45! Honestly the first time he’s ever gone that long. Then awake every 2 hours from then till 7.30am, feeding for 20 mins each time.

I think that’s what I’m finding tough, he’s always been such a quick feeder - he’d wake for a 5 min feed and go straight back off, but now I’m fully awake by the time he’s done.

How are you guys doing?

Amazing news for you!! I wonder if he's actually feeding or if he's just suckling for comfort. I've found that sometimes DD does that and if I just take my boob away she is none the wiser - but if I leave it in she suckles out of habit.

My aim for the next few weeks is to sort out DDs sleep schedule & kick these late nights and late wake ups. For the last week she's been going down 9.30 on average and waking up between 8.45-9.30am. The latest she woke up was at 10.10am & I almost had a heart attack when I woke up and saw the time. Couldn't believe how much of the morning had passed us.

Getting her down for a time like 7.30pm just seems miles away but I think I need some baby free evenings back.

Hey!!

I want to say that things will change and a natural progression works as they get older, but I just don't know.

My LO woke a lot on holiday and was unsettled when he got back, but as 2 teeth have popped through I'm assuming that the frequent wakings were down to teething!

For the last 3 days he's gone down at 7:30 and woke at 6. Obviously he hasn't slept right through. He does 4/5 hours initially wakes, I feed, he then goes down for 2/3 hours, I wake and feed. His last wake is at 6am where I feed him and he's ready for the day. This has meant that his first nap is around 8:30 which he does about 30 mins. His second nap has been for 2 hours and then he has his last one which is about 30 mins. Who knows how long this will last, but what I will say is, is that he has been in his own cot/room since 5 months so maybe that helps? I don't know. I've been rigid with a routine as much as possible, but again I don't know if that's helped as he's been up and down with naps since day dot. All I can put everything down to is growth spurts, teething etc.

Apparently I'm due an 8 month regression so watch this space. Lol.

@Tee20x I do feel that maybe a nice slow gentle transition to LO's own cot will help. Like I mentioned before, maybe put teddies and small comforters that smell like you, get some pillow sent for babies and work through it like that. I am sure that once she's in her own proper cot things will change. Some may disagree with soft "toys" being in a cot, but as long as your comfortable with your LO having that, I do think its something that my LO has benefited from.

I'm now going to slowly lessen the length of time I feed for when he wakes up in the night as @MaverickDanger has mentioned. Hopefully that will help LO sleep a little longer through the night with less wake ups.

Thankfully my LO isn't starting nursery until he is over the year and I'll have a month to settle him in before I go back to work. I worry about this a lot as I don't think I could handle the wake ups and work.

I don't know when I'll stop feeding to sleep at bed time but I think for now it's fine. I also need to stop feeding to sleep for naps, but again I'll just go with it until maybe the transition just happens naturally!

@LML40 ugh yes. I will try and see how I get on. As for now it's rinse & repeat of yesterday.

Also I forgot to ask @LML40, when you feed him to sleep in the night do you then transfer him into the cot afterwards? Or what do you do?

@Tee20x

Yes, he goes straight into the cot. I try and do it so he's not totally asleep too.

How did your night go? X

@LML40, that's good - I remember a few months ago when i attempted to get baby to sleep alone, id feed to sleep and then put her down but she'd wake up - if not immediately, within 30 mins or so.

The actual night was ok, she only woke up briefly about twice. But getting to sleep was a pain. Was trying to put her to sleep for over an hour & she just wasn't having it.

Starting to think it might be teething related as it looks as if there's some teeth below the gums.

If not that, her late naps may be starting to affect her sleep so if the same happens again tonight - tomorrow I may have to abandon the late afternoon nap to get her to bed early and sort out this horrid routine.

@Tee20x

Ah you may have got to the bottom of it. Are you able to get the oil I recommended?

I've tried to avoid the late naps too by just bringing the bedtime earlier and it seems to have worked (so far).

I think it's trial and error constantly isn't it?

Did you get your cot?

No I haven't got the oil yet, I think I have a pillow mist somewhere - but baby has eczema so am I bit apprehensive of using it. Though I wear perfume etc and she doesn't react to that so it should be fine.

Yeah I think it definitely may be teething. She's been a grump today & had a major crying episode - normally she doesn't cry :( poor thing.

No haven't got the cot yet but will be ordering it in the next few days. Once that's done it will be here fairly quickly and apparently doesn't take too long to set up.

I've opted for one on the cheaper side. I think it's £180 for cot and mattress. My heart couldn't bear to get the silver cross one.

Hello!

I know it’s been a couple of weeks since anyone’s posted but just wanted to join the gang and send some solidarity! I have a 6.5mo DD and she’s absolutely gorgeous but never been the best sleeper. Well actually, I think she sleeps pretty well, just not where we’d like her to! Lol or where society deems it necessary for her to sleep! If only we still lived in caves and didn’t have to worry about going to work or live by the clock. I think we’d all worry less about how baby sleeps.

Totally with you all on the constant comments that you’re making a rod for your own back, she needs to learn to self soothe, you need to put her down awake or drowsy but awake!! Yeah right! Come and bloody try it. She’s having none of it 😂

She’s always slept better on us, with us, beside us in the bed. So the sleep deprivation is pretty bad in our house too. It feels like there’s no end in sight. Don’t know about you but we’ve always said oh maybe when she gets to this month, it’ll get better, maybe when she reaches 6 months things will change and they never have!

I know quite a few people who’ve had babies recently including my NCT group and I honestly feel like we’re the only one having problems. It can feel very lonely at times can’t it?

Anyway, I also wanted to share a couple of Instagram accounts that me & DH follow. They’ve really helped us feel like we’re not alone and also reassured us that what we’re doing is totally normal and appropriate for our baby.

Secondstartotheright_sleep
Kathrynstaggibclc

Ones a sleep consultant but holistic and totally against CIO and any type of “rod for your own back” comments. The other is a breastfeeding consultant. They do a weekly Q&A on their stories and I find the questions & answers really helpful as I often see someone else ask something that’s related to our situation.

Hope you’re all doing ok? We were up at 5am this morning because of the clocks! 😱