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!

@Tee20x

How are you getting on? How's the cot going?

Xx

@LML40

Awful! On the Monday when I put her in there at nap time after a while the tears came. Left her for a while to see if she would sort herself out but she didn't. Ended up going in to check on her & she calmed down. Left again & the tears started. Ended up taking her out as I couldn't bare to see her so upset.

So since then she's been in with me! I think I may have to park the idea for now (look at me still making excuses) - but I'm sure she's teething and is due to start nursery in less than 2 weeks. All the literature says not to introduce changes when there are other shifts to routines going on so who am I to go against that .

Not sure what to do to be honest. Starting to feel overwhelmed at the thought of going back to work FT, her starting nursery etc. I very nearly changed my mind and requested to go back part time - but can't really afford it sadly.

Like I've said before when she's at nursery obviously she will nap there so the main issue will be getting her to sleep at a reasonable time and before me so I have time to do what I need to do in the evenings.

I'm wondering whether I'll be able to put her to sleep and get her to sleep alone for an hour or two before coming in and co-sleeping. Will just have to see how long it takes for her to realise I'm missing. She seems to be getting better with that though as before I was literally holding her while she slept until I was ready to sleep myself but now as long I'm next to her I can put her down and have my hands and body free.

Have you had your second call with Lucy? I'm tempted myself though looked at her prices and almost fainted haha. Reading the reviews I was really tempted though saw one from a family with a child a similar age to DD and said that within a week they managed to get the child sleeping through with no tears!

@Tee20x

So sorry for the massive delay in responding! It's been so full on and I'm exhausted - waaaahhh.

Any update with the cot. Is she still back in with you?

I can imagine how overwhelmed you must feel going back to work FT, but so many people I've spoken to have said their new routine feel into place and it actually helped with sleep etc. what is your actual return date?

At least you're making progress with regards to the not having to hold her to sleep. Is that still going ok?

I have another one booked at the end of Jan as she's so booked up, so god I'm going to do my best until then to try and work out WTF is going on. He slept for 7 hours and then another 3 a week or so ago and that was on crap naps and a longer stretch before bed time. We tried to do the same each night, but it's been sometimes good and sometimes bad. 4 teeth are fully through, but he's biting all the time, so god knows if the teeth are annoying him! I'm going with the fact he's under tired even though last night every time I picked him up and settled him he fell asleep in arms and as soon as I put him down he woke up (he's not done that for about 4 months) he is taking longer to fall asleep nap and wise and at bed time, so I'm dropping a nap today even though he's napping now and it's super early!!! I just don't know what else to do as I can't hack this constant waking through the night.

I have a friend who has an 11 week old baby and she sleeps from 12-9! She is FF, but apparently that doesn't make any difference. Granted, I couldn't be awake until midnight as we've always had a bedtime since I can remember of no later than 9 and it's been 7/8 for months. I just think I'm doing something wrong? Maybe I should've been like my friends who have FF, left their babies over night with grandparents from weeks old, not had him lay on me, rock him to sleep, feed him to sleep and etc. it feels like all the things I want to do have just left me sleep deprived and questioning everything I do! Xx

@LML40 I still have no clue why this thread doesn't show up for me!!

The cot - she hates it as expected. As soon as her feet touch the mattress it's WW3 and she just cries and cries. I've decided to chicken out and just keep her in with me for now as I feel like with nursery and everything her sleep will regress and may be easier to manage if she's in with me.

I've had an awful 2 weeks of her refusing naps and then going to bed really late & waking up constantly throughout the night. I'm just exhausted!! She's been settling in at nursery this week so I've been having to get up early and get up and out of the house on a crap nights sleep. Dreading going back to work where I have to drop her off for 8am!!! Not sure how I will manage.

First day back is 7th Jan so not long now :(

@Tee20x

Oh gosh, this must be so tough! How is she settling in @ nursery? Is that ok? Are you getting a bit of respite when she's there or is it just a worry?

Are you going back to work FT?

@LML40 it's only been 2 days so too early to tell tbh. She was there for an hour yesterday and I stayed in the room with her. She was happy enough and was crawling around playing. Today was 2 hours and I dropped her off and sat and waited in the parents area. They said she was crying on and off :( and she didn't eat lunch - told them I didn't think she would because a. They had lunch at 12 and she had breakfast at 9.20 and b she's rubbish at eating lunch and dinner at the best of times. Really fussy and has to be in the mood and practically starved before she will eat proper food. Which is annoying because if you offer yoghurt/fruit/pudding/bread she will always eat it!!! She's in 9-1 tomorrow so fingers crossed it goes well. I'll just be dropping her off and then going to the gym and just relaxing tbh. First time in a long time I'll actually have hours to myself so will make the most of them!!

Her top two teeth are cutting now and have finally revealed themselves so hopefully the sleep issues resolve themselves soon.

In relation to your post before about the friend with the 11 week old baby - ours won't have these sleep habits forever and they will sort them out even if it takes a bit longer! At least we won't look back and regret the cuddles etc. Might as well get them now, soon they will be 15 and rejecting us!!

I was speaking to another mum at the nursery today whose son is 10 MO and she has the same issues as us! So felt a lot better taking to someone in real life who could relate. A lot of the people I meet it's all 7-7 schedules and dream babies.

@LML40 and yes I am going back full time sadly :( wanted to go part time but need my full time salary for the paperwork if I want to be applying for mortgages etc.

In terms of actual take home pay the difference between 4 and 5 days a week is only £200. I'd gladly lose £200 to have a day off in the week so will be looking to drop down to 4 days at some point when its feasible.

Hope you all had a nice Christmas and have had a good start to the year...even though we've barely entered it.

Update from me: everything has been completely shut. DD started nursery last week and since Christmas has had an awful head cold & conjunctivitis. A million wake ups and no sleep for me hooray.

Which brings me to last night & tonight where she seems to be doing split nights. Yesterday she was awake between 2-5.30. Today she slept from 9-11 and has been up ever since, so 3 hours and counting.

I was somewhat sympathetic to the wake ups while she was unwell but now that she is on the mend I'm just wondering why her sleep is getting worse.

What makes it worse is that so many times she's been on the brink of falling asleep and then wakes up again. She's gone from tears to just playing and standing up on the bed etc. Currently I've just given up because I could feel myself getting so angry and frustrated. Now I'm watching TV in bed feeling sorry for myself and my shit start to the year & not holding out hope of getting any sleep.

Even if she fell asleep now I'm too wound up to fall asleep myself.

@Tee20x

Happy NY!!!

I am so sorry to hear you're having a nightmare. It's relentless isn't it??

Do you think it's the settling in process of nursery and separation anxiety?

How has she been napping at nursery and how has she been on general? Are you settling into nursery with her, so not left her alone yet?

My LO is still on 3 naps as he either does 30 min cat naps which won't take him through to bed time and when he has done 2, it's meant a 6pm bedtime which never works out well as he always wakes up in the early hours and is wide awake for sometimes an hour. His best bed time is about 8/8:30. I'm still up about 3 times and desperately trying to wean him off the boob, but it's not too easy - lol.

@LML40 in the end she went to sleep at about 2.30 so was up for 3.5 hours!!

Nursery is going ok..ish. She has been there for 4 days so far but as they are closed over Christmas she hasn't been over the festive period. The first day was an hour and I was in the room with her, but stayed away from her as much as possible and was just wandering around the room playing with the other kids & seeing how she got on. The second day, she was there for 2 hours & I stayed in the building but was in the parents room filling out paperwork. They offered her lunch but she didn't touch it 😂. Third day was 9-1 and that time I left her and had some time to myself which was nice. She slept 45 mins I think they said but she was held by one of the staff the whole time. Again she didn't eat lunch. Then fourth day was 9-3 so quite a long stretch. Again slept 45 mins but this time they managed to put her down in the cot so presuming they rocked or held her until she fell asleep. Again she didn't have lunch but at least tasted it.

The first couple of days they said she was crying on and off but would play with toys and has apparently made a friend which is good. My biggest concern atm is the eating. I have a few threads on here about her lack of enthusiasm for meal times, even at home she literally won't eat. Breakfast is her best meal for actually getting something in her but lunch and dinner is normally a no go. She might have a taste of something but that's it. If I give her fruit/bread/toast type things she will 100% eat it but proper food she's not fussed over, so her not eating at nursery didn't surprise me at all but still worried that she will be there starving all day :(.

The nursery are good though, as when she doesn't eat they will phone me and let me know & offer toast/fruit/milk to fill her up. Surely she won't let herself starve though? I'm sure she would eat if she was really hungry? It is worrying though because when I go back to work she will be there 8-5 which is quite a long time for not eating if she doesn't get into the swing of things :(

I think her sleep issues are partly due to her being unwell - just after Christmas she got a bad head cold which I expected tbh as everyone at the nursery is ill but also I reckon she's about to start walking. She keeps getting up and taking 1-2 steps and then falling down or into me - hopefully this rectifies itself by the time I start work!! Can't be doing with no sleep & then having to go to work.

At home she's now down to one nap a day normally a longish one of 2 hours (she's still sleeping now as she woke up at like 10.30 due to the nights shenanigans) and this normally works out well for bedtime. The only thing is at nursery we have to wake up so early that the timings are a bit off. Both days she was there she fell asleep at about 11am as she had been up since 7 & then needed a second nap in the afternoon. I think I'll have to try and get them to stretch out her morning a bit and put her down for about 12.30/1 instead if possible.

It's nice to hear that his bedtime is similar to my DDs, her bedtime is always considered late by others! She goes down at around 8 too :)

Good on you for trying to night wean! I wouldn't dare yet as I really cba to be resettling in the night. It's boob in and back to sleep around here. Making life difficult for me in the long run I reckon but right now I need to sleep!!!

Once I go back to work we are both settled in our new routines I will take a look at her sleep though! Cot is still being used as laundry storage haha.

Gosh, I've only had that once before and i don't think for that long.

Ok, so nursery isn't a total disaster and it's early days, right? If she's always been a bit of a "funny" eater with you, I can imagine it will take time with "strangers". Can i ask what foods you've tried? Fortunately my LO eats everything (he had caviar the other day - ha) BUT I did try little bits and pieces around 3.5 months, so maybe that helped? Who knows, right? Lol.

It's so cute she's made a friend!

Definitely being poorly doesn't help! I think again, all these milestones and progress im does make a huge difference with everything, although I feel that apart from this group the people I do know who have babies and the ones who have had babies, never seem to have the "problems" I have had re: sleep. I'm sure the HB app, albeit good has totally stripped me of working things out for myself and I'm totally reliant on some app telling me!

The bed time thing does my head in as, if my LO averages 8 - 10 hours a night and that's NEVER changed, then how him going to bed early than this is going to suddenly make him sleep longer. He's currently napping now and he's been napping late like this for days as I try and do this bloody transition to 2 naps and failing! Ha.

I don't know when I started to feed to sleep on EVERY nap, but I'm sure the whole of the summer I didn't do it. I only fed to sleep at night/during the night, so he's used to this booby every day all day - lol. Hence why I'm trying my best not to constantly give him the boob when he wakes, but he is putting up a fight!

I genuinely feel like once we are back to work and not so consumed by the sleep deprivation, the sleep patterns, the constant worry about sleep and we're in this routine that we have zero control over, things MAY calm down. Here's hoping.

At least your LO has been on 2 naps for a while!!! I don't know when I'll ever have this.

I'm currently in the process of drafting a load of questions for Lucy! I'm praying she is a miracle worker this time.

Arrrrgggghhhh!!!!!! I never thought I'd be a new mum and be totally consumed by sleepy - ha xx

@LML40

We started weaning at 6 months and I started off with just simple puréed veg. Quickly moved on to puréed versions of my own food, spag bol, salmon and potato/pasta, chicken and roast veg etc etc. Also some food pouches due to laziness and ease when out and visiting other people. Normally things I wouldn't cook for myself/would never be bothered to. As she got older I would just make the texture more lumpy & incorporate things that can easily be mashed down by gums.

Breakfasts are more finger foody and will be toast/banana pancakes, waffles etc or porridge with fruit. But obviously breakfasts tend to be sweeter as well so I think that's why she will eat it. Even with finger foody lunches and dinners she will turn her nose up at it or throw it at the floor. I've tried giving things like rice, flaked fish, chicken drumsticks so she can just sit and gnaw on it - all hit the floor. Even things like homemade pizza she won't really eat though she's dairy free so I think it may be the cheese she doesn't like on that one.

We went to nandos a few weeks ago and she had a few chips and some garlic bread. So it's like anything that's unhealthy/she shouldn't really be eating she will scoff but a proper meal is meh to her.

I just keep on offering and if she doesn't eat then she doesn't eat. But I'm starting to worry now obviously with the whole nursery thing. But hopefully she will get the hang of it and want to copy what everyone else is doing.

The only good thing out of all of this is that because she will eat things she wants to eat, I know there's nothing physically wrong with her anatomy.

Over this past week that she's been ill she's been off her food more than usual and even turned her nose up at everything she would normally eat. Today she managed a slice of toast and a bit of a food pouch which is more than she's had all week. Basically turned back into an ebf baby.

You'll get there with the nap. DDs 3rd nap went when it started getting way too late. Think wanting to sleep at 6.30/7 it just wasn't practical anymore. I remember one time she was eating dinner at like 7.45pm and I just thought how ridiculous! This was when she was going to bed at like 9.30/10pm.

Luckily now with the drop to one nap, she is going down between 8-9 consistently. Even fell asleep at 7.40 one day which was a shocker!! It's so freeing as well only having to worry about one nap a day instead of trying to squeeze in 2/3!!

Hopefully Lucy is able to give you some solid advice! Let me know how it goes :)

DD is back at nursery this coming week & shes just about recovered from her last illness. Hoping she doesn't come down with anything too bad to give her little body some time to recover!!

Ah so you've been doing pretty much the same as me, although I do give him the Ella's pouches for lunch with a pudding pot, just to make sure he's getting all the goodness in! Mornings he will eat pretty much what your little one does....he loves porridge! Evenings he has a light dinner like, avocado, raspberries, blueberries and yoghurt.

Oh bless her! She loves the good stuff 😉

Well, exactly! She can eat, but she is wants what she wants and that's that Mum!

I know you said you've had to run errands and you've gone past her nap time sometimes, but usually how long was she awake for before her first nap of the day? What about the 2nd and final one too? It's about 3.5 hours from his last nap to bed time which I don't think should be longer?

Is the illness from nursery do you think?

Off the top of my head I really can't remember!! Just because we go by wake windows and judge naps by what time she wakes up for the day and so on so it can really vary.

I've had a quick look at HB - now that she's on one nap I don't log anymore but have gone back to look at my previous pattern.

When she was on 3 naps a day it was kind of like:

8 - wake up
10 - nap for roughly 1.5 hours
1 - nap for about 1.5 hours
5 - nap dr about an hour
8ish - bed

When she started transitioning the 2nd nap got pushed back to like 2pm and the 3rd nap kept being pushed back until after 6!! I think the latest time was like 6.30 or something.

So when she was on 2 naps a day a typical day was

9 - wake up
11 - nap for about 1 hour 20 mins - 1 hour 50 mins
4 - nap for about 1.5 hours. This one varied though and sometimes would be as late as 5. But then would be shorter nap of like an hour.
8/9 - bed

At the moment with one nap it's typically

9 - wake up
1- nap for about 2 hours at home so far at nursery it's been 45 mins haha
8 - bed

She doesn't seem to be overtired or anything so for now this is working for her. But obviously the days she's at nursery is a bit of a sticking point as she has to wake up earlier the whole routine moves forward. For nursery we need to wake up at like 7.30 so at nursery she's been falling asleep at around 11.

I think being awake from 12-8pm is a bit long for her so will see if we can work something out!!

Yeah she deffo got ill from nursery - when I stepped in I almost recoiled when I saw all of the snotty noses and coughing kids putting all the toys in their mouth - eurgh!!

She goes back next week and has only just somewhat recovered so hopefully she doesn't get ill straight away and can have a bit of a rest.

Even with the Ella pouches she sometimes won't eat them - it's weird. And she 100% knows the difference between the sweet pudding ones/fruit ones and normal food. It's bizarre. Literally just by looking at the packet. It's as if she can read haha.

@Tee20x

I came on to see how it's all going and realised you'd messaged ages ago!

How are you? How's work? How's LO settling into nursery?

X

@LML40 hey, life just goes by so quickly doesn't it. She's getting on better at nursery now - for the first month or so she would cry at drop off :( but now she goes in fine.

Her naps have been fine, which I was concerned about but literally since the beginning she's just been going down on her own and sleeping in a cot which was surprising for me.

She's not eating there but that's a whole other thread in itself. She's so fussy and will only eat when she's ready to or if it's something she likes. Anything bread/yoghurt/fruit based she will have no matter what. If it's something that looks fun, like chips, eggs or beans she'll eat it off my plate but for a long while she would just refuse any food actually made with her in mind - I'm a chilli lover so majority of my food is spicy and obviously has salt. I can't bare the thought of just adding it at the end so I cook hers separately.

So at nursery she won't eat, she may have some toast and fruit & for the longest even when she came home she would refuse dinner unless it was like porridge or toast. It was awful - now she will eat spag Bol and tomato pasta which is an improvement but still very limited.

She still bf throughout the night though - she doesn't quite sleep through and some nights it feels like she's attached to my boob. But other nights aren't too bad.

The cot still remains a storage facility - but because she's at nursery now and goes to bed at around 8.30 I don't mind being in my room from that time onwards. I think my main gripe was having to have her contact nap on me which took up large chunks of my day.

With her sleeping now I do 3 stories & then lay her down and bf and she falls asleep. Which again is an improvement as I don't have to rock her, hold her or pace up and down. So at least now she's falling asleep without movement & it's just the milk.

When she's at nursery and her dads house, she just falls asleep without any help - which I still struggle to believe as I've never seen it but at least I know it can be done!!

How is it all going for you?