7 months and NO SLEEP!

[babymama12]

My youngest has just turned 7 months and we are experiencing real problems with sleep. Naps in the day are limited to 2 one hour naps, she’s feeding well (both meals and bottles) and is happy to go to bed. However, she wakes after approximately 2 hours and then is a nightmare all night. She will only sleep if she’s in my arms, as soon as I put her down she screams the house down. I can’t settle her in her cot, she will constantly cry until she is picked up. I’m managing stretches of about 10 mins sleep at a time. I also have a 3 year old so need to try not to wake him. I am DYING of exhaustion! It’s honestly making me not enjoy the time I spend with the children as I am so tired.
In the day time, said child is OVERLY clingy. I cannot walk 5 steps across the room without her crying after me. I constantly have to be in her eyeline and when I’m sat hy her she is climbing up my legs.
Does anyone have any tips on clingy children?! As I think this is the trouble at night, she just wants me. But it’s making life pretty unbearable after 7 months of no sleep. :(

Bless you this is hard. My 3 year old who was a fantastic sleeper has started waking at 4am EVERY night. She wakes everyone including my 4 month old. Its driving me batty so I can't imagine how you're feeling. Sleep deprivation is truly awful. I don't have much advice unfortunately. I hope you manage to have some naps or something. Have you a partner that can take over?

Two one hour naps during the day! I was lucky if I got half an hour each day from any of my three and it was usually in the car! 😄

It's not easy but it does get better eventually. My middle one ended up sleeping with me because it was the only way either of us got any rest. Do what you need to do!

Do you wake her after an hour when she's had a nap? IME my twins slept for much longer than that as naps. Perhaps she's gotten so used to only sleeping for an hour that she thinks bedtime is also just a nap and is conditioned now to wake up after only very small sleeps? I'd let her stretch her naps out? My twins are 1 and they regularly sleep for 2-3 hours as a nap - not saying they are amazing sleepers but one does sleep through more often than not and the other just wakes once for a cuddle

My daughter is exactly the same. I always started her in her cot for the first stretch then took her to bed with me when I went to bed. As she's gotten older she disturbs me less and less in our bed, actually sleeping through in it now. Have you tried this?

My littlest is prett clingy and I had to ditch the breastfeeding at 11 months because of this. We switched to my DH settling them and he is much much better! Maybe try that?
Good luck, it's so so hard x

I could of wrote your post except my DC is one this month and I'm lucky if she has 2 30 min naps per day

I would say you're lo is overtired. Hence, the clingyness. But, that could also be separation anxiety.

How does lo self soothe? Do you rock to sleep?
2 hour naps as someone says is a bit short. From what I read, it should be approx 1 to 1.5 on morning and 1.5 to 2 in the afternoon.

Split shifts DH goes 8-12 so you get a 4 hour chunk then swap it's the only way until they start sleeping a bit more.

My LO has just started doing this and she is 7.5months. Do you have the wonder weeks app? It suggested they go through a clingy mini sleep regression at this age because they've learnt about distance so its part of separation anxiety kicking. I'm hoping it resolves soon as DH and i are currently taking turns doing shifts (for various reasons, we can't co-sleep) 😴😴😴

I just saw your lo is 7 months. My 7-month-old was on 3 naps a day.
9 till 10
1230 or 1 till 2 or 230
Then 430 or 445 30 mins nap.
Then 8 pm bed.

8 months is a separation anxiety peak/sleep regression as they prepare to crawl/stand. Not much to do about it but meet their needs and ride it out.

Eldest was a clinger, a terrible napper and a bad sleeper. Permanently overtired from only having 28 minute naps etc.

However, what really helped was learning to cruise at 10 months and walk a little while later. I think her clinginess was more her seeing me as her way to go places, and once she could move by herself she couldn’t give a stuff where I was!

Sleep improved when she started dropping naps and spending all day running round like a loon.

Has she always been like this? Get her checked for ear infection, sinus infection, and tonsil/adenoids swelling. She's clingy during the day because she's so tired.