7m old sleep challenges

Cuineasbotharcailinbainne · 2022-06-30T21:18:43+00:00

EBF Baby is 7months, wakes every 2 hours(sometimes more) at night to feed . No matter how much or how little day sleep baby has they will feed to sleep and wake every 10/15 mins then for around 2 hours, some nights it's 11pm before this stops an they go into a deep sleep. So since baby was born I have not spent a single evening with my partner as ive just had to go to bed with baby as they have so many wakes it's just not worth the exhaustion of up and down stairs like a yoyo as by the time they fall asleep it's quite late anyways. I had worked with a sleep consultant who said practice practice practice at getting them to self settle in the cot at night, which was a waste of time and caused serious anxiety and disappointment after 4 weeks of trying. They also advised to work with a 7am -7pm schedule which in reality was wake at 7 and from 7-10pm I was constantly resettling baby. I gave this up and followed baby's sleep cues and atm we're working on a 9am-9pm day. I am worn out, frustrated, then guilty at myself for feeling like this. When does it get better....I feel so fried.

sunflowerandivy · 01/07/2022 10:16

What methods did you use to settle baby? Did you try controlled crying?

Original poster

Cuineasbotharcailinbainne · 01/07/2022 14:11

Have tried rocking ,shushing, patting, pick up put down, she gets so worked up, some nights I'd get her into cot for 10 mins but no more after she wakes.

Not into CIO or anything associated with that.

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UpToMyElbowsInDiapers · 01/07/2022 14:13

Honestly… I think you may need to rethink the CIO ban. 🤷‍♀️

SunnySide1992 · 01/07/2022 14:54

Following as your situation sounds very similar to mine! Also EBF and 7 months old. Never been a good sleeper. Have tried her in her own room and cot twice. First time we made it till 12 (with 2 wakes) Next night was till 2 (with 3 wakes) both times spent an hour trying different settling methods then gave up! She's growing out of her next to me crib now. Do you co sleep? It's the only way we get any sleep! So I'm now trying her room every other night, hoping each night gets better and then we co sleep =) I don't like the CIO method either! If you want to cuddle your baby then do it =)

sunflowerandivy · 01/07/2022 15:32

Cuineasbotharcailinbainne · 01/07/2022 14:11

Have tried rocking ,shushing, patting, pick up put down, she gets so worked up, some nights I'd get her into cot for 10 mins but no more after she wakes.

Not into CIO or anything associated with that.

The thing is that some kids respond better to being left alone to sort their shit out. Rocking, shushing, patting etc overstimulates kids. Rocking and shushing stopped working when my DD was 10 months. We had absolutely no option but to do controlled crying. We tried every gentle method going! One night at 1am we started controlled crying and it took less than 20 minutes, next night 5 and no crying on third night. In fact, it was less crying overall. We said "goodnight" gave her a kiss & cuddle then went in at 2, 4, 6, 8 mins.

Original poster

Cuineasbotharcailinbainne · 01/07/2022 16:07

SunnySide1992 · 01/07/2022 14:54

Following as your situation sounds very similar to mine! Also EBF and 7 months old. Never been a good sleeper. Have tried her in her own room and cot twice. First time we made it till 12 (with 2 wakes) Next night was till 2 (with 3 wakes) both times spent an hour trying different settling methods then gave up! She's growing out of her next to me crib now. Do you co sleep? It's the only way we get any sleep! So I'm now trying her room every other night, hoping each night gets better and then we co sleep =) I don't like the CIO method either! If you want to cuddle your baby then do it =)

Yes we co-sleep , I would've died of exhaustion after the first few weeks.

Partner has to sleep in another room as he snores and it was keeping me awake and waking baby.

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Cominghome1230 · 01/07/2022 16:10

I wish I had the answer. I am in the same position with my 7 month old. It seems to be getting worse not better. He was awake 1am-6am this morning and would not go back to sleep no matter what I did. Even co-sleeping doesn't seem to work at the moment. 😓

Original poster

Cuineasbotharcailinbainne · 01/07/2022 17:24

Cominghome1230 · 01/07/2022 16:10

I wish I had the answer. I am in the same position with my 7 month old. It seems to be getting worse not better. He was awake 1am-6am this morning and would not go back to sleep no matter what I did. Even co-sleeping doesn't seem to work at the moment. 😓

You poor pet , sending hugs x

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ChittyBang1987 · 01/07/2022 19:29

My kid loves a cuddle. I mean some days I'm not left alone some days as she wants to cuddle. But there is no way she would sleep on me (unless dog tired or super ill) or tolerate being rocked or shushed to sleep, it overstimulates her. Unless she's ill even then we can only hold her and not rock or anything. She tolerates it as she loves the comfort when she's super ill. I have coslept to get her to sleep when Ill but she will not tolerate it long. As another person said some lo need to sort themselves out. As they said we did CC, we did 1, 3, 5 etc..... she usually sleeps through now with hiccups with being ill, teething etc.

user19888891 · 02/07/2022 20:54

I know you don’t want to try CIO but what actually happens if you leave her in the cot? My now 9m old was struggling to self settle at approx 6m and would scream for about 30seconds when left but then it turned into a tired whine for about ten minutes before she fell asleep on her own. I still hated hearing her whine but nothing i did (rocking, shushing, patting, pick up pit down) seemed to work and I would often be awake for hours with her. Once I realised the actual crying didn’t last long it was easier to leave her.

Original poster

Cuineasbotharcailinbainne · 02/07/2022 22:23

user19888891 · 02/07/2022 20:54

I know you don’t want to try CIO but what actually happens if you leave her in the cot? My now 9m old was struggling to self settle at approx 6m and would scream for about 30seconds when left but then it turned into a tired whine for about ten minutes before she fell asleep on her own. I still hated hearing her whine but nothing i did (rocking, shushing, patting, pick up pit down) seemed to work and I would often be awake for hours with her. Once I realised the actual crying didn’t last long it was easier to leave her.

If I put her in calm she will wiggle about for a while then as she gets more tired she starts to fight her sleep, becoming hyper alert and becomes very upset, she will end up very distraught until she's picked up then. It could then take a further hour to settle her to sleep And most times she will wake if placed in the cot.

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Samanabanana · 02/07/2022 22:50

It's so hard isn't it? I've managed to finally put my 9 month old to bed for the first time tonight. I've only made it as far as the bedroom next door with the monitor but it feels like such progress. Two months ago I never thought I'd see this day as I essentially had to hold him and allow him to nurse all night long to get him to sleep at night. He just wasn't ready before now to sleep like this. We still cosleep but if I can get an evening in first I'll feel a lot more human!

The more responsive you are the more confident and independent they will be long term, so everyone tells me

This too shall pass though

Original poster

Cuineasbotharcailinbainne · 03/07/2022 15:58

Samanabanana · 02/07/2022 22:50

It's so hard isn't it? I've managed to finally put my 9 month old to bed for the first time tonight. I've only made it as far as the bedroom next door with the monitor but it feels like such progress. Two months ago I never thought I'd see this day as I essentially had to hold him and allow him to nurse all night long to get him to sleep at night. He just wasn't ready before now to sleep like this. We still cosleep but if I can get an evening in first I'll feel a lot more human!

The more responsive you are the more confident and independent they will be long term, so everyone tells me

This too shall pass though

Omg please let this happen us too...hope you are enjoying your evenings back x

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