7 month old waking every 2 hours

[TwinkleStarWhatAre]

I’m about to break as this is enough now and is slowly killing me, so I could do with some advice!

My first started sleeping through at 3 months so this is new for me.

My DS is 7 months and exclusively bf. We have had a few okay nights around 2-3 months where he gave me a 5 hour straight stretch, but since then it’s deteriorated massively. I keep putting it down to teething, illness, he’s so little, etc, but I just can’t cope anymore.

He goes to sleep himself in the cot about 6.30 - 7pm. He’s really good at self settling from awake. His first wake is about 10.30, which I wait about 5 mins to see if he settles, but then pick him up and give a feed. I do not feed him to sleep. I put him down awake. He rolls around, grumbles a little, then goes back to sleep.

From then on it’s every 2-3 hours the entire night. He just whinges and cries. Until I eventually pick him up and breastfeed him. Then he’s all happy, and I can put him down awake again and he goes to sleep.

I just don’t know what to do. Sometimes I’ve really had enough and refuse to feed him and try and walk up and down with him, rocking, shushing and this takes forever and barely ever works. The few times it does work I get about an hour and then he’s up awake and the process starts again.

I just tried to shush pat and leave him for a few minute intervals just now but we got to 30 minutes of crying and I just couldn’t do it anymore. So then he fed for 8 minutes, all happy, put him in the cot and he’s just gone to sleep.

Help me!

He’s quite a chunky baby and is now on 3 meals a day. He’s crap with drinking water (just chews the spout) but he bfs well all day.

OP my baby is the same age and I could of written this word for word.

I think the only solution would be doing some sort of sleep training for the night wakes. As they’re waking up for the feeds because they’re nice. I just haven’t got the energy to be going that every couple of hours a night. We have done it on any wakes before midnight (send DH in) but it’s 50/50 then whether he sleeps past that. So frustrating. I also have a toddler DD who I don’t want him waking as we’ve only just sorted her sleep after a rough patch.

one other thing I want to try is a dream feed, where DH gives a bottle of formula - that’s the plan for tonight. However he is iffy about taking bottles in the night but seems OK in the day.

I had a night where I stayed with family 10 mins away just to get to some sleep. Baby was absolutely fine and took the bottle/didn’t really need feeding! So could that be an option for you?

Also what’s his day sleep/routine like? Mine is in an excellent nap routine, self settled for all sleep. And still doesn’t bloody sleep through! My DD did after all that so who knows!

The easiest thing to do would be just to breastfeed him quickly back to sleep each wake, bedsharing makes it easier - just roll over and feed in your sleep. Breastmilk has hormones at night that help them sleep for exactly that purpose. There’s no need to train anything, this is a normal part of their development. It’s bloody hard on us, which is why things like bedsharing that help our sleep are great, but there’s nothing ‘wrong’ with him that needs training.

@Chumbibi please do some research on baby sleep and development. They’re not waking for feeds ‘because they’re nice’ 🙄

@BuffaloCauliflower please do some research on what the leading cause of maternal death is in the first year of having a baby. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out what sleep deprivation does to a person.

the OP is asking for advice. Some choose to go down your route and co sleep and wait it out, others sleep train. We are all doing what we believe is best to optimise sleep. You can give your advice and I can give mine for the OP to do what she likes with it/

you do you hun and don’t @ me.

@Chumbibi the most recent research on sleep training shows babies end up sleeping only an additional half an hour on average after training, and there’s no measurable affect on maternal mental health across the studied population. It’s not the answer it’s sold as.

You have a baby that loves your breas milk…
Options
consider cosleeping so that you get more sleep
stop breastfeeding so that baby doesn’t smell boob milk every time you go to him in the night.
get DH to do the night wakings for a while to do shush Pat to settle DS and hopefully sleep train into a routine where he wakes less.

The way we got through this stage was my DH stepping up, she would only settle easily with me by being BF but he would then have her and I'd go into the spare room from say 4.30/5 so I could get at least 3 hours of solid sleep at the end of the night. I also BF quickly back to sleep and co-slept. Not sure why when you are BF you are bothering with shush pat etc, your breast milk is designed to get them back to sleep.

I think I’m just starting to feel really exhausted with such fragmented sleep for so long, especially as my first slept so well.

Naps in the day are fine - he usually has about 2, one mid morning and one mid afternoon. 1 and a half hours each if I’m lucky, otherwise can be an hour. I give him a little cuddle and a rock and put him down awake and he goes to sleep. Sometimes he fusses so I pick up again and rock again and then that’s it. I’m super lucky with his naps! I do not feed anywhere near nap time so there’s no feed association.

I suppose it’s just a case of riding it out more. I just hate this 2 hour sleep thing. Especially as then you can’t fall asleep either, you finally get there and he then wakes up again. It wouldn’t be so bad if I could sleep in the day but my DH is at work and I have a toddler to look after too. I have no family or friends to help.

Im hoping the more food I get down him in the day the less he will wake up at night but it doesn’t seem to be working yet!!

I sleep trained my first as although she slept well once asleep she took about 3 hours every night to get her down initially and naps were the same so they just didn’t happen. We were all extremely frazzled and exhausted, the lack of sleep was really affecting her. I do not regret it in the slightest as it worked quickly and resulted in far less crying and upset for everyone.

But my DS just is so different, I can’t explain it but it just doesn’t feel right to sleep train him. It genuinely doesn’t feel in his best interests as I do feel he just wants the cuddles and reassurance at night. Which absolutely sucks for me but I don’t think there’s much I can do. Just struggle on I guess and continue hoping for it to end.

Maybe if it’s still ongoing in a few months I will have to get DH to take over to stop it. Right now I don’t see how stopping feeding him for some wakes really helps as surely it’s just confusing for him? Cold turkey feels like it would be the best option but obviously he’s way too young for that.

It sounds like you need to shift his biorhythms, his body is used to having milk intake in the night, so you have to stretch him between feeds to get him more hungry in the day to eat more while he is awake

try waking him up just before he wakes at 10.30 for a dream feed, and then if he wakes before 2am, send in DH. Then anytime he wakes after 2am just feed and right back to bed. Then dont feed again until 6am, just spin him out. If you can do this for a week, then try and stretch the 2am to 3am and 6am to 7am and repeat for a week. Then go for 4am and 7am, then 5 am and top up at 7am, then try and go all the way through

I would also try and up the protein at lunch and make dinner carb heavy with maybe a banana just before bed.

it wont be a quick fix, but if you dont work at it..its likely to get worse. Try and split the night with you and DH so that you know which hours you can reliably sleep and which you might be woken in, and then the sleeping one try and find somewhere to sleep that you wont be woken (do you have a guest room?)

Breastfeeding isn’t just about food. It’s comfort and connection with you, advice above about stretching feeds completely ignores this. Breastfeeding is usually the quickest and easiest way to settle a baby at night. Babies this age are also (usually) not waking because they’re hungry, they’re waking because they’re developing and growing rapidly and learning new skills and it affects their sleep. Feeding them more in the day won’t change this easier. Advice to stretch feeds likely will just make the night wakes harder because you’re losing your easy settle device.

OP it’s really hard, especially if your older child was different so it’s come as a surprise. My DS didn’t get close to sleeping through until 19 months, and now still wakes once 3 out of 7 nights on average at 26 months. They’re all really different and it’s not one size fits all. But it sounds like you are just responding to your baby and what they need, that’s ok. I’d try and outsource anything you can to get more rest. Don’t worry about non essential cleaning, get your husband to do anything you can hand over to him, it won’t be like this forever I promise they’re always developing and moving forward.

This might help to explain too. Sleep is developmental just like crawling, walking, speaking. They all go on their own individual journeys.

sarahockwell-smith.com/2017/07/24/the-rollercoaster-of-real-baby-sleep/

I’m in the exact same situation with my 9mo DS, could have written this post!

We sleep trained him at 6 months and we had a couple weeks of him sleeping through, but then between teething, illnesses and travelling we’ve got back to waking every hour or two and as a quick fix I’d feed him back to sleep. Now we’re home and well I’m trying to get him back to sleeping better and only feeding him every four hours, which I’ll gradually extend. Last night was better so just need to stick with it and hope he doesn’t catch another cold or get more teeth come through as soon as we get it sorted. He eats really well in the day and naps well so he really doesn’t need hourly feeds at night. Going back to work soon so need some more sleep again!

Fingers crossed for some more sleep for us both soon!

@TwinkleStarWhatAre hi OP, I am in the same situation that you were, DS is 7.5 months old and feeds at least every 2 hours during the night, sometimes even more frequently than that. Only breastfeeding gets him back to sleep. I’m interested to know how things are for you now?

My DS is 10 months now and is a bit better. We are getting one wake up for a feed and then he’s up for the day at about 6. So, very happy with that! Sometimes he’ll wake up twice, but if it’s too early (before midnight) or it’s the second wake I just pat his bum and he falls back to sleep.

Unless…

I realised he was having tummy problems and was clearly uncomfortable with some constipation. It wasn’t obvious, because he still pooped every day. But I’d notice they’d get smaller amounts or a bit hard. And then after a few really bad nights of him crying a lot he’d do a massive poo and then be a lot better!

So, I give him prune purée once a week and it’s helped such a lot! Also, the first sign on a slightly hard poo I!ll up his fruit intake and really make sure he gets enough water. Something to think about! When he’s constipated, patting him doesn’t work and I realised he’s clearly in discomfort which is why only the boob will help him go back to sleep.

Another thing I’ve noticed is caffeine. It really affects him through the breast milk and makes him unsettled and difficult to stay asleep. So no coffees, i only have one tea a day and the hardest one, no chocolate!

I hope this helps!

@TwinkleStarWhatAre wow this really resonates with what we’re going through. DS has been a rubbish sleeper since the 4 month regression but he’s constipated at the moment as well. I also think I have far too
much coffee and chocolate! I will cut down and see if it helps, thank you. I’m glad things have improved for you!

Can I ask what happened ? I have a 7 month old and she's waking every 2 hours, sometimes will sleep 3 or 4 hours throughout the night

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