7 month old waking 4 to 5 times a night - help!

[desperatelyseekingsleep]

He already has a couple of teeth and I think a couple more may be on the way, but it's really driving me spare! Last night he was awake from 11-1130, then every10 mins or so between 2 and 3, then for half an hour at 415 and finally up at 5.30. I'm still giving him a couple of milk feeds in the night even though he's now on 3 meals a day - I'd like to stop the milk really but am scared to as it seems to be the only thing that settles him. any advice anyone?

Are you bf or ff? If ff you could try gradually diluting the feeds until he is having only water - he may then decide it's not worth waking up for. If bf it's a bit harder - I tried to gradually increase the length of time between feeds which helped a bit, but in the end I decided I was not going to bf in the night any more and offered a bottle of diluted ebm instead - my dd was most disgruntled by this and has slept through pretty much every night since.

This only applies if you want to stop night feeding though - I know a lot of people on here are happy to continue night feeds at this age, but I wasn't one of them!

How much sleep is he having in the day? - should be no more than 3 hours otherwise it has a knock on effect in the night.
If it's teeth - Medised is wonderful (has a sedative in it)
If not leave them to cry for 10-15 mins or so and see if he settles himself. If all else fails - cooled boiled water with the tiniest bit of sugar in (and I mean tiny).
DOn't cave in and give milk in the night otherwise you make the situation worse, once you've started see it through to the end.
Good luck and imgine a nice warm bed with lots of pillows!

My 7mo wakes like this every night. I am bf and would not dream of not offering a milk feed.

However I can now tell the difference between a 'proper' feed and when he is just feeding to resettle himself, so I am working on not letting him feed himself back to sleep - it does mean tears but he is getting better at going back to sleep with just a gentle shush.

There are lots of threads with others in the same boat as us y'know, if that helps at all...

He's fully ff now and I have 2 4oz bottles to hand for the night, but I'm pretty sure he shouldn't be having any at all? He sleep really well during the day - 45 mins at around 9ish, then around 2 hours at 12.30 - 1ish.By the time it gets to about 5.30 he's absolutley exhausted but I try to stretch bedtime till 6 at least as I also have a 2.8 year old to put to bed as well! Iwill try the diluting with water thing and maybe have a rule about no milk after midnight and before 5... That's an idea that I've just had now, but don't know how my willpower will hold out in the night! Last night I'm afraid I resorted to Medised as he just wouldn't stop wailing unless I stood rocking him in my arms, and I didn't want to spend the whole night doing that! But about 5-10 mins after I put him down he starts crying again. I'm just feelign so confused about what I should/shouldn't be doing. You'd think I'd remember from ds1, but then he was an abysmal sleeper until he turned 2, then he just got it overnight and we haven't had any problems since - please tell me I don't have to wait until ds2 is 2

Someone linked to this article on another thread recently. It isn't recommended to try this approach on LO's under 1yo but I certainly found it interesting reading.

I do usually end up co-sleeping with DS2 after 2am-ish as I am so exhausted.

Well last night was different, but still appalling - he slept until 2am but then woke up and WOULD NOT go to sleep for about 2 hours. I ended upgoing in about 10 times, the last time I gave him Medised in desperation. I really am at my wits end What makes it worse is that he woke up at about 630 cooing and gurgling as if butter wouldn't melt (I suppose I should be thankful for small mercies!) Is it worth waking him at about 11pm for a dream feed? He's never had a dream feed right from birth but I'm just wondering if it might help? Anyone had any experience of introducing a dream feed this late in the day?

I tried the dream feed at around 11pm but gave it up as it seemed to make no difference to DS2's wakings (as he doesn't always wake up for milk), it just meant another feed for me to do...

It might be worth a try with your DS though (hey, it can't make things any worse, can it ?)

Have you tried a grow bag? My 7 month old was the same and I thought he was kicking his covers off because he was awake, but of course it was the other way around. Since I put him in a grow bag he wakes two or three times, down from six or seven, and goes back to sleep better as he hasn't been able to get up and start wandering around the cot. I give him one milk feed (bf) in the early hours wake up (1 or 3) and put a dummy in the other times (one hour after going to bed and again if he wakes about 5 - otherwise he's up about 6.30)It means he has two good uninterrupted stretches which has done both of us the world of good.

DS2 already sleeps in a sleeping bag (that is until he ends up back in our bed at around 2am). I don't think he wakes up because he is too cold.

He is ill (again) at the moment with something passed on to him from DS1 so I have resigned myself to another week or so of hourly wakings

can totally sympathise. ds is waking sometimes 10 time a night and im 30 weeks pregnant with my second baby, im on my own, trying to complete a uni degree and just about to go insane. I have no energy left and i am now beginnig to panic how i will cope when dc2 arrives.
at the moment im trying to have will power and just not offer any milk when he wakes but this is quite difficult when ur knackered and just want to go bk to bed.

My stratergy at the moment is growbag... mean mummy, no milk but this only works some of the time which can be frustrating.

tried not giving milk between 11 and 5 last night and overall i think i did get a better nights sleep. Im hoping that if i can keep up the will power and not give in then hopefully ds will get bored of waking. I really do hope so as i have exams coming up in a few weeks time and will really need the sleep then!

It wouldn't bed so bad if there was a pattern to it. Last week we had one night of 7pm through till 6.30am followed by a night of waking almost evey hour, then a couple of nights of sleeping 7- 2ish, then awake for a couple of hours before sleepign till 6ish, then last night was awake at 11pm and 5am. WHat the heck is going on???! Will it ever end?!

Same here, although DS is only 16 weeks. He was such a good sleeper until 12 weeks: 11pm-3am-7am and now he comes every two hours. I think its a resettling problem, not a hunger problem. I have to return to work FT in two weeks and I have never been as tired as now!!!

my 6mo ds has the same problem with night wakings. he was sleeping thru wonderfully until teething started. for the last week we have been up many times a night.

last night dh accidentially put the wrong teet on the bottle. it was a newborn one, dh did comment that ds did not seem to take much at the 11pm (second for the night) wake up, he then slept very well with only one further wake up in the night. he was rather hungry at breakfast tho.

i do think that night feedings are making him wake more and will now be looking at watered down formula and a small teet for the next few nights.

my dd is nearly nine months and up until this week had been just like yours - waking throughout the night for two to three feeds, screaming for no apparent reason. I felt I could only get through the night by giving her two bottles and a spoon of medised! I could hardly function, I was so tired. Since Sunday, however I have been giving her HIPP organic good night formula - it's a follow on milk from 6 to 36 months and has added oats. She is fully weaned but refuses most of her bottles now and will have none at all at bedtime. I put her down at 7 and she wakes around midnight. That's when I give her the HIPP formula (you can only give 1 in 24hrs, and no more that a 6oz feed) but it has been getting her through till 6am with not even a whimper. I would be normally up 2-3 times more without the HIPP. She also wakes much more placid. May be worth a go? It's only available in larger Boots stores, and comes in a small tub. Only £3 too! Hope this helps

Ooo berrysmum that's something I've not heard of before, but it sounds like it really might work. I'll definitely go and get some and give it a go - might try it at the 7pm feed as my ds doesn't always wake at midnight. I've been watering down his milk over the last week and he's definitely taking less - last night he took about 2 or 3 sips of 2oz mixed into 4oz of water and that was it. Will see how it goes over the next week or so, but I'm hoping at least we're on our way to cracking the waking for milk syndrome (still doesn't explain all the other wakings!)