7 month old wakes every 30 mins LOOSING MY MIND

[Sprinklerainbows]

both my children are HORRENDOUS sleepers.
DS now 3 still wakes numerous times a night- he was a cosleep EBF baby he was still waking up 6x a night between 18m-2 years. He still requires a lot of comfort at night so my DH often will sleep in his bed with him. (Terrible habits now hard to break)

DD 7 months- was a brilliant sleeper until 4 months and now just has continued to get worse. She naps for maximum 30 mins in the day 3x a day
then at night I’d say she wakes up 10-15 times some nights.
I just ignored her the other night out of pure frustration and despair. Even with me comforting her she cried on and off for 3.5 hours and did not give up until I picked her up and she fell asleep on me.

why don’t my children sleep. I feel like a huge failure, none of my friends babies do this. Im going to completely loose my mind if this continues, I feel borderline depressed rn.

Does she have cmpa or something that is causing pain that is causing the frequent wake ups? You could try for a couple of nights dosing with calpol and ibuprofen and if that improves sleep it’s then a case of finding the cause of the pain.
With my eldest it was cmpa and soya allergy then later he started with egg allergy all caused stomach ache.

@Autumn1990 thanks for your reply, she does have cmpa! But she’s been on the cmpa formula since she was 3 weeks old! She’s been teething so I have been dosing her up but unfortunately she still is waking a ridiculous amount of times 😭

Solidarity. I’m on my second miserable sleeper (5.5 months old). He’s such a happy baby during the day (unlike my first who was a very high needs, grumpy baby) but just doesn’t sleep. Finally went to sleep at 10:15pm last night, stirred every 1-2 hours then started the day at 6:55am. I’m on my knees and will probably look at some kind of sleep training in the new year, although nothing worked with my eldest until he night weaned (EBF) and could walk. I would have loved a 3rd in theory but I just cannot do this again.

@VivaVivaa this is like the DD she’s so easy compared to my DS but just will not sleep. I completely lost it last night literally screaming into my pillow- we’ve been up for hours upon hours with her screaming.

I tried sleep training with my DS and it just didn’t work!!! My children would rather cry for 6 hours straight than ever give up and just effing sleep in their cot.

I too once thought we’d have a big family bit 2 is my absolute maximum. I’ve gone from an okay mum to a TERRIBLE one since going from 1-2 and that’s definitely connected to surviving off 3/4 hours sleep for 3 years!

Does the cmpa formula have any soya in it? And is it the fully hydrolysed one?
The body can put the chain’s back together of the only partly broken down ones and then react again to the milk protein

Soya allergy usually goes with cmpa

Please don't feel like a failure. It's not your fault your babies wake frequently - Mumsnet is full of threads with people saying they had such different experiences with their children and did nothing different. To some extent this is biologically normal. Solidarity my baby wakes every 30 mins to 1 hour. Have you seen BASIS website, I also follow Lyndsey hookway and hey sleepy baby on Instagram, made me feel so much better and made things bearable for me (though I still hope to improve things! Lots of advice to implement but I have low expectations) Does sound like your baby could have some allergies/intolerances though, see red flags on hey sleepy baby. Sending hugs

Don't feel like a failure. My eldest slept like a log for 12 hrs from 6 months and still does now he's older. My youngest didn't really sleep well till she was 4 and my then we'd buckled under the pressure and got her a telly to watch at night to settle (I know- made a rod for our own backs etc). Some kids are just bad sleepers- it's not your fault. I don't have any advice but please don't blame yourself.

Do you cosleep? Would she sleep peacefully in your bed with you?

I had three like this. All I can say is do what you can, co-sleep safely and they do get there. Some kids are just terrible sleepers.

I've been there OP. Felt like I was going to die of exhaustion. DH used to sleep in spare room due to his job (dangerous if tired) and I was BF anyway. It only changed when we changed to formula. I look back now and I don't think I was producing enough milk, so DS would only sleep for a maximum of 90 mins at a time.

Oh no I remember this, mine were exactly the same and those months (well years) when they were both at it all night were the worst. I felt like I'd lost my mind and was trapped in some kind of torture situation. We're a few years on and things still aren't as good as I'd like but it's better, and we're all still OK and I'm slowly returning to myself. It's nothing you've done btw, just some kids are like this and no sleep training or tips seem to have any impact. It will get better eventually. I coslept (still do tbh) not out of choice, but necessity- it didn't help that much but at least I didn't have to get out of bed as often.

I feel your pain. My DC2 is a terrible sleeper and it’s getting so hard after 6 months of no sleep (a newborn sleeps better).

Its nothing you have done, my DC1 was an ok sleeper, I’d say average and is now a good sleeper, I’ve not done anything different.

I can’t imagine having 2 that won’t sleep. I don’t really have any advice but it will get better and we will sleep again one day.

Would you consider hiring a sleep consultant? Sleep is so important for children’s development and parents’ health, and I think the status quo cannot continue.

I really feel you. I’m at my wits end with an eight month old. My eldest was also a bad sleeper but not this bad. I am really struggling at the moment. Fingers crossed for more sleep in 2024.

My immediate thought was CMPA too — was certainly the issue for mine. Could be a secondary intolerance or allergy as pp have suggested.

A close friend of mine whose child didn’t sleep well, ever, has recently been diagnosed with ADHD at 8.

Sending strength, OP — this too shall pass!

Hire a sleep consultant and if there's no medical issue, sleep train. Your poor baby must be exhausted, as well as you!

Thank you everyone! Only just logged in and saw all these messages.
so she does have cmpa but no other allergies so far that we know of!
she has been eating lots of food and really enjoying weaning but is having much firmer poos which only occurred to me recently that it may have impacted sleep (maybe a bit of an uncomfortable tummy?)
her sleep has slightly improved- I say this with slight hesitation because it’s ever changing but when I wrote this post it was at its absolute worst.
also, she’s started saying ‘dada’ and sort of saying ‘hi’, standing and cruising, and waving all in the last few weeks- I read this can also affect sleep. But it’s been a long time now and I do think it probably goes further. I’ve had her in bed with me the last few nights, I’m not sure she actually sleeps better with me but it’s less annoying then getting up every time she wakes.
still a bit lost and frustrated, but I’m just going to push through and hope things settle a bit soon…. Orrrr I might succumb to sleep exhaustion 🤣😅

Hi OP how are things going, any improvement? I’m in the exact same situation as you with my 7.5mo and at a very low point mentally. Looking for any glimmer of hope on the horizon.

@Mumof2R so I have positive news. Sleep has vastly improved (I said that with slight hesitation because I don’t want to jinx it)

a few things have changed, she’s cut teeth which I think was causing her issues. I made sure to keep on top of pain meds through the night especially. I also changed her milk because I think she was still reacting to the allergy milk and now has one that has absolutely no dairy in at all which also made a big difference.

I feel like when they wake up this much (sometimes every 10 mins for 3 hours of the night some nights) they are telling us something! I did some detective work and now shes waking 2-3! which I can mange and actually wake up feeling rested.

absolutely no sleep training was required and I’ve noticed at she actually re settles on her own sometimes!

hope you find a solution soon. It’s near enough torture 😭 xx