7 month old / waking every 10 minutes at night

[snoozepod]

Any advice/ideas/experiences shared greatly appreciated

I really feel like I've tried everything at this point - Google researching at early hours of the morn a lot of the times

My baby is a motion baby for certain, he likes to be rocked to sleep, (at the moment in his pram and then transferred to crib) however at the moment it's as if he wants to be constantly rocked even when he's sleeping otherwise he'll wriggle and wake up.

Definitely not hungry
Could be teething however I have tried powders, etc for this

I really have no idea what to do now. Last night was so hard. It was every 10 minutes, and if I leave him wriggle about for too long he wakes up crying. I have tried to persevere, leave him cry a little, it doesn't work and I really wouldn't want to try the full on cry it out method.

Does anyone have similar experiences? I'm looking at threads of babies waking every 3 hours thinking oh my goodness I wish!

Thank you in advance

Both mine were/are motion babies so I understand the struggles.

Very odd for asking every 10 minutes though, if it's teething then calpol will help.

Other things to think of:
Temperature- too hot or cold
Hungry (milk rather than actual food)
How's weaning going? Is there a food that has made them uncomfortable maybe?
Have they got gas/need a poo?
Where do they sleep? I had to co-sleep with both of mine because they went through bad periods of separation anxiety and it was the only way anyone slept. We would fall asleep in my bed and then when they were deep enough I'd sometimes move them to their own bed next to me.

I can't edit on the app but I meant waking not asking 🤦🏻‍♀️

Thank you so much for your reply

I have given calpol a few times over the last few weeks just before bed hoping this would work but it doesn't seem to

I have definitely noticed that he's changed at night since weaning, but before weaning he still wasn't sleeping well, it's been since he hit 4 months, had a chest infection and possible sleep regression, he was sleeping so well before that.

When I began weaning he started to become extremely fussy taking his milk during the day which was so unlike him as he loved his milk previously. He's also gone more to needing a little bit of bottle at night for comfort. Over the last few days though he's definitely been better with his milk.

It's sort of gone from waking every 2 hours, to every hour, every half hour and now every 10 minutes.

I've got to be honest I've tried him sleeping everywhere - in his next to me, co sleeping, even in his pram at night, nothing seems to be working at the moment.

Was there anything you tried that seemed to help?

My first was a dreadful sleeper. I did a pick up put down method by Baby Wisperer Solves All Your Problems at 7 months. It did involve crying. However as Baby Wisperer points out it's one thing to cry alone and another to cry on someone's shoulder. I started in the day. Basically you watch out for signs of tiredness. Rubbing eyes, pulling hair is typical at 7 months. Take your baby to their usual place of sleep and put them down. No rocking however keep your hand on them so they know you are definitely there. They start crying you wait for a hysterical note in their cry. Then pick them up, put them on your shoulder and pat them. No rocking. The idea is to only pick up when they are genuinely distressed, not just frustrated. If they stop crying the second you picked them up- you pick up too soon. Calm them down on your shoulder, no rocking of feeding then put them down. Repeat. The first time I did this to my baby it lasted 1.5 hours. I needed a shot of vodka. I was certain he was going to hate me. However he woke up all smiles. It was all over in a few days. I genuinely think he was enjoying his life better because he wasn't constantly overtired. I can't stress it enough- you only pick up when you hear them distressed, not just frustrated. It's a distinct sound. I also heard about No cry sleep solutions by Elizabeth Pantley. However her methods could take a month or longer. I hope it helps

Sleep training (Ferber) was a miracle for us. Once my DS learnt to go to sleep by himself he was able to stay asleep. Before that he used to wake up every 45 mins. It was life changing and didn’t involve much crying.

I really recommend reading Dr Ferber’s book. The basic principle is that if your baby is being rocked when he goes to sleep, when he stirs and he’s not being rocked, his subconscious brain thinks something is “wrong” so it wakes him up fully to check for danger. If he can learn to go to sleep without being rocked then he should be able to stay asleep.

Thank you so much for your reply and for your amazing advice!

I feel exactly the same way worrying he'll hate me if I leave him cry and also being so tired that seeing him so upset makes me so upset! There is definitely a difference in his distressed and frustrated cries. I will 100% give this a try!

Thank you again so much.

Brilliant I will definitely look into that! Thank you so much!

Baby Wisperer used to work as a neonatal nurse before going as a private consultant. She is very critical of Dr Ferber method. It's basically a controlled crying method from 3 months onwards.

Ahh yes I thought I recognised the name. It’s not my preferred method but understand if it has worked for others and appreciate the help nonetheless. Thank you.

I don’t think the book recommends it from 3 months - think it’s 6 months onwards.

But yes it probably will involve some crying. Like most people I didn’t like the idea of it, until I felt it was my only choice. And it turned out to be the best decision I made. Overall for us there was actually less crying in total from day 1 as my DS wasn’t waking up all night crying. And he used to cry when I was rocking him to sleep anyway.

For us it was 2 nights of controlled crying. 1st night 20 mins in total (with comforting in between, not 20 mins in one go). 2nd night 10
minutes total. 3rd night my DS fell asleep by himself within seconds. He’s nearly 3 now and still goes to sleep by himself in seconds… so it was 2 nights slight pain for years of gain.

Sorry for the lengthy post, it was so life changing that I always like to share. And it was reading success stories about it on here that gave me the courage to do it.

I know others have recommended sleep training options but it's really not necessary.
If they're waking every 10 minutes then there is a problem that leaving a baby to cry alone or intermittently isn't going to help or fix.

4 months is a known cause of sleep "problems" because their sleep cycles change.

What's your typical day like? Naps, food, milk?

I went with the flow with naps so whenever they were tired but how many naps/how long? What foods are they eating? Are you breastfeeding/formula? And whichever one, what are the feeds like?

No need to apologise for the lengthy post at all I really appreciate you taking the time to help!

And I agree - 2 difficult nights for what sounds like years of more peaceful sleep! Better for baby and for you.

Thank you for sharing your story!

@DuploTrain

@kernowpicklepie
He’s such a good baby during the day. Very chilled and happy, always has been since he was born. Always took his milk really well (formula fed), had no issues there.

I will say since weaning I have noticed a change in his sleep at night- he wasn’t brilliant before but better than he is now. Obviously his milk feeds started to change as he was having food and I think this effected him at night.

I also go with the flow for naps, when he’s showing signs of tiredness he will go to sleep easily in the day for his naps. His longest nap would be 1hour and 1/2. I’ve timed his naps in the day to see if he was getting too much sleep but he doesn’t sleep longer than 3 1/2 hours in the day, if that sometimes.

He’s better the first half of the night, wriggling more so like every hour until about 3am and then last night it was every 10 minutes wriggling and then waking himself up. It was a particularly bad night last night. He just wanted me to be up and rocking him pretty much while he slept.

Thank you for taking the time to reply!

If you've noticed a big change since trying foods then I would start there.
DS really struggled with weaning to start with and had tummy problems overnight whereas DD was fine.

What does a typical day of food look like?

At 3am did he have a feed or were you just rocking/holding?

I think you'll find this thread useful

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/sleep/4990448-ferber-night-1

He takes food really well and seems to really enjoy it. We're doing a mixture of purées and baby led weaning, finger foods etc.

At the moment a typical day with food is always 2 meals a day and heading towards 3 now with his milk in between those. He also enjoys snacks sometimes like flavoured baby wafers/puffs, but not every day.

But I do feel like since his milk intake has gone down (expected because of the food) he's more unsettled at night, looking for a bottle for comfort more than hunger.

I will definitely look more into this, thank you!

Thank you, much appreciated!

It seems to me your boy's waking up is more of a bad habit than anything else

@Kosenrufugirl could be! So these sleep techniques will be useful to try

You need to decide which one you are going to pursue and be consistent. By the way, every Health Visitor will tell you that controlled crying doesn't always work. It's also very difficult to bear with the little one's crying, you have to be absolutely desperate to see it to the end. Have you looked into No Cry Sleep Solutions by Elizabeth Pantley?

A baby waking is not a bad habit, especially not at 7 months old.

Maybe take a step back with the amount of food and see if that makes a difference. I don't think either of mine had 2 meals at 7 months. Definitely worth a try to see if that helps especially if one of the meals is an evening mark. I always added those last as they definitely affect them more while their tummies are getting used to it.

Please don't feel pressured into sleep training, it really really isn't necessary. Your baby is still young and often they need comfort, it's frustrating for us but that's just what they need.

@Kosenrufugirl I will, I think it’s important to understand that everyone’s experiences are different so I appreciate all of the helpful suggestions in this thread. Thank you.

Sleep training works in three nights though, so it has to be worth a try.

@kernowpicklepie
He doesn’t seem to be having any issues with his food at all, he looks forward to it so much but I understand your point. It’s rare at the moment that he has an evening meal or snack close to bedtime other than milk. He usually enjoys breakfast and a lunch, I think it would be difficult to take one of these away from him now as he’s used to it.

I’m a first time mum and have never left him to cry but every 10 minutes last night was a lot and I do understand why people use sleep techniques at these moments. We are both exhausted today!

Thanks