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

@TheShellBeach
Absolutely no judgement for people who try this as I totally understand the exhaustion of both parent and baby from waking every 10 mins last night! I’m not sure if I would be able to go through with it but I can understand why people do. It is encouraging hearing people’s positive stories.
Thank you

It's very odd. It could have just been teething that was making him uncomfortable. Hopefully tonight will be better for you. 🤞🏻

Definitely have a look at these instagram accounts as they are amazing and are not any form of sleep training:
Little nest sleep
Second star to the right
Lyndsey Hookway
Resting in motherhood
Fox and the moon infant sleep - she could be your best if you wanted to reach out to her as she has teamed up with a lot of professionals for the settled baby method which looks at all sorts of reasons why babies wake from tongue tie to reflux.

@TheShellBeach sleep training worked for your baby. The OP's baby was waking every 10 minutes so there could be an underlying problem that needs to be identified before telling her to sleep train.

Sleep training isn't necessary. It definitely wouldn't have worked on either of mine (not that I would do it anyway) but they would have just screamed until the vomited.
Leaving a baby to cry unnecessarily raises their cortisol levels which makes it harder to calm down which is why they need a parent/caregiver to help them calm down.

I'm glad it worked for you but it really shouldn't be told to parents as a necessity because it's not needed and unfair on a baby who is doing what a baby does which is wake for comfort/food

Yes I think something must have been making him uncomfortable to be waking that often, the only thing I can think of is teething also. Maybe the teething powders don't do much for him.

Great thanks so much I will take a look at them!

They never worked for me but my friend said they worked for her little one. I just use calpol and nurofen. I find nurofen better even though it's a smaller dose. Could be worth trying that and seeing how he goes.
Nothing worse than constant wake ups so I really hope it gets better for you x

Hey OP. We are in a similar boat. 7 month old wakes every 20-30-40 minutes all night until I co sleep then it improves to 60-90 minutes. He has never been a great sleeper but got steadily worse from 4 months onwards. We have tried:

• sleep training, Ferber for 3 weeks. It did NOT work he would have cried all night if we let him. So clearly something bothering him as everyone else says it works in 3 nights.
• sleep consultant, they have no idea.
• osteopath, no obvious issues.
• using dummy, ditching dummy, makes no difference with the excessive waking (except dummy makes it easier to go to sleep)
• more solids , less solids. No difference
• more day sleep, less day sleep. No difference.
• he will no longer sleep flat on his back, but needs to be on his side. He can’t roll onto his front by himself yet so I need to put him there. Every 20 minutes or so he rolls onto his back and immediately starts shouting. So when we co sleep I need to use my arm to keep him on his side which is how he sometimes achieves 90 minutes.

My only conclusion is that something is causing him pain or discomfort but I don’t understand what. I’m at a loss, exhausted and depressed

I was speaking to a friend today who said they found nurofen better than calpol too - so I'm definitely going to see if that makes any difference!

Thank you so much! X

So many similarities to our stories! I'm so sorry you're going through this. It is so exhausting.

If I find anything that works I will remember to message you!

A few things I've been suggested to try not mentioned on this thread (I'm sorry if you've heard these already I'm absolutely sure you would have!) is to use a hot water bottle or heated blanket to warm up the crib, obviously taking them out before baby goes in there. And also leaving my t shirt I've been wearing all day somewhere around the crib. I haven't tried these yet though so can't comment on effectiveness.

I also ordered today a Zed by Rockit which is supposed to give car like vibrations to the mattress as I know he loves sleeping in the car because of the movement. If you haven't tried this I can keep you posted on progress.

I find rocking him to sleep in his pram and then transferring him to crib helps for first half of the night - but it sounds like you have tried absolutely everything! I really really hope you get to the bottom of it. You're not alone!! We can do this.

Thank you for sharing your story

I wouldn't give nurofen more than a couple of times without consulting the doctor. It's generic name is ibuprofen which is a very harsh drug.

Baby Wisperer Solves All Your Problems is a book written by a former neonatal nurse. She has all sorts of tips including for the parents who had tried Ferber method without success

@Kosenrufugirl I wouldn’t give consistently without consulting a doctor anyway, because if that does make a difference then it means he is definitely in some sort of discomfort so i’d seek doctor advice regardless.

Hey! We had the same problem some month ago. I feel you and really even don't want to remember that period.

First of all I think it could be teething and also you can check by websites the calendars of leaps, maybe you also go through it.

what helped us is sleeping training, but NOT Ferber. I was so against this method imagining leaving my daughter to cry alone. I found a sleep consultant with gentle methodic as she said, and I have decided to try to cause anyway it could not be worth😅it cost us some efforts and other sleepless nights but in the end it helped in couple of weeks. and the main things our baby didn't cry so much, there were some tears but just few times. i was super happy about that. Consultant worked not only on the sleep training with us but also built us right schedule of naps and i think it helped a lot as well.

So you might also check the schedule of the day naps and awake time. Ours were totally wrong😫

Hi thank you so much for your reply!

I agree I think it could be teething, he was getting really upset last night when waking which is really unlike him. He'll usually wake up but not be crying like that. I'm determined to get to the bottom of it for him.

I've also decided not to try the Ferber method, I appreciate it has worked for other people and understand why they did it but it's just not for us as I think there's a reason he's waking.

I will definitely take all of that on board! I'm so glad you managed to work it out! Thank you again.

Yeah, I am happy if this method helped others but I could not listen to her crying even one minute, not talking about more😪

If you need contacts of Sleep consultant will be happy to share, as I remember she had the option of ongoing support or a single consultation.

And if it is teething, she told us that there is not so much to di only pass this period and comfort your child as much as possible as it is quite stressful and painful for themselves too. Alo if remember well, she said that it is better not to start sleep training during such a crisis period like teething or leap, would be too much for a kid. Just in case if you will decide to start one

Sounds like teething to me op, dd2 was the same

I know I feel exactly the same way! It's so upsetting seeing him so upset! I'm definitely starting to think it's just something we have to go through for a little while and we will keep comforting him through the night, I'm going to get some teething gels etc today to see if that gives him any relief.

I'll see how we get on but will remember to contact you about the sleep consultants if needed! Thanks so much!

Yeah I'm starting to think the same now too.

@snoozepod I know this thread is from a few months ago but was wondering if you got to the bottom of the issue/ if sleep improved at all?

My DD is 7 months and slept really well until she hit 5 months. Since then she has been waking 4 to 5 times a night on average, sometimes more and we've had a handful of nights where she has slept through but things seem to have got worse this week with waking every 30-45 mins or at best every hour

Looking for any success stories. We've not tried any sleep training

Hi Mummy2S I know your question wasn’t directed at me but thought I’d share anyway. My boy is now 11 months, he can now sleep a few hours at a time. Usually 7 to 9/10, then 10 to 12/1 then we co sleep and he wakes regularly until morning. It got a bit better around 9 months, then much worse, now seems to be stabilising around this routine. The turning point for us was him being able to roll onto his side/tummy to sleep which he seems more comfortable than on his back. He sleeps with a dummy and I’m not sure if this is what wakes him. I’m still holding our hope one day he will do longer than a 3 hour stretch!

@Mumof2R thanks for your reply.
It's funny you say about lying on his tummy. Last night I put DD back in her own room (she had been in there at 6 months but then due to having a cold for a few days she ended up coming back in our room and in the next to me and stayed longer than planned as I was hoping to get her sleep into a better place before moving her back to her room). Well last night I started her off in our room but she was waking every half an hour so I decided to try her back in her room. Once I got her to sleep, she rolled straight onto her tummy and slept 11:30-7:30!

I think maybe she needed more space, she was often rolling onto her side in the next to me but I don't think she had the space to roll over and get onto her belly whereas in her cot she's got a lot more space to move around.

I've got her in her room again tonight right from the start so hoping she will sleep well again and last night wasn't just a one off!

She also sleeps with a dummy, but normally spits it out quite soon after falling asleep.

Hi both, I know this is an old thread but are things better for you? I’m having similar issues with my 7 month old :(

Hi I’m so sorry for the late reply - I keep meaning to catch up on this and for some reason or other haven’t managed to get round to it!

So we definitely are better than we were then! And I totally agree - it seemed to be as soon as he started being able to roll over by himself, move positions easily, and had more room to do so, he started to sleep better. He hasn’t slept through the night at all yet though and I’m not expecting it any time soon either, so I think it’s so good that your little one managed to sleep through! :) But as I’m typing this now he has been asleep since 9.30pm so just coming up to 2 and 1/2 hours. He’ll likely start to wriggle about and cry at some point, he still needs a bit of milk to settle him, and then he will take about 5-10 mins getting comfortable again and go back to sleep. He’s such a wriggly sleeper always moving about!

I find that he is much better the 2nd half of the night.

He sleeps with a dummy but it doesn’t bother him if it falls out if he’s in a deep sleep.

So to round up basically yes it does get better! Even if it’s a small improvement. He slept in till 9.30 yesterday morning and 8 this morning which was lovely - we have good nights and bad nights!

Again sorry for the late reply and I hope your little one manages a full night again :)

Hi @OmariOlu

So we definitely are better than we were then! For my little one it seemed to be as soon as he started being able to roll over by himself, move positions easily, and had more room to do so, he started to sleep better. He hasn’t slept through the night once yet though and I’m not expecting it but as I’m typing this now he has been asleep since 9.30pm so just coming up to 2 and 1/2 hours. He’ll likely start to wriggle about and cry at some point, he still needs a bit of milk to settle him, and then he will take about 5-10 mins getting comfortable again and go back to sleep. He’s such a wriggly sleeper and I think he needed the ability and room to move around!

I find that he is much better the 2nd half of the night.

It definitely isn’t every 10 minutes anymore and I remember that night so well and posting that wondering if I will ever sleep again! He will be 1 in 2 weeks time :) He’ll sleep now for good bursts of about 3 hours. Even if it’s a small improvement, it’s definitely an improvement! He slept in till 9.30 yesterday morning and 8 this morning which was lovely - we have good nights and bad nights! It is manageable now!

His naps also changed and he only has 2 a day now, and I find it better if he has his 2nd nap as late in afternoon as possible! So he’ll usually nap around 8.30/9am to about 10.30am and then again at around 3.30pm till about 5 if he can make it! Later bedtimes may not suit everyone but his bedtime then will be around 9pm which suits him way better.

I hope the sleep improves for you too and I’m sure it will - I wish I had a solid solution but I think it’s a mix of things - sleep regressions, all babies being different, etc! But any questions I can answer for you let me know :)

My boy is now 1 and has settled into a fairly predictable routine of going to bed at 730, sleeping for 2-3 hours when he wakes and needs his dummy replacing and a cuddle, then he’ll sleep for another 2 or so. After that he needs co sleeping and nursing and will wake every 2 hours, and more frequently until morning. It’s not great and I was hoping would be better by now but, hopefully he’s slowly getting there…