Good sleeper gone bad

[MrsEvs]

My DD is 7 months old. She slept through the night from around 3 weeks up until 2 weeks ago. Suddenly she is waking up every night, sometimes 2 or 3 times. She just got her first 2 teeth, so I blamed them to begin with, but now I think she is just in the habit, and I don't know how to get her out of it - any suggestions?? She eats pleny of solids and takes about 20-25oz of formula during the day - I don't think I could feed her any more during her waking hours!

Also, to begin with, she didn't want anything when she woke up, no milk/water, didn't need a nappy change, didn't seem too hot/cold. She just wanted a cuddle to go back off to sleep. However, one night, my dh gave her a bottle at 3am in desperation and now she always wants one - how do I break that cycle?

At bedtime, I can put her in her cot awake and she will go off on her own, but with these night time wakings (and her daytime naps actually), I always have to rock her off.

I would be very grateful for any words of wisdom/experience. I know I have had it amazingly easy up til now, but I just wondered if there was anything I should be doing/not doing to get my lovely sleeping baby back!!

Hi Mrs Evs, I recognise you from the July/Aug thread!

I'm sleep-training DS3 at the moment. Unlike your dd he's always been an awful sleeper which I think in a way is easier to deal with than one who does sleep through and then starts waking up again!

Anyway, I have been doing a gentler version of controlled crying with DS3. Last night was night 3 and he slept from 7.30 a.m. until 3.50 a.m. with only intermittent grumblings - no real "sore crying". I then brought him in to bed with me and fed him as that was his longest stint ever without a feed and I am trying to be as gentle as possible.

However I have immense sympathies with anyone who is not prepared to do controlled crying - I have done it wiht the older DSs, and I know it is very effective,but I really hate doing it and I wish it hadn't had to be this way with DS3. Unfortunately though, I'm back at work and I'm knackered!

I just don't know anything about controlled crying. I thought it was for bedtime? How would you use it during the night?

What no pearls of wisdom !

Agree with dinosaur. Only attempt this after reading the relevant chapter of Richard Ferber, Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems, however. DD was 11 months before I plucked up the courage to do the gentle version of this (was very anti before, but got utterly desperate) and it worked miracles. GOOD LUCK, I do sympathise.

Good sleepers do go through phases where it all goes a bit pear-shaped. My dd was a good sleeper from 10 weeks - 15 months! What tends to happen is that everything you do like cuddling at nap times all makes the problem worse. You then either make a decision to go with a new softer regime, i.e. cuddling to sleep / co-sleeping etc. or you want them to sleep independently. If you chose the latter you need to read a proper guide to cc (or similar) although I would recommend that you read the chapter in Richard Ferber called 'what your child associates with sleep' even if you don't do cc because it will help you to understand where things are going wrong.

lots of people seem to mention the Ferber book, maybe I should get a copy, even if I decide not to do the cc thing, everybody seems to have gotten something from it.

I am not really a CC-fan, but I know plenty of people who say it saved their lives (or sleep).
Could it not be teeth? Colds?

I thought it was teeth to begin with, but it's been a couple of weeks now and I think she's just got into the habit of waking

Sorry mrsevs, didn't see this.

Saw your post on the July/Aug thread - sounds llike it went very well!

I posted about DS3 as well - last night 7.15 p.m. to 4.50 a.m. -

Let's hope they both keep it up eh?

HELP !!!
My little girl was a brilliant sleeper, shes 11months old. But just lately she has been waking up at about 4am hungry. She has good feeds during the day but wont drink her bedtime milk anymore, unless its at some ridiculous time in the morning.

Hi, new to website - thought i was the only person who had a good sleeper who decided to wake up during the night. Luke's problem is he can roll over onto his tummy now and wakes himself up so have to go in and turn him over. Now I just ignore him and he goes back to sleep!!

Im new to this website, but ive been reading a lot of the advice and like you said i think im just going to ignore her and see if that works, thanks

I am having similar problems with my 5 1/2 month old daughter. She used to sleep through the night but now wakes up screaming. At first I was feeding her but now I don't want her to get the habit of being fed every time she wakes . We have been trying cc but it doesn't seem to be working. Any suggestions would be gratefully appreciated.

Hi - no idea if this works as not had personal experience but my friends have said that if waking for a feed in the night becomes a habit try them with cooled boiled water instead - then as it is not as exciting as milk they will gradually stop waking.

Thank you, Bellie, that is worth a try.

Hope it helps!