7 month old boy screaming in sleep

[amlougi]

Upto 8 weeks ago my little boy slept thought the night now he can wake upto 8 times a night, he's always had a bedtime routine bath, feed, play and then bed. we even play lullabyes for him aswell but still he stirs and cries out. We don't go to him straight away to see if he will settle himself however im at the end of my very tried tetter can any one help.

Does he go back to sleep on his own? It's normal for every one to wake up several times a night - what we have to learn is to turn over and go back to sleep. If he does settle, then you just need ear plugs. If he doesn't, then go to reassure and stroke, then leave him. You can keep going back to repeat this, to show he is not abandoned, but eventually he will learn that it is OK to wake up and that nothing is wrong. You don't say how old he is, but it's also possible he is teething so check for that.

hudgebar - Another way of summering that method is to say that you can teach a baby that there's no point in crying because nobody will come

No, I could never do that - what I was describing is what's known as the 'elastic band' method - you always come when he cries (I'm a complete softy) but you reassure and stroke so there's no sense that he will feel abandoned. You just don't start picking him up and moving him about. The ear plugs comments was because some babies (and kids) do cry out in their sleep and go back to sleep pretty quickly though, and I thought maybe that's what you were describing (my youngest still does that at 4 and is always asleep by the time you get to her). Does that make sense? I'm really not saying leave a distressed baby to it.