7 1/2 Month Old Not Sleeping Through the Night.

babies tend to wake up when teething or growing at night
no amount of food will stop that
: )
we have found some relief with Hyland's Teething Tablets
they seem to work well
Our little one sleeps "through the night" (4 hours straight is the definition of through the night by the way) some nights and wakes up other nights

1 mom found this helpful

S.,

First, do you have a bedtime schedule that you follow every night? If so, has the schedule been interrupted because of the new teeth coming through? If that's the case you may want to wait until the pain from the teething has lessened before becoming too strict with bedtime. He needs your comofort and support during this time so letting him "cry it out" will be counter productive and he will only associate pain and being alone with bedtime. My now 9 month old didn't start sleeping through the night until after his 2 bottom teeth came in. Good luck!!

1 mom found this helpful

There's a book called Baby Wise by Gary Ezzo. It deals with how to set up sleeping and eating schedules to get children to sleep through the night. It worked wonders for my daughter!

I agree with the other moms. Make a routine,stick to it, put him down when he's still a little awake, and if he wakes up let him soothe himself back to sleep. He may cry at first but it gets better every night. I did it with my middle son and it worked although it is hard to hear them cry. But take it from me you don't want the alternative. My youngest is 2 and the only way he'll sleep is if we rock him to sleep and I sleep in the bed with him. Now we have our own room and my husband has his own room. I haven't slept in the bed with my hubby for almost a year now!! And for the teething tylenol does work good. I know some people are against medicine but if they're hurting they need it. Good luck hang in there:)

I have been on both ends of the stick with this one. My oldest use to wake up every 3 hours on the dot to eat and wouldnt sleep in any other bed but with me and my husband...still does. He wakes up contantly through the night, but my 10 month old has slept through the night since he was a couple of months old from 7pm till 8am and I can say I prefer the sleeper. The only way to fix it is to set a routine with bath and bed and laying him down at a certain time to train his body to get sleeping around that time.Lay him down and if he cries then let him cry for about 15 mins and then walk in there...sooth him and lay him back down and repeat until he goes to sleep.I don't know if he has his own room but I found that with my first I always kept his bed in our room,even though he never used it..his room was our room. But with my baby he has his own room and his crib toy and a little fan I let run for some noise and I let him sleep in the dark with no light. I tired that same advice with the cereal in the bottle with my first and not only did it not work but the doctor told me not to feed him the cereal in the bottle.A rountine will def. help. Out of everyone I know with children I'm the only one that has her kids in the bed before 9pm and able to enjoy the rest of the night till I go to bed. Everyone else just lets their kids stay up until they get tired and knock out...which leaves no time for yourself. Just make a schedule, and be consistant...and remember that every baby cries and none have died from it so it's ok if he cries a little but don't use that to try and break him...there's much easier ways to do that.

Hi S., I know you are hoping for the day to come right? he may not be ready and feeding him more may make his belly hurt at night. You have to learn the cry for pain or attention. My 3 year old still gets up at night for different things. Attention, potty, drink. You name it, he wants it in the middle of the night. My 18 month old has been sleeping all night since about 7-8 months when I moved him to his crib from the pack nPlay in our room. What I do with him is, he eats fine at dinner unless he is sick which is only 2 times and cutting teeth. I lay him in the bed at 8pm every night and he is ready at that point asking for it. He is still awake and if he gets up crying, I let him cry for 5 minutes before I get up the first time and 10 minutes the next time and so on each night. I do not pick him up when I go in there. I jsut give him a hug and tell him it is ok and lay him back down. He sleeps with pacifier too so we have to find that for him sometimes. He does really good. Totally opposite from my 3 year old. Because we jumped up every time Thomas cried as a baby. Not a good idea. He thinks it is ok to get up now.
I hope this helps

My little boy (now 2) didnt sleep through the night till he was 9 months old. His pediatrician told me to let him cry himself to sleep, that he has to learn to self soothe. Which I couldnt do, but I did stop going to check on him as often and let him cry more. I put him to bed when he was sleepy but still awake. Progressively I went to check on him less and less, which took a couple months. He learned but it was a bit of a struggle, but if you want to sleep you have to be strong and let him cry. I hope this helps. Hopefully, you will be getting more sleep soon.

S.,

I am a mother of four children. They all slept all night from the time they were two weeks old. An old pediatrician who had raised seven himself, told me the secret! He said that Mother and baby BOTH need the sleep, worse than the baby needs that feeding. He said when he wakes up give him WATER ONLY, nothing sweet in it, just plain water. He may pitch a fit, but you hold your ground and refuse him anything but plain water (good filtered water). It may take a few nights for him to be convinced who is boss, but he will soon "decide" that water is not worth waking up for, and begin to sleep all night! This exact procedure worked with all FOUR of my children. That was years ago...the old-fashioned "discipline" of children is not looked upon as positive as it once was, but I am one who KNOWS IT WORKS, so that is the help I am offering. I have offered it to several others, they have also had perfect success. Your son may take a little longer because you have been getting up with him for these 7 1/2 months, but he will be convinced if you stick it out! If you don't show him who is boss soon, you will have a broken heart when he gets a few years older, so the sooner the better. God help you, is my prayer for you.

I agree with the other two...to let him cry. It's not as mean as it sounds. Make sure when he goes to bed at night he is awake when he is put in the crib. He needs to be able to put himself to sleep and then he'll figure out how to do it when he wakes up at night. You can go check on him... let him know your there but don't pick him up or feed him. It will be worth it when the whole family is getting a good night sleep. Maybe some tylenol for the teething? I think most doctors would say that by this age he doesn't need to eat through the night, and everything I've heard and read says that cereal in the bottle is not a good idea. Every mom goes through this at some point... good luck!

You can try adjusting his daily nap schedule and tiring him out during day. Take him out for a stroll or take him to the park and put him on the baby swings. Sometimes the fresh air can work wonders. You may also want to try driving around for a little as well. But, the more active he is during the day, the better he’ll sleep at nights.

I'm new to the site, but came across your post. The best book I could have invested in is called "Secrets of a Baby Whisperer" It's incredible. The author has practical advice for moms. I followed the guide with my daughter (first born) and she was sleeping through the night in no time.....hope it helps!!

your son is most likely in pain due to his teeth. Hylands teething tablets are great. Babies generally do not sleep through the night. www.askdrsears.com has great advice on how to help your child sleep longer, without crying it out. I don't doubt crying it out works, but I wouldn't think it is worth it; it means the child has simply given up on trusting their guardian to help them when they are alone and scared. I believe the long term effects of that are hardly worth a perfect night's sleep. Your child will eventually sleep through the night, try to focus on staying positive and enjoying all the moments with your baby. They won't always need you!

Neither of my sons slept through the night until they were 3 years old plus. His teething likely has everything to do with it.... Relaxaton exercises for you will be key to getting the rest you need without sleeping as much.... Write me directly if you want some tips on how to relax deeply without sleeping to get you through...

S.--it sounds like it's because of teeth! Just when I got my daughter (now almost 2) to sleep through the night she started teething and she is and was a horrible teether! Our ped said to give her some motrin or ibuprofen right before bed and that did seem to help. We also got a special teething lotion from their office that was our little miracle to getting her to sleep. That said though, she is getting her two year molars now and it waking up all through the night all over again. It sounds cliche, but it won't last for too long if it's teeth. HTH.

I agree with reading the baby wise book. It is all about scheduling. Making sure that he knows what time is what. Obviously if he is having teething problems and normally does sleep then try motrin. It has a longer lasting effect. Good luck. Not to brag but son sleep 6 hrs and kept adding more and more time at 3 weeks. Daughter did 6 hours and added time after 5 weeks. She was a bigger baby. Make sure he is well fed. It is the scheduling techniques that are described in that book.

let him toss and turn and cry it out. Did it....my son cried in his crib and I cried in my bed....not easy but in 3 days it worked. There is a natural teething tablet that I gave mine right before bed....based on camomile. You can get it at Harrys or any other natural store stuff. It really helps especially at bedtime. Good luck!!

I have been raising my granddaughter since birth even though her mother was around at that time. You night want to try giving him a nice warm bath, let him play around a little with your support (I have always given my granddaughter a bath in the tub with me so she will be able to play and get used to the water and a large tub :). Feeding him ceral at night and making sure he has a full belly along with the warm bath seems to really work for my granddaughter (she has always slept thru the night). Cutting teeth is a major down fall for all parents of babies but I have worked around that by given her tylenol and orejel right before bedtime to help with the pain. Try that and see if it works for you.

My son is 10 Months. He did the same thing when he was teething. As soon as his teeth break through he should start sleeping through the night...until he cuts more lol....My son stopped for awhile and he does it again because he is cutting his first teeth on the sides instead of the front 4.

I give my 13 month old a bath everynight with Johnson & Johnson bathing gel it's purple and has some kind of aromatherapy scents that calm the baby and help them sleep better. It says used to help babies sleep better on the bottle. Then you have to use the same kind of moisturizer and kind of massage it on his body, clean pamper and pjs and he should be ready to hit the sack. Oh and when my daughter was around his age, I would give some warm milk after she was dressed for bed. After her milk, she'd get her pacifier and I'd rock her to sleep. Make everything nice and quiet and all lights dim, he should be knocked out in no time. At least it worked for my baby and is still our routine to this day! I hope this helps.