7 Month Old Not Sleeping Through the Night - Orchard Park,NY

Hi M.,

I feel for you. I have been going through a similar situation. My daughter would start screaming the minute I left the room. My doctor said it was the beginning of separation anxiety. The test is if he is fine when you go in and pick him up he is fine. Put him down and walk away. If he screams immediately it is most likely separation anxiety. Personally I have been letting my little one cry it out. It has only taken a couple of days. She will only cry for about 15 minutes then she goes to sleep. This goes for nap time, bed time and the middle of the night. Now she will sleep from 7pm - 6:15am! Finally, I am able to get some rest myself. Good luck!

Hi M.,
Since he doesn't wake up during the day during naps, I'm inclined to consider that is waking and needing to be held has become habitual. He's come to expect and need the holding to help him get back to sleep. How long has it been going on? My daughter has gone through phases for a week here and there with waking, and then it just spontaneously goes away. But, if it's been going on longer, I'd consider it's become habit. There is only one way to break the habit. You have to teach him to fall back to sleep on his own. For us, we did it by always responding to her cries, but I either wouldn't pick her up and would only put my hands in to rub her or lean over and hug her, or I'd only pick her up until the crying stopped and then right back down. It should only take about 3 nights of this, a week tops, for him to get used to the new routine.
If it's not habitual, the only other thing I'd suggest for reflux (my daughter had it) is a crib wedge. It goes under the sheets and it creates a little wedge so when you lay your baby on top of it, their head is higher than their feet and help keeps the spit up from coming up and burning the back of the through. We got our's at buy buy baby. It really helped! You can also put books under the mattress at the head of the bed to prop the whole mattress at and angle. You could try that first and see if it works at all. It's only a slight angle, though. So, maybe google it first so you don't make it too steep? Good luck!

My grand daughter is 5 years old and last fall went to see a GERD specialist because of several vomitting incidents. To me they tortured her, there has to be a better way for young children - they "installed" a monitor - tubes down her nose that she had to wear all night and they were able to get a reading - she had numerous spasms during the night, while she slept. Have you ever seen health info for women about getting a good nights sleep and still being tired in the morning? Because of acid reflux - it isn't enough to wake you, but it doesn't promote restful sleep. My grand daughter sleeps on a hard pillow at my house, I couldn't figure out why she always liked it so much!It's stuffed with some kind of strange filling, buckwheat I think - they were recommended at one time for better sleep. She has to stay away from certain foods and not eat a certain number of hours before bed. There are web sites that give all of that info. As a baby, my daughter and her husband had an awful time. They took turns walking the floor with her. She would only sleep while laying on them. After working all day, I would go to my daughter's to care for the baby so she could get dinner ready or take a shower. She also had pneumonia at 3 months after 2 trips to a pediatrician who said she was just a little congested. My daughter of course read the books and refused to let her lay on her tummy. One night when they went out to eat and I babysat, I let her lay on her tummy next to me on the couch and she slept like an angel for a solid 3 hours (1st time). All of my kids slept on their tummies, except my granddaughters mom who was born when there was such a scare of infant death. She slept in one of those old infant seats that you could change the elevation like you do in a lawn chair. She slept on her back in that in the crib until she rolled herself out of it. I'm sure your son is too old for that, but you need to think and keep trying. My granddaughter still wakes up in the middle of the night when she's at home - never wakes up at my house - she sleeps in the same bed with me. So it's a comfort thing and security - she knows I'm there, not so when she's in her own bed by herself. I know my daughter limits the milk before bed - it produces mucous. Check out the websites maybe you need to change what he's eating the last time he eats before bed. That first year was hard, but once she started crawling/walking - able to relieve herself of that gas everything got better. Now her spasms are often brought on by excitement - she gets a prevacid before major events. Good luck, it's hard seeing little guys with that kind of pain and it's definitely something you need to monitor - it can lead to esophageal cancer in later years, so hopefully he'll outgrow it as the literature says a lot of children do. My sweet little princess has a family history of it and we're looking at surgery in the next few years, it could prevent her from going through what her dad suffers at a young 27. Again good luck.

You sound exactly like me. I have 6 1/2 month old twins and am going thru the same exact thing. From what my pediatrician has said, it is possible from teething. I don't know if your little one has any teeth yet, but my daughter has 2 teeth and my son has 1. My daughter was a lot better with the teeth than he has been. I put my daughter down in her crib for bed and she is asleep within minutes. My son on the other hand has to be put to sleep in his rocker chair to fall asleep then I put him in his crib. He slept for the first few months in his rocker, in his crib because he didn't want to lay flat..It may just be the age too..lol

Hi M.,
Congrats on surviving 7 months with twins! I have one year old twins myself and I know that every struggle is more difficult because their is always another baby to worry about. My daughter slept through the night at 10 weeks old and my son didn't until he was 6.5 months. THey too share a room and he would often wake her up. He would also cry when he rolled onto his back and eventually he learned to roll back over. We also faced this again when he learned to stand in the crib but couldnt figure out how to get back down!However I did realize at one point that I HAD to let him cry it out. I realized he was waking at the same time every night and would fall asleep as soon as we strated to cuddle. He LOVES to be held and give hugs and kisses. As much as I loved getting them, I also needed sleep. I am much nicer when well rested!! :) I read a wonderful book called Good Night Sleep Tight, The Sleep Ladies solution (something liek that). It talks about the importance of sleep and how to acheive it without crying it out (there are few tears but not many) Its a gentle approach and one I was comfortable with. For us it worked. My son still wakes up occasionally at night for no reason. I let him cry (as long as its not a hard cry) for some time and he almost always goes back to sleep. His twin has learned to sleep through it and almost never wakes up. It's tough I know but they are now sleeping for 12-13 hours a night!!! They are down by 7 and sleep until 7 or 8. AND they take two naps a day. Hang in there it will work out and enjoy those babies. We are truly doubly blessed! Let me know how things work out. Good luck.
Danielle

I tend to believe the idea that it may be habitual or possibly frustration. My son learned to roll on his stomach before rolling to his back. He would roll onto his stomach and then cry because he couldn't get back. I would put him on his back and he would roll over again then cry. Babies do continue to practice new skills at night while sleeping.
After checking that all necessities (food, diaper, not in pain) are covered we allowed our baby to cry. We stayed with him and only picked him up the second time once the crying stopped. Often I waiting for just a 5 second break. I didn't want him to get used to being picked up every time he cried for attention. It was very hard to do the first couple of times but now he has learned the response. He can now roll both onto his front and onto his back. In his sleep he sometimes cries out. I always do the count before getting out of bed because I found that he actually cries out in his sleep it's as if he is talking in his sleep.

Well, my friend has an adult size pillow in the crib with her daughter (since she was 7 months old) for a different reason, she weaned her off the breast and gave it to her to help comfort her since it was what she used for nursing, but my son from when he was born did not like sleeping on his back so I tried everything until I let him sleep in the boppy pillow. It cradled him much like mommy arms and kept him inclined. I know some worry about suffocation with pillows and it is never suggested by the company to allow babies to sleep in them but it may be worth a shot.

While this is typically not advisable, I let my boys sleep in a Boppy pillow. Neither of them ever slept well on their backs, and my youngest has Tracheomalacia, which caused some digestive problems (GERD). Like you, I also tried the wedge. I found the same problem. Once they can roll, it's pretty ineffective.

The sleeping in the Boppy idea happened when I needed to give my son a bottle while tending to another matter. I propped him in the Boppy (on the floor), and he was happy. He fell asleep after the bottle, and rather than disturb him, I just let him be. He slept like an angel! He slept nestled in the pillow on his side so well that we decided to try it at night. *Note: my son was already rolling both ways & lifting his upper torso up when on his belly. I wouldn't recommend this for a baby who can't do that yet.

I know I'm not the only Mama around who has done it, even though there are warnings right on the Boppy tag that say NOT to let your baby sleep in it. I did watch my son like a hawk those first few times of napping in the Boppy, to see how he moves in his sleep before I let him do it all night - and even then, I was a bit nervous! In the end, it has worked out tremendously well for us.

I hope you find a solution that works well for you!

M.,
my son used to wake up on his back and scream so I would place him close to the side of the crib(he always rolled to his left)that way when he went to roll the crib blocked him(most of the time)and he ended up on his side, not his back...I kept the bumpers there and rolled a recieving blanket and put it on the other side(you could use the wedge)...the truth be told, once they roll and learn how to pull themselves to standing(and then can't get back down) you struggle for awhile at night, but it will get better....just remember in your most frustrating moments, they are little for so short a time...you will miss this(or not :)...that always helped me(that 6th time in the middle of the night...that and a nightcap :)....I hope this helped, if only to remind you that you're not alone.
C.

Have you tried a binky. Both my kids didn't have acid reflux but they both needed the binky to go to sleep. When he wakes give him a binky pat his back and hopefully off to dream land he'll go. My daughter is 12 mos old and she still wakes during the night. And all I need to do is give her a binky and all done.