Help! 7 Mo. Old Not Sleeping!

I more than likely will not be popular for my response but I have seen so many of these posts and am begining to wonder where peoples thoughts are. If you have a baby that sleeps through the night the first year you are very lucky but in reality babies do not sleep through the night until a year or older. I had two that slept through the night at around six months and three that did not. I have been sleep deprieved for about 7 years now. I guess that my frame of mind when I had them was that I would be sleep deprived for a very long time because it doesn't end when they start sleeping through the night. I know that this is not the answer that you wanted but I had to say something because I feel like our children are getting the short end of the deal. And the crying it out method I think was the worst idea ever invented. What a torture for young babies to go through as well as the parents. And I know I can hear it now from all the parents that have used that method but this is just my opinion. If you can sleep whenever your little one is sleeping. Otherwise resign yourself to some sleep deprevation. : )

2 moms found this helpful

A.,

If you don't want to let him cry it out, or if you want to try something else first, "The No Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley was very helpful for our family. You can buy it on Amazon.com, or you might be able to find it at your local library.

Right off the bat, I would say that he probably needs to go to sleep earlier. Once babies are overtired, it is even harder for them to get to sleep. Watch him for staring off into space, rubbing his eyes, yawning, etc. The time these behaviors start taking place, is the time his bedtime routine should be done and he should be in bed. For instance, if he starts showing tired signs at 7:00, and you have a 1/2 hour bedtime routine, you should start his routine at 6:30 and have him finished and in bed by 7. Start slowly moving his bedtime back, by 15 minute incriments, until he is at his key bedtime, and see if this helps. I was surprised that my kids did so much better if they were in bed between 7-7:30. It is still true, even with my almost 4 year old. If she is settled in bed by 7:30, she will fall asleep in less than 1/2 hour. If she is settled any later than that (even by 15 minutes), she will be away and bopping around until 10pm or later!

There are tons of tips and tricks in this book. She also has a wonderful section explaining the mechanics of sleep, and explaining common sleep interrupters. It worked a charm for my 1 year old.

Best of luck,
S.

I feel for you. My girl's sleep issues came to a head at 4 months when she would not nap. Our pediatrician suggested reading Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. We do not incorporate all the techniques, but we do "versions" of them. Within two weeks she was taking good decent naps and waking once at night. At 6-7 months, still 2 naps and sleeping through the night (going to bed around 8). She is nearly a year now and she still takes 2 naps, sleeping through the night (and if she isn't in bed between 7-8, she is upset).

His theory is "Sleep begets sleep" If they aren't napping well during the day then they won't sleep well at night, and he is all for an early bedtime as well. He does do a bit of the Cry It Out method, and many aren't comfortable with it, but you can always try a bit of the Ferber method (let them cry 5 minutes, return and soothe, and gradually extend the time that you respond).

By 6 months they should be able to sleep through the night without nightime feedings. Read the book and give it a shot, and maybe you will sleep. It isn't an over night trick, and it is trying to incorporate the methods, but we were sleeping within a week. The book is an easy read broken up by age. I basically read some of the intro and went to her age group to get started and then read the entire book. If you have questions message me privately.

Good luck!

V.

I used a combination of Happiest Baby on the Block and Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. It worked like magic. Happiest Baby on the Block really helps you to get a child to sleep soundly and Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child helped to get a routine with naps and night. I highly recommend both. I have several friends that were going through the same thing you are saying, and used both and were cured. Even if the problem is teeth and it is temporary, these books help you for their entire adolescence. BTW, I swaddled my son until he was over 9 mo's old and he loved it and slept great. Good luck.

I had the same issue!
I agree that putting them to bed earlier is a huge help. We tend to think if we do this, they will get up earlier, but I assure you this is not the case. If my little ones goes to bed late for some reason, she is up even earlier on those days. And then she is just grumpy all day long! So try and stay consistent!
Also for us white noise in her room was huge! A fan worked for us mostly because it was summer and hot, but now that cooler weather is approaching we will still be using it and just bundle her more. Also a very dark room helps as well!
She now goes down at 7 and does not get up until 7.
Good luck!

Hi. I just wanted to let you know that my son is 8 months old and is doing the same thing. He has to nurse to get back to sleep. But I've ordered the No Cry Sleep Solution so I'm hoping that will give me some insight. I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone. I actually read recently that really it's only 80% of babies that sleep through the night by the time they are 8 months old. Until I read this I thought my son was abnormal but really we are just part of that not so lucky 20%!!!

A.,

I have been going through the exact same thing with my now 8-month old. She was a perfect sleeper from 8 weeks of age until 5 months when she started waking several times throughout the night. She's an excellent napper during the day, eats a lot, etc. I thought her erratic sleep patterns were due to swaddling her in the beginning and then weaning her off but not so much ...

Here's what I've learned:

1). Deb K. also gave me some advice a while back about teething. She was right! We never saw the white spots or tooth buds on her bottom gums but sure enough, one day there was a tooth there and two days later the second one broke through. She was teething alright and the baby Motrin seemed to help. Now she's getting her top teeth (we can see the white spots) and this is disrupting sleep again.

2). To me it seems like the bedtime ritual helps get the babies to sleep but isn't a fail-safe method in getting them to stay asleep. I still do it but on nights like last night, where we took her with us to the Rockies game, she slept great. On other nights where we were on-routine, she may have gotten up 3 times during the night ...

3). My sister attended a lecture by Dr. Harvey Karp (author of The Happiest Baby on The Block) and I had her ask him some specific questions about our sleep issues. According to Dr. Karp, he still recommends swaddling at this age ... although since we already weaned her off the swaddle I didn't want to go back to it. He also highly recommended loud white noise to be played in the baby's room during sleep. This has certainly helped. I have an alarm clock that I bought from Brookstone that has 20 different sounds. I put it in her room and loudly play "Cooling Fan" during her sleep and this has really seemed to help her stay asleep through dogs barking and other sounds made in the house that woke her up before.

4). Make time to wear your little boy out before bed without overstimulating him. Make sure he gets lots and lots of activity in the late afternoon/evening. My husband loves to dance with our daughter to loud(ish) music. On nights where he does this too close to bedtime, I find that she has a more difficult time getting to sleep.

5). "Crying it out" hasn't worked for us and seems to upset our daughter even more. I think every parent needs to try it and see if they can stomach it, if it works for them, etc. At this age, experts agree that a baby will start to understand that if he cries, he will be held or command your presence. I personally believe in the Sears method — that not responding to your baby's cries actually weakens your communication and bond with your baby BUT I do have a limit. Lately, if she wakes in the night before a 5- or 6-hour stretch of sleeping, I have been trying to rub her back, etc., leave the room and come back in in cycles until she calms down. It's much harder than simply feeding her and it takes time. I think of it this way though: if she's awake during the night, I'm awake too so I might as well try something that will help train her to sleep rather than trying to get myself back to bed as soon as I can.

6). I've found that it all works ... and none of it works at the same time. It really depends on the night. The whole thing of "teaching" them to sooth themselves back to sleep is probably one of the hardest things I've encountered so far. When it's 3 am and she's awake for the third time, I know that feeding her will put her back to sleep (and me for that matter). However, I'm really starting to understand how, at this age, issues like separation anxiety and teething really do come into play.

I posted about this very topic a couple of times and I truly understand how frustrating it can be!! We still don't have it 100% figured out but I hope we'll find our middle ground soon!! Good luck and let me know how it goes/what ended up working for you.

E.

Have you checked to see if he is teething? You might want to try to give him something for the pain. For teething Ibuprofen works better. My son was the same way. Actually he stopped sleeping through the night at 4 months because he had started teething, but his teeth didn't actually brake through until he was 9 months. He did start sleeping through the night at 7 months. There are occassions when he wakes several time during the night because he is teething or he has an ear infection. If it is getting really bad, call his pediatrician.

Hi A.--

I'll tell you what I'm doing for the exact same problem (only I have a baby girl), and then I'm going to read ALL of the other responses because our problem isn't totally solved and has come back a couple times. Sheesh. Like I can even focus on reading and typing when I am this tired! :)

I use Dr. Weissbluth's approach as described in Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby. Which at this point basically means that I let her scream (after the soothing routine, etc.--this really is a fabulous book and is more detailed than I'm making it sound--I highly recommend it). Longest time = 1 1/2 hours. Yikes. But after a few days of it, she does sleep. And she's getting better at waking just a little, squawking, and then managing to self soothe and get back to sleep. But we've had to do this sleep training several times. Every time we travel, or she gets a cold, or anything else throws us off, we have to start over. It is not fun, but neither is getting up all night to nurse and soothe a fussy baby who is big enough to sleep through the night!

Best of luck to you!

Probably teething, try giving him tylenol before bedtime or natural teething tablets (the tablets don't last long).
He will probably want to eat a lot during growth spurts too.
Neither of my kids slept through the night until 10 mos of age. My son woke probably two times a night at 7 mos at my daughter even as many as three times.
I am thinking you just have to go with it. If he is hungry and growing he needs to eat. As long as he is settling back down it is part of the process. He should sleep through the night hopefully in a few months they you get to catch up on sleep!! :) Teething is the biggest thing that causes night wakings as well as growth spurts.
Us moms don't really get good sleep for a long time.
Is he crying hard? Is he just waking and then falling back to sleep? Does he have a full diaper and wants it changed?
Try the tylenol then I would say just hang in there and nap when he does if you can.

My son had the same problem at night we gave him bottles of milk he was just hungry. We have the bottles ready for him next to bed and when he starts to wine or wake in goes the bottle. He never choked... he was too hungry! And hated to eat food still doesn't like it. And bath soap with camomeal works too.
Hope that helps.

i let him cry unless i feel he really needs me. i'm beginning to learn his "i need you" cry vs "i want you" cry

I have a 7 month old daughter... she's on the same schedule! But she sleeps with me so its easy to accomodate her and go right back to sleep while she nurses.

I agree with the poster who said to wait until 12 months and the 'No Cry Sleep Solution'.

With my 3rd child I let him cry it out. My husband would stop me and say, "Wait till he gets to the other side." It did take just a few days and it worked but I regret it.

He's now 4. He stuffs his emotions more than my two older ones do. I don't know if this is due to that or just part of his personality but it feels more like he's stuffing than self soothing.

Good luck!

I know it sounds really hard but you should try to let him cry it out. After trying everything, that is what our dr. told us to try and we tried it-i cried the entire time but after a few nights, it totally worked! I read alot to prepare myself, the info said never let them cry more than 60 minutes, I never let my daughter cry longer than 30, it really did work after a couple of nights.

Hi A.,
I'm E. - 1st time mommy of a 7mo. old as well. I am no seasoned veteran by any means, but I will suggest a book;"Healthy sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. Marc Weisbleuth. This has made a huge difference in our son's sleeping habits. Like your little one, our baby was waking 2-3 times a night. The first thing Dr. Weissbleuth suggests is to eliminate one waking at a time. More than likely your baby is not hungry - he wants your company. for example, don't go to him at the 9pm feeding. Let him cry through it and put himself back to sleep. The next night he will be less likely to wake at this time. Same with the 1am feeding.

We are down to only one waking at around 3am, and our little guy is now sleeping around 12 hrs a night!
Much more information in the book - it is totally worth getting and trying!
Best of luck from one mommy to another,
E.
Boise, ID

It WILL get better, I promise! I was in the same boat, and remember 7-8 months being really tough, because I hadn't had a stretch of sleep longer than 4hrs- and that was a good night!- in, well, at least 9 months! My daughter is now 10 months, and just started sleeping through the night a couple of weeks ago... from 7-5. She still does occasionally wake up now though. Just keep consistent... don't bring him to bed with you, cut out the nursing/feeding... you'll have to pick a method. We did cry it out, because going to her didn't help unless I nursed. And if I nursed her, she just expected it at the same time every night. If that is your situation, perhaps cut out the 1am first. He doesn't need to eat in the middle of the night, he wants to. We established limits, before going to bed, say- I will NOT get up and go to her before 2am. And we gradually moved it to 5. I don't know if my daughter would have started sleeping through the night on her own- i.e. if it's a function of development and age... but I highly doubt she would have. You'll have to make a plan and really stick to it.

My little boy did the same thing around that age. I was sleep deprived also and finally I just stopped going in there right away. I would wait for 20 min or so to see if he would go back to sleep on his own. Some times he did and other times he still needed me, he was cold or needed a diaper change. After I stopped going in there at the first noise, he woke up less and less. Now he is 9 1/2 months old and only wakes up maybe once a night maybe 2-3 times a week. other wise he sleeps all the way threw. It will get better but try not to go in there right away. I hated hearing him cry, but I'm so glad I'm getting better sleep now! Best wishes!

You have received some really great advice! It must be confusing since some of it contradicts others advice. I guess you just need to try everything and see what works for you.

As several people recommended, we used Marc Weisbuth's (sp?) "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child." Great book! In a nutshell, the book talks about how sleep begets sleep. An early (5:30-6:30pm)bedtime is critical to the method and REALLY worked for us! It seemed crazy, but once we got our 7-mo-old son to sleep at 6:00pm, he would sleep all night without waking - if we took him out and he didn't get to bed until 8:30, he would wake several times during the night. We now have a 19-mo-old that goes to bed at 7-7:30 and sleeps all night, every night until 6:30-7:00am. Sometimes we can even get him to "sleep in" until 7:30am!

Get the book and see if it will work for you. It was a lifesaver for us!

My heart goes out to you I have five children and I know what you are talking about.
Durin gthe day does he get naps? IF so try to give only one Mid day, and no longer then one half hour, (If you stay home you sleep too) then wait till around 8:30/9 pm for bed. I do not know your bedtime routine, but one thing that really helped my children was putting on light relaxing music like classical, of Enya they would sleep through the night. You know he may be teething also, so that does not help either. good luck and hope you sleep better soon.

Mother of Five, and teacher

He could be missing the feel, sound of his mother's heartbeat. I'd try to invest in one of those teddy bears that makes a heart beat sound. It's worth the money to have the baby sleep through the night. Good luck!!!