7 Month Old Wide Awake at All Hours of the Night!

Don't let daytime naps go too long even when you know he didn't sleep well the night before. He needs to get back on routine. It probably has to do with teething as well as with developmental change. He wakes up and wants to play. Don't go in the room. Keep it dark. No toys or distractions around the bed. Try wrapping him up (swaddling) like a newborn. And, if need be, let him cry.

Don't worry, he is eithergoing through a growing period or teething or other things that we will never know why. I worried the same way you are doing, about the sleep deprivation, but remember when they are tired they will sleep. This stage will pass. When my son learned to sit up on his own, he would sit up in his bed in the middle of the night and want to play. We would just lay him down and leave the room and eventually he would play himself too sleep.
hope this helps.

I had real problems with my son at 8 months and had a woman who specialized in babies and behavior come and give me advice. It worked beautifully, and made everything seem so simple. So, this is what she would have said to you:

Ensure you have a good daily routine. I assume your 7 month old has begun on solids now. Start feeding with solids, keep spooning the food in until it literally will come back out or you cannot get any more in. That means he's full. Follow with milk or breast about 1/2 hour later.

He probably does still need a nap. Look for tired signs, cartoon style; rubbing the eyes, yawning etc. Once you recognize them its hard to ignore. AS SOON as you see he's tired, put him into bed for a nap. This should be shortly after lunch, and so he should not be hungry. You'll get the timing of this right eventually! Put him down with a clean dry nappy. If he cries, leave him. He's crying because he's tired and needs sleep, he has to learn to go to sleep without help.

Make sure he has a good dinner, evening routine and put him to bed probably around 7pm or so. If he wakes in the night, you can go in to check he's ok, tell him its night and time to sleep and leave him. If you play with him you are teaching him to wake up more easily.

When children become overtired it actually is more difficult for them to fall asleep. You have a short window of opportunity (about 20mins for a 7month old) in which to ensure the nappy is clean and dry, and get them into bed for sleep, either at nap time or for a night sleep. If they have a good routine and plenty of good food they are totally capable of sleeping through the night, even while teething. Waking is not a habit you want them to get into, nor encourage as they need plenty of sleep for good health.

If this sounds really old fashioned, it is. But this approach totally worked for me. Our days became like clockwork, and nights peaceful. He was happy and healthy.

It takes 3 days for a habit to be broken, so you can expect 3 days and nights of battle. Maybe up to a week. If you are committed and strong you can have a great outcome.

If you think there may be a medical reason why he's suddenly not sleeping see a doctor. If the doctor gives him the all clear, then its just a habit, maybe precipitated by the teething.

I hope this helps. Good luck with whatever you choose to do!

R. C,

Unless it is caused from teething, you are probably the proud parent of a "Strong-Willed Child". My first born was like that. He didn't like sleep. He had us trained to stay up until 2:30 a.m. and it was really not working for us. After reading Dr. Dobson's book, The Strong-Willed Child, we learned how to deal with him. He would throw a temper tantrum and vomit on demand all over his bed. He knew this would buy him some time, a bath, some cuddling, etc. He used it whenever he wanted. The book had some great advice. We used it and it worked. We had to develop a bedroom routine and if he threw up, we let him sleep in it. I know it sounds mean, but it worked. That was the last time he did it.

However, if he is hungry or teething, you will need to deal with the need. For teething, I used Benzodent. It is made for denture wearers. It worked great. If it is hunger, maybe you need to feed him something that stays with him. I remember my Mom mixing a bottle with meat, milk, cereal, & fruit and putting a big hole in the nipple. My Brother was over 9 lbs. when he was born and he needed more substantial meals to sleep thru the night. They have infafeeders now that accomplishes the same thing.

Whatever you do, do not let him get in the habit of mixing up his days & nights. You need your sleep and he needs to live according to the family's schedule. I hope this helps.

B.

it may be his teeth but even if it is not he still needs to sleep and so do you. does he sleep in a crib? if so, just let him play and you get some rest..keep a monitor in his room so if he gets upset you will know, meanwhile he can play or whatever and he caint hurt himself or get into anything in the crib...

do you have a noise maker/white noise in his room. also dim lighting helps. is he full when he goes to bed? good luck.

Teething = wakeful baby! I know from experience! Have you tried to give him some infants Motrin about 30 minutes before bed. Then if he wakes up, and it has been more than 4 hours, give a dose of Tylenol. Check with his doctor first, though! Good luck!

I agree that it's probably the teething. When my kids were babies, we always had sleep issues when a tooth was coming in. However, my advice is to be really careful when you're with the baby in the middle of the night. Just like the advice above, be extremely quiet, keep the lights low (I just used a nightlight) and we also have a fan (just for noise) in the room. My kids have all been awesome sleepers -- but I do have to recommend an excellent book called 'Secrets of the Baby Whisperer' by Traci Hogg. It's EXCELLENT and can help you work through all kinds of baby issues and even through the toddler years too. It's GREAT and was a HUGE lifesaver for me.

I bet you are correct and the teething is interrupting his sleeping. There are tablets that are all natural that may help..
Notice this posting just a few weeks ago..Hers was about sleeping and teething..

Mary H
Wed. Mar. 11, 2009

Remember when you get up in the middle of the night. Try not to speak with your child and try to do everything (changing diaper and feeding)in the dark to keep him from totally waking up. Does he take a pacifier? Maybe hand him a cold teether when you lay him back down...

Mine are like this when teething too. Are you keeping lights on, or sitting up with him?

I will go in, do the norm and feed or whatever you do for him, and then I would leave. Keep the lights out and let him know that it is bedtime. Note: I wouldn't leave if he was screaming in pain. If he is just up, I would turn on a mobile or whatever he has to soothe him, maybe music, and leave the room. Mine usually will chatter and roll around, then they are out after about 15 min. If I stay in the room however, it is more like a few hours.

Hope that helps.. I know it can make a person crazy having no sleep.. just repeat to yourself.. this too shall pass. My mommy mantra. :)