7 Month Old Night Time Sleeping Issues

J., unfortunately I do not have any answers for you because I am going thru the same exact thing... if you get any responses you could let me know? I would really appreciate it. B. ____@____.com.

i agree with stacy. she may be experiencing seperation anxiety. i would maybe try bringing her to bed with you. my daughter started waking at night around 7 mo about every hr and then over a month period it started to get better (she's 8 1/2 months now. Do you have a sling or other type of carrier. my doctor suggested wearing her until she fell asleep and then laying her down. it really works for us on nights when she doesn't nurse to sleep. i know it's exhausting. hats off to you for being a great momma and tending to your daughter's needs. it will definitely pay off in the long run. good luck!

If there is only 1 book I could recommend to Moms it would be Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Weissbluth. I have 3 kids (5 1/2, 3 and 10 months) and they are all fabulous sleepers - I attribute it to that book.

It sounds to me like she may be overtired when you put her to sleep at night. Good rule of thumb (according to "the book", is that at that age, they shouldn't be awake for more than 3 hours at a time (e.g. wakes from afternoon nap at 3PM, should be in bed at 6PM). At that age, all my kids went to bed by 6 or 7 PM and slept 12 hours straight - babies naturally wake during the night, but should be able to put themselves right back to sleep. And according to Dr.Weissbluth (and it has been true for my kids) sleep begets sleep. The earlier I put my kids to bed, the better and longer they sleep at night. My 10 month old has gone to bed crying a couple times, but I find that's usually when I've pushed her bedtime too late. I prefer seeing her playing in her crib for 30 minutes before bedtime and slowly putting herself to sleep, than crying for 5-10 minutes and dropping fast asleep from exhaustion.

However, my kids never seemed bothered by teething (and I know my sister's child had a horrible time with teething and did wake in the night multiple times during that time). Although very against giving any kind of drugs to my kids, maybe you want to try giving her tylenol before bedtime one night and see if that helps. If it doesn't, then I would assume its not teething, since the pain would be masked and you still have the problem. Then you wouldn't have to give her tylenol anymore.

One more thing - I never had night lights for my babies (until they asked for one). Although they often went to sleep with the natural light that peeked through their windows, but at least they slept really well through the night. My sister used to tape sheets/blankets to her windows to make it pitch black in her child's room - she swore that helped her child sleep better, no matter how sunny it was outside.

Good luck!!

Have you tried bringing her to bed with you? I would try it, for the sake of getting more sleep. At 7 months, babies usually enter a new awareness of who makes them feel secure, seperation anxiety (especially at night) can kick in at this time. She needs to know you're there to feel secure. If you develop a trusting relationship with her now, she'll know she can always trust that you'll be there to meet her needs as she grows. Trust your instincts and answer her cries.

get her ears checked. she could have an infection. From my experience. it may hurt more at night. at least rule out actual pain first, before you try anything else.

Hi J.,

There are several things that come to mind.
One, when is her last nap? Is she not tired enough.

Two, my daughter was like that, it was sooo tough for us, so much so that when my son was born 11 months appart I was horrified of another year this way and he sleeps HARD, once we put him to bed at 8:30 he's out until 7:30.

So, personalities???

On the flip side, with my dd we went it everytime, gave her a paci, soothed her, you name it. With him, we let him cry since an early age and he just didn't continue the behavior, did we condition her???

She's 21 months now and I was just with ther peditrician today and I mentioned it to her, she's still doing it, always once, often twice, sometimes 3 times a night.

My husband has to go in and lay her back down, that's it and she's out!

When we don't go back in it gets better but at first she cries for a while and quite honestly its so much easier to go in and lay her down than to hear her cry for however long....

So... if it is conditioning... you remedy now that she's still young could be to put some plugs in your ears for a week and simply not go in, period.
If it stop,s then you know she was just conditioned to cry and expect you to come pay her a visit....

Hope that helps...

:)

Hi J., I agree with Christina R. It sounds like she's getting over tired and then is unable to relax and sleep. The Weissbluth book is my sleep bible too. I highly recommend it.

I feel your pain!! I actually have a 10 month old and I am going through some what of the same thing. My daughter will wake up 3-4 times a night just screaming!! I don't really know that I would recommend her sleeping with you. My daughter sleeps with us and I think that it has actually made it worse. One good thing about her sleeping with us though is the fact that I don't have to get up and down to get her, so I do save myself a little time, but I still don't get any sleep. Things are starting to look up though. If you find any good advice let me know. Good luck!

Have you checked with a doctor. My Daughter had colic for several months when she was little and I was up almost all night rocking her until I use to cry and cry and cry. I was so tired I knew I couldn't go anymore. I tried everything I could think of. She eventually grew out of it, but not before I thought I was going to lose it. A night light, music box-------Nothing seemed to help the situation. Her formula was changed and her eaing habit were too. With the doctor's help, I finally found the right combination that helped her sleep through the night. One thing I did was not to put her down for more than 1 nap during the day for a few days. As much as I wanted to(so I could get some sleep), I didn't. She would be good and tired by bedtime. One thing that really helped was taking her for a ride just before bedtime. Sounds unusual, but it worked. We only had to drive her around town a little bit and then she was asleep before we got home. It was hard because when evening comes, you just want to sit down and relax, but I or we did it. It wasn't too long before I could stay home and rock her for a few minutes and she would fall asleep. I had hardly any trouble with her after that session. She would cry some when I put her to bed at times, but rarely enough to worry me and for me to get her ot of bed. Hope I have helped some.

My son, who is not 20 mo. old, did this too. He did it out of the blue and I couldn't figure out why. He too when to sleep very well before that and still took his naps well. I decided to keep a log of his eating for a bit and see if any one thing stuck out. It did! He only woke up on the nights he had chocolate. I asked the doctor about it and she said that this is very common. Chocolate and milk are the biggest foods to get this reaction but some other foods can cause it too. She said that he will likely outgrow this problem but not until he is 5-7 yrs. old. So, we eliminated chocolate from his diet completely and he sleeps great again. It's worth a shot to try it. At this point, it can't hurt. I really hope this helps. Good luck (and hopefully sweet dreams soon), Shannon G.
PS. The doc said that this happens because kids will sometimes not digest a certain substance properly! I had never heard of this until then but thought it was worth sharing.

Has she gotten shots recently? If so, I would research adverse effects...God bless!

Hi J.! I feel your pain sister!!! I have a 7 1/2 month old doing the same tricks. We are still working on it. I tried the cry it out method from Healthy sleep habits, happy child. It nearly killed me. The thing I didn't like most was the fact you let your child cry for hours on end without checking in on them. I understand you have to allow your child the space to rest, but I would find it hard to rest with a dirty diaper. This was the case with us.
We have our good and bad days, but I found a bit less severe method from the CIO that Healthy sleep habits, happy child suggests. It is from Jo Frost (supernanny). She has a few books out. All of which are good, and would highly recommend them. I love her new book. CONFIDENT BABY CARE. Its a survival lesson on the first year of life. The book gives you great tips on setting up a sleep routine for your baby, and works through the kinks like we are having now. Her recommendation is to lay them down awake, but sleepy. Be sure they are fed, clean, not sick, etc. Leave the room. If they fuss, give her 5 minutes and check in on her. DO NOT make eye contact. If you think she's dirty, quick check,rub her tummy and shhhhh. When she is quiet, leave the room. If the fussing kicks up again. Give her 10 minutes and repeat process, each time doubling the time you went in last (20 minutes, 40 minutes, and so on). Like I said, we have our good and bad nights, but for the most part it is working well for us. It is stressful time in general, no matter how you handle it, but this took some of the heat, and guilt for that matter away. I am positive that my son is alright, and that he is just wanting my attention. Hope this works for you. Best of luck and sweet dreams!!!

Have you tried moving her bedtime back a half an hour or so? She may not be tired enough yet to sleep. I know my older son has always been a night owl. He prefers to not go to bed until about 9:30 and he is 2 1/2. The baby who is 11 months typically goes to bed about 9:00, but sometimes not until after the 2 1/2 yr old goes to bed. He just isn't always tired at 9:00.

J.,
Have you tried cutting her naptimes short???She may be getting too much sleep in the daytime. My husband and I still talk to our daughter from our room,"it's ok mommy and daddy are here", "go to sleep","see you in the morning" etc.(she's 3)I think it's just the reassurance.
Try the short naps and see how that goes, warm baths, lots of food/cereal/bottle and decrease stimulation/noise at and preferably hours before bedtime.
Good Luck!
R.

Have you tried using the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders? The new one has a remote control you can turn on with out going in the room. I have one for each of my kids and let me tell you... that extra 15 minutes it gives me is sooooooooooo worth it! If she can sit up by herself then she would be able to push the little interactive part of the toy by herself too. I picked my older model (no remote control) up at a consignment shop for $8. Best money ever spent!

My guess is she is going through separation anxiety but it never hurts to try the ancient art of distraction!