I really need help getting my 7 month old to sleep better at night. We are leaving for Chicago next weekend and I feel bad leaving him with my mother-in-law (who now has a house full of company coming as well!)
My daughter, who is now 3, slept through the night starting at one month! My son did sleep through the night from about 2 months -5 months and then got teeth. For the last 2 months he gets up 2-3 times a night. I do nurse him, so its easy for me to just let him nurse back to sleep, but my m-i-l will have to take time to warm a bottle and keep him quite so he doesn't wake the company. I feed him cereal right before bed and then nurse him so he is full, but he still wakes up. I have tried just rocking him back to sleep when he wakes, but he wants to nurse. Should I be letting him cry it out?
Do any of you have any tips to share, either to help my mother-in-law or just 7 month old sleep issues in general??
THANK YOU!!
Okay, I'm gonna be honest here. You want to make a 7 month old fit into the life of his grandma and her company. Babies wake up, you've been lucky this far, so I would assume your MIL would know this and still said okay to watching the baby for you.
Either MIL is okay with this or you don't go to Chicago. Sorry.........
If it's just a couple nights, your MIL will survive, although she may not volunteer to watch your baby again :).
Every baby is different and at seven months, some babies aren't ready to go through the stretch of the night without a cuddle or reassurance. You can let him cry it out, but personally, I would take the opportunity to enjoy the middle-of-the-night nursings while they last. At 7 months, he'L. outgrow them soon.
For a gradual transition, I suggest slowly increasing his solid food intake during the day and before getting up to nurse him at night, let him cry for a couple minutes first. Sometimes, babies will fall back asleep after a few cries.
Your MIL will survive. It's just a couple of sleep interrupted nights.
So nice of her to help you. Just warn her ahead of time that he is waking
up during the nigh to feed.
That way she'L. be prepared & she will know to definitely feed him!
The go through stages and spurts.
He may be growing, teething or both.
Try some Baby Anbesol to rub on his gums.
Make sure she has Infant Tylenol if she thinks his pain is keeping him up.
Make sure to SHOW her the approp dosage.
He could just be hungry so I would get up as you are doing and feed him.
Girls sleep through the night sooner than boys in my experience.
Happened w/my friends' kids, too.
No, I would not let him cry it out. It's his only way of telling you he needs something and he sound hungry. So just do what you are doing and feeding him at night when he wakes up and cries.
My son did not sleep longer than 3 hrs at a time for awhile. He, also, did not sleep through the night for a LONG time. I just went along with it rather than trying to fight it so we'd all get better sleep. We got through that long phase fairly easily. Looking back, I'm glad I did it that way. I rested whenever I could.
Wow! You have a kid who slept through the night at 1 month! My boys didn't sleep through the night until they were about 18 months!
The only advice I have is give him a cold bottle. The only reason to take the time to warm a bottle is because he's used to it. Babies do not need to have warm milk (I don't drink warm milk). We had to bottle feed my youngest (medical issue), and we asked the ped if it was ok to give him cold milk. She said temperature doesn't matter, as long as you don't burn the baby. Our son took bottles straight from the fridge at 2 months old.
It's perfectly normal for him to need to eat in the middle of the night. I would just let her know that this is what he needs. I agree that she had babies once herself. She'L. be just fine.
It sounds as if your baby is in the normal range of sleep patterns for his age. As some others have said, some babies will not wake up at all, while others will wake up several times throughout the night. Since your son is able to go back to sleep relatively quickly at night, I would not worry too much about it for now. I don't think you have enough time to completely change his sleep habits in the short time before your trip. If you are unhappy with his sleeping, you can revisit the idea of some sort of sleep training, but I think you will be better off waiting until you are back from your trip. Try to think of ways to make the night time waking go as quickly as possible, and give your mother in law a warning. Plus, you have no idea how your baby will do at someone else's house without Mommy there. Even if he was sleeping through the night, he might have woken up just because he missed you. Don't stress too much!
I did not have one single grandchild sleep through the night until they were almost 2. It is part of being a parent and loving your child enough to get up each and every night with them.
I think it will pass. Take this time to spend that quiet time with them sitting in a rocking chair just enjoying each other.
I hate to say it but I think you are going to have to let him cry it out for a few nights. This is hard...I will have to warn you that it can take a long time to get them to fall asleep on there own. However, it may only take one or two nights and then he will be back to sleeping through the night. I would try this for a few nights before you guys travel. Best of luck.
