7 Month Old Not Sleeping Enough?

OH my goodness my inclination is to scream a loud resounding nooooooo. Do not wake him up. Unless you have work, or he has to go to school or he has a wrestling match. He will promise to wake you up, and believe me this time passes. Way too quickly. Like twenty four years already and another eighteen for the second one. They both woke up and were lousy sleepers. There were always the SMUG other mothers who looked down at me when I said they woke up twice or five times and they of course had little princes Who slept 12 hours at night, weighed the perfect amount with their regular feedings and they had two eighty eight minute naps a day. Oh please learn that you are the mother of this very special little person and there are way too many advice givers out there.If your child doesn't sleep just like everyone else's and you are pooped don't worry it really will pass. One day you won't be able to get his hand off of pizza and get him out of bed for the life of you. So oh, just hug, hug the little guy and at seven months old the only major consistency he really needs is your guys love. I used to hear how when I let my kids sleep because my hubby worked the night shift that they will be warped for life. Oh pleeeeeeeze. one more time, say after me: This is my child and I am taking wonderful care of him and if he doesn't sleep right now then I will enjoy the heck out of him. You see they really do grow up way too fast and I got a call recently from my older son in the service out in the Ocean somewhere. Just hug him and hold him. I miss my son so much I'd trade no sleep in past back for one day with my own son.

you can try a catnip tea in your baby bottle.

My sister and I have 7 month olds at the moment. Her's is underweight and has the same sleeping schedule as you and mine is a little above average weight and he sleeps through the night with no wake ups during the night. Since your son is underweight it would be better not to try and keep him sleeping just for convenience. How much does he eat in formula? Do you give him cereal twice a day? Is he getting is fruit and vegetable feedings? I've noticed with all my children if they are well feed they will sleep better, my first born was underweight for 6 months and hardly ever went to sleep for a long time. If I sound like I'm accusative I'm not trying to be, I just know from past experience (I have three kids ages, 5, 2, and 7 months) what has worked for me. My current 7 month old was having trouble sleeping and eating at 2 months so the doctor changed the formula to rice starch formula, and he did a huge turn around. He gained weight and slept longer.

V.,

First I would talk with your Doctor again and stress the fact that you are worried. Maybe he will give you some more advice. I wouldn't change formula or add anything that you haven't talked with your doctor about. I love Dr. Marc Weissbluth, also. I have been a professional nanny for twenty years and have used his methods, along with the parents who were willing to let me help. Check his book out at the library and see if it fits your style. See if his method will work for your family. I would also recommend The Happiest Baby on the Block by Dr. Harvey Karp. See which one works best for you. There are lots of sleep training methods out there.

Naps, your son still should be napping twice a day. I would try and be as consistence with the time as you can be. Try putting him down two hours after he is up in the mooring and then again around 2 or 3(since he goes to bed so late). He should sleep at least 1.5 hours, each nap time. He might also take a small cat nap around 6 too. There is nothing wrong with putting him down at 8 if that is what you can do. Naps are funny, some kids are great nappers and well others not so well.

If you can get in to see Dr. Weissbluth, I know he could help. Otherwise check out the books.

Good luck.

K.

Hi V.!

Wow, you are one busy lady, and it sounds like you are doing a really good job!

I guess my first thought is to check with your ped and make sure his weight and eating habits are good. See what suggestions s/he can also come up with.

It sounds like your son is on two different schedules..one at your house (you can control) and the other at your sisters (out of your control). Without those both being consistent, he might be confused. Have you talked to your sister? If she is doing her best then I guess you have to let that go.

Do you leave him in the crib for 30m when he wakes up? Sometimes it gives them the opportunity to go back to sleep.

I used the Weissbluth methods on my first two and had wonderful results. I find his book to be a good "guide" to help a child learn to sleep. It helps to be flexible with the guidelines b/c everybody has different circumstances.

It worked for me b/c mine were close in age, and I could follow the schedule. For my third....forget it! I have tried and do follow the guidelines, but with two LOUD children and having to take to activities....it is hard to follow it exactly. When my 3rd was really struggling I was going to schedule an appointment with Dr. Weissbluth to see how he could "taylor" my routine. Luckliy everything fell into place with my 3rd.

I think if your insurance covers it, it would be worth your time to see him. Then you can also get rest and feel good about what you're doing to help him instead of questioning it.

The funny part is babies are always changing their schedule, so when you can be confident and consistent it helps them adapt better to the ever changing outside world. At least that is what the book did for me!

Good luck and let us know!

If there is anything you can do to get him to bed at night earlier I would highly recommend it. Check out the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. Many of my friends reco it and I've seen it help my 11 month old son. He's a doc downtown Chgo that specializes in infant and child sleep problems. He recos that babies should be going to bed somewhere between 6pm to 8pm at the latest - but in your case it sounds like earlier would help. He also recommends that you don't let a nap go longer than 1.5 hours so that they can remain on their 24 hour sleep schedule and yes, he recommends too that the child get up around the same time each day (our son always did this anyway). So, a lot of this is different than what the others have posted so far, but his 1000's of patients have seen this work and my friends have seen this work and I've seen the benefits for my son as well. If it is something you could try, then I would at least try it but if it just can't work for you and your lifestyle then best wishes on finding something else that will help you.

honestly that sounds pretty normal.. As soon as the milestones and teething hit schedules and routines go out the window for a little while. It will be easier on you if you just accept this and do what is easier for you. I just keep telling myself my kid will sleep someday and when she is a teenager she will be waking up on saturday mornings to make me breakfast!

At seven months some still get up once or twice during the night. Some sleep better than others.

Some things that have helped me over the years with three different children that all had different sleep habits.

1.) A consistent schedule is good even during the day for nap time.

2.) Sometimes you can just pop a pacifier back in a child's mouth during the night and they will go back to sleep. Do it quick.

3.) I avoid diaper changes during the night at all costs. It wakes them up and they want to play after that. Honestly, I know it sounds bad to some moms, but I would rather get more sleep and change a sheet and some jammies the next morning because a little pee pee got on them, than lose two hours of sleep trying to get a little one back to sleep.

4.) Never turn on the lights. Turn on the light in the closet and crack the door when you put them to bed...that way you can see when you need to go in there. Honestly, I light, even a lamp, wakes them up. My humidifier has a nice blue light and that gives me enough light to see when I need to go in. A small nightlight isn't a bad idea. They get use to it, you can see, it doesn't wake them up and they like it later when they start fearing the closet/monsters they think are in their room.

5.) Don't talk to them much. Keep it simple...like "it's night night time...go to sleep" Pat the bottom, put the pacifier back in the mouth and walk out.