I would like some advice. Our 7 month old son will not sleep thru the night. He never has and is generally not a good sleeper. His naps are also usually very short. We had him sleeping up to 5 hours at a time during the night, then he got sick. He has been sick off and on for the past month and therefore his sleep pattern has been thrown off. He now wakes about every 1 1/2 to 2 hours just to get a little to drink and then goes back to sleep. Since he has been sick we have moved him back into our room (his room is upstairs and ours is downstairs) he was having a really difficult time breathing and was finally given medication. Now that he is feeling much better he is now not sleeping very well. We need to get some sleep. Any suggestions or comments would be great. Thanks
I dont have any advise that has not been stated. A routine is great, but may not work for every child. My daughter is 6 and still wakes up around 3 am 4 or 5 times a week. She has woke up at 3 am from the day she was born, and my body started waking me up at that time a few months before she was born. She was never a good napper, never on a schedule, no matter how hard we tried.
good luck, this too shall pass!
I agree with Anna K also!! My 7 month old was the WORST sleeper. Totally inconsistent.
I did not read the book Healthy Sleeping Habits....; but I got the basic advice from those who had read it.
After my consistency of keeping up with those naps, a couple of weeks later I just noticed one day that she was sleeping 2, 1.5-3 hour naps a day: 1st nap 9 am (or two hours after she got up for the day) and the second nap about 2 hours after she got up from her first. Then dinner at 5:30, bathies at 6pm, and bottle/breastfeeding (I did both to really fill her up; bottle, then topped her off with boobie), and nigh-nights time at 7. When she cried in the middle of the night I would cut out the first feeding and let her cry herself back to sleep. Then when she stopped waking up at that time, I would cut out the second by doing the same thing, and so on.....
No one can believe what an awesome sleeper she is; she is 20 months old now...day and night.
Babies instinctually would rather be with mommy; especially in the middle of the night when they need to feel most comfortable. I know it's heartbreaking to let them cry (my daughter did on and off for almost 40 minutes one night!); but believe me when I say you're doing him a favor in the long run. It will be SO traumatic for him if you wait any longer.
It was him getting sick and starting a new habit that started all of this.
Good luck mama, my heart just swells for you and what you and your little one are going through,
S. :)
Hi,
I would recommend you to read the book by Dr. Marc Weissbluth "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child". I have a 6.5 months old girl. She has been sleeping through the night at 1.5 months, but then at 4 months I started noticing that someting was wrong with her sleep schedule. She started waking up more often (not to be confused with growth spurt) and at nap times it was really really hard for her to fall asleep. Well, I read this book and came to conclusion that she was overtired and sleep deprived. Her naps were very short because she was destirbed by her older sister who is 26 months old now. I put her on schedule for "4-8 months olds" form the book. Here is a little example:
7am WAKE UP
9am 1ST NAP (1-2 HOURS)
1PM 2ND NAP (1-2 HOURS)
4PM 3RD NAP (1-1.5 HOURS)
7PM BEDTIME
The book gives more details about the schedule, but it helped me a lot. Now I just have to nurse her, turn on soft music, put a soft blanket near her face and she falls asleep by herself (Without rocking her to sleep, crying or anything else, with some exceptions).
Well, hopefully my advise will help somehow.
A.,
a mother of two yr old and 6.5motns old girls.
Hi L.,
I, too, am a HUGE Weissbluth fan for ALL sleep related issues. He is hosting a four week online sleep boot camp at parentsconnect.com. He is answering parents questions, giving advice. I recommend his book to every parent I know.
Sincerely,
L.
I would read the book Baby Wise. I have followed this since my daughter was two weeks old and she was sleeping 5-6 hours at night by six weeks old.
Hi, I don't have any suggestions for you but thought you would like to know that you are not alone. 7 months is NOT unreasonable for a baby to not be sleeping through the night. My boy is 11 months and still rarely sleeps through the night. My girl slept through the night by 6-7 months. My boy like yours does not take long naps either. Our ped (and many peds agree) that 5 hours *is* a long sleep stretch. It's frustrating but it will pass. It does seem like they have to "re-learn" sleeping once they get sick. I've asked anyone who will listen about whether their babies sleep "through the night" and very few people say yes. Really the average answer I've found is 5-6 hours. I think that's pretty good considering where we started ;-) best of luck and hang in there.
We have a very scheduled routine. Books at 7:45pm bed at 8pm. Both of my kids pass out, 29 months 14 months. And, my daughter who is 14 still does not sleep through the night. She has not had a bottle since she was one during the day...but at night she does. Good luck.
Take him into bed with you, so you can nurse him when he needs it & still get enough sleep yourself. Eventually, he'll get back to waking less often. If he's in bed with you, neither of you have to wake up all the way to nurse, and you both get lots more sleep. And no one has to listen to crying!
I wholeheartedly agree with Anna K. I strongly recommend Dr. Weissbluth's book; it made the biggest difference for us. I think it is completely reasonable to expect your baby to sleep through the night. I don't want to step on others' toes, but I think a big reason why so many parents don't have kids who sleep throught the night is because they think that is normal. I respectfully disagree. Babies(and all kids) need lots of sleep. A friend recommended the same book, Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child and I wish I would've gotten a hold of the book sooner. With the help of the information and suggestions in the book, my son was sleeping through the night between 8 and 9 months of age. He continues to do so at the age of 23 months. Implementing the strategies takes consistency and determination. Sure, it may be easier just to keep getting up and not have consistent naps, BUT it doesn't have to be this way. You will have a much happier baby and you will feel so much better too. After reading so many other posts regarding this topic, I am thankful to have gotten a hold of this book so I could better understand the sleep habits of my baby. All the best to you and your baby too.
Do you have a nighttime routine in place? How about getting him back to his own room and shutting the door so he's not looking for you? My son is coming up on 14 months and still doesn't sleep through the night. At 7 months my son was just like yours... don't lose hope, but it doesn't mean that all babies sleep through the night. Get him on a routine and see if that helps... it helped my son.
