My 7 1/2 month old son wakes up 2 times or more in the night! I make a bottle and put him to bed with me and feed him and most of the time I put him back to his crib. He eats 2-3 times a day of baby food as well as formula. I thought about letting him cry it out but he shares a room with his 2 yr old sister. HELP!!
Teething!!! if this just started. No way out but through it.
If this is normal behavior, ween him away from his morning nap and add exercise to his day--swim lessons at the WMCA pools are good.
A suggestion, just a suggestion, is to respond more slowly (just a couple of seconds or two) to his cries. Give him some time to sooth himself.
I don't believe in CIO. I respond to my infant's needs, the sleep through the night when they are ready. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and want a drink...why shouldn't my children?
My second son was up every 1.5-2 hours until he was nine months old. Sure, I was tired, but I responded to his needs. After that he was up once or twice a night until around 1 year. He slept through the night 12-14 hours when he was ready. He's a good sleeper now.
Did this just start? Does he go back to sleep after he eats? If so, then I don't understand the concern....maybe I'm missing something here since I am awaken during the night as well to feed baby girl...who is 4 months old. Most the time it's just once a night, but during growth spurts it is more than that.
that is normal and appropriate at that age. Don't let him cry for a long time. A sniffle or two is ok, but at 7.5 months, he really has needs (physical, developmental, etc) that you must attend to. Crying it out is not healthy for either of you. At this age he may be going through a growth spurt and needs feeding, or a developmental milestone could be approaching and he needs contact and comfort. It will pass as he grows.
My ped told me that babies no longer need night feedings after the first 2 weeks of life, and that they do it because we train them to. Following that i had my sons both sleeping through the night from one month old. It required no sleep training because they never learned bad habits. I would let him cry it out, but only for 5 minutes at a time. Usually they will self sooth in under 5, but being older your son will have to learn, so go in every 5 minutes to comfort him without food, he will soon learn the skills on his own. I would try to not even pick my boys up if I did have to go in, just touch/rub them and talk or sing softly. It always worked and my boys have always been wonderful sleepers. Best of luck to you.
He's very likely in a growth spurt. I'll tell you the best advise my beloved aunt gave me. Wake him up just before you go to bed and feed him up good. He'll sleep and you'll sleep.
Due to her advise I could get five hours of sleep at one time which turned out to be a good amount for a new mother.
This is totally normal and expected. Most babies aren't physically able to sleep through the night without eating until they're at least 8 months old, and often older than that. He's waking because he has needs that must be attended to. My son was waking at least 5-6 times/night until he was almost a year old, and didn't sleep through until he was 2.5. Yes, that's extreme, but it illustrates that all kids are different, and "normal" is a huge range.
I know it's hard, and I'm sure you're exhausted, but I don't think there's much you can do at this point. Just sleep when you can, and keep taking good care of your little guy.
both my kids got up at night at this age.. my son got up until he was 2..
they just stop someday..
Does he take long naps during the day? If so, I wouldn't let him sleep past an hour each time. Also, if this just started, maybe he's teething? You could give him some Tylenol before bedtime. Make sure to always put him back in his crib. I also feed my 7.5 month old if he wakes up in bed with me but immediately put him back in bed. He was sleeping through the night until he started teething again.
That sounds about right. Both of my kids were about 10 mon when I finally weaned them from nighttime feedings and they started sleeping through the night. Of course it was rough and both me and hubby were exhausted some days. They were eating solids from about 5 mon but I think it's just habit and them still needing that bonding through the night more than needing to really eat. Stick out a little bit longer mom! Hopefully in the next month or so he'll come around and start phasing out those feedings.
My 1st son (who is 6) didn't sleep thru the nite till he was 2! My 2nd son is 9.5 months and still doesn't. The definition of thru the nite is "'Through the night' is defined as from midnight until five o'clock in the morning," says Judith Owens, a pediatrician and director of the Pediatric Sleep Disorders Clinic at Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island."
I got this from http://www.babycenter.com/408_when-can-my-baby-start-slee...
It has some tips also. I hope it helps because I am obviously in the same boat ;) It helps to save one of the solid food feedings for right before bed. I never did the cry it out thing since I don't believe in it although it does work. Hang in there.
if and only if you want to do CIO (this is not a judgement on those who do or don't). I'll just say that we also share a room with an older sibling and she slept right through our sleep training (modified CIO) and though we put a sleeping bag in our room and offered for her to come in and sleep there if it was too much for her - she only came once. Occassionally she gets woken up a bit too early and we all get up and then all take an early nap - but for the most part we have had success eleminating night feedings while sharing a room. One thing we started with was reducing the bottle amounts slowly (removing .5 oz a day from one bottle, then once we completely got rid of one feeding moving on to doing the same with the next bottle). So don't worry too much about the room sharing.
That's very typical. My 8 month-old (my 3rd child) still gets up 2 or 3 times every night. My daughter (now 5) didn't sleep through the night for the first time until she was 18 months old...and didn't do it regularly until she was 2. Just do the best you can to cope with your sleep-deprivation and be patient...more sleep will come your way someday soon :-)
Sounds normal to me.
