Sleep - Knoxville,TN

A.~ as a grandma and also went through this with my daughter's babies. What she did was to buy a "heartbeat" bear. It sounds like mama's heart beat. Or you could use one of his soft stuffed animals and a wind up clock. It will tick like a heart too. Good luck. If all else falls, warm bath and a warm bottle does wonders.
A.

I always refer people to this book because it rocks! It's called Good Night Sleep Tight - by "The Sleep Lady" Kim West. You can probably get a copy used via Amazon for cheap or find it at the local library - it was so great in helping my daughter to sleep on her own.Good luck!

Dear A.

Try snuggling, you can wrap him in a blanket tightly it makes them feel secure. I used to cosleep it is comforting to you and your baby but its hard on your husband and you when you want alone time or just want to sleep. I have three children 18,5,2 my last still wants to get in the bed with us but we are working on it but back to sleeping they have snuggles at Babys r us they aren't expensive and try a warm bath ususally if their tummy is full and they are clean and relaxed they will doze. There is not on specific way to do it just keep trying you'll find what works for you and Good Luck.

I'm sure waking him up to go get your husband is a big part of it. Definitely try seeing if your husband will be able to get a ride. I give my daughter her bath and then feed her - a routine is very important to help them learn to sleep. co-sleeping works for some people, but not for others. When my daughter and I slept in the same room (her in the bassinet) neither one of us could sleep because we would keep waking each other up. Once she went to her own room we both slept better! It's hard, but I think establishing routine is key and not waking him up after he's asleep will help big time. Good luck.

First off A., you need to chill. These are not major things to stress over. Once you are in a routine, it will all be better. His tough time sleeping could be reflected from your obvious stress. If you are calm, he will feel safer and more relaxed. The co sleeping is probably part of the problem... when you are restless, he is too. No need for the extra bedding, a good mattress, sheet and cover is fine. Extra bedding does not let his body sleep in the normal way. 8 Oclock should be early enough, but it depends on how late you want him to sleep. Good luck and God Bless.

Hi A. i have a 13mths old who still doesn't sleep all night an mainly bc of night terrors but give her a bttl an back to sleep she goes... but anyway don't expect him to be sleeping all night when u have to wake him up to get his dad... an a 7mth old doesn't sleep all night...

You don't necessarily "need" to stop co-sleeping. As long as everyone is happy with the arrangement, there is no need to stop. Many families even have a "family bed" where the children all sleep in the same bed or room for years. So a few months of co-sleeping is not bad.

Or are you saying that you'd be okay with leaving him in the crib (but not the bed) while you go run to pick up your husband? If you're talking about that, then you can gradually transition him to the crib -- it might take some time, but it will be easier that way than making him scream for hours every night for a week by making an abrupt change. If you nurse him to sleep in your bed now, you may want to change to nursing in a rocking chair and putting him down in the crib when he's asleep. Or perhaps nurse him in bed with you and transfer him when he's asleep. Does he already sleep in the crib during the day? If so, the transition will probably be easier.

I'd suggest not having extra bedding in the crib -- suffocation hazard. You may want to try to get him attached to a blankie, though, which he can snuggle instead of you. Some kids just don't sleep well at night by themselves at this age. Neither of my kids were sleeping through the night by 7 months. Some kids naturally sleep through the night much earlier. Waking him up every night, though, is going to reinforce the idea that it's normal not to sleep through the night, and is counter-productive.

You say you pick your husband up every night at 11. I assume he goes to work around 3. While I understand you wouldn't want to be without a car sometimes (planned doctor's appt. or something), how often do you really use the car while your husband is gone? Could you go do your errands (with or without the baby) before your husband goes to work? -- then he can have the car to take to work. Car-pooling sounds like a great idea, esp. since you live so close -- there may be somebody who practically drives past your house every day on the way to work. Could your husband get a bike and ride it to work most days?

About feeding your baby before or after a bath -- depends on how messy he is! :-) If you're talking about nursing him, then I would say do that after the bath, to get him to sleep. If you're talking about feeding him something solid so he'll sleep longer, then it's possibly going to be messy, so bathe him afterwards. Not that he needs a bath every day, unless he's dirty.

It is not very likely that any 7mnth old would be sleeping through the night - and, remember that "sleeping through the night" is only 5hrs - not the 8-10 like many would think. Adults have a very misguided definition of sleeping through the night and often forget that their baby's needs are quite different than adults. And, we often, too, forget that we don't always sleep well - we can get up in the middle of the night, use the bathroom, get a drink...etc.. we've just had years of practice for going back to sleep on our own, by ourselves. However, the middle-of-the-night waking is defintiely going to alter his sleep patterns! He won't be getting a good rest before waking, and then you'll actually be training him to wake up in the middle of the night. If there is a weekend that he doesn't get woke up, his pattern will be altered again. Carpooling could actually be all you need for your situaiton.

Be VERY careful with what you're adding to his crib. He should be dressed comfortably, and that is it. No extra sheets to get tangled in - no pillows, animals, toys...etc. that he could roll into and suffocate!
And NO you DO NOT need to stop co-sleeping - that is often the best way to get little ones to sleep better. Don't you love having someone there to sleep with you? My daughter is 15mnths and still co-sleeps...she will as long as she needs to. They grow out of it eventually - or, you can more easily "train" them when they understand a little better, and are capable of getting up and knocking on your door if they want to join you in bed.

I'd suggest, also, reading the boon The No Cry Sleep Solution. It talks about a good bedtime being 6-7pm, and it might be tough for a few days, but they eventually sleep better with an earlier bedtime. Lots of great advice in that book!

If he is breastfeeding - I definitely vote nurse after the bath to calm him further than the bath and make it easier to go to sleep. If you're feeding solids before bedtime, I vote before the bath to give some added time to digest and help him go to bed easier. If formula, be careful of him falling alseep with a bottle in his mouth if you do it after the bath.

First of all, none of my children slept through the night until they were a year old. My oldest son is 19 years old and he still wakes up some nights and eats something or gets a glass of milk in the middle of the night. Some babies are hungrier than other babies and they wake up more frequently to nurse.

Second, you can go pick up your husband without waking up the baby. Just put him to sleep and gently move him to the carseat in the car. My children could fall asleep anywhere and be moved somewhere else once they were fast asleep. Just try moving him to the carseat without waking him up and see if it works.

Third, I co-slept with all of my babies. We didn't roll over on any of them. I know they recommend not co-sleeping but I always nursed them back to sleep in my bed.

Fourth, be very careful with extra bedding. Babies can suffocate with too much bedding.

Fifth, I would nurse him after his bath. Sometimes a bath wakes them up and nursing always put my babies to sleep.

I second the recommedation for No Cry Sleep Solution. Read it- its easy to get through and will help you understand what you should be doing that you aren't and help you relax a lot. My kid was a terrible sleeper. At around a year of not sleeping is when I read it and it helped a lot.

I think the waking him up is probably a big part of the issue, you may need to stop that. As much as that stinks.

I disagree that 830-9 is too late to put your son down. My son developed his own schedule and goes to bed at 930. Any earlier is impossible to hope for. Our issue was always sleeping through the night more than a couple hours, not going to bed. It really depends on your baby's natural clock. You might need to make his bedtime earlier, and it definitely worth a try, but I dont think it is required.

No extra stuff in his crib at this point! He's way too little still, even though I'm sure he is rolling over and mobile by now. This is more important than anything else in your letter in my opinion. He is still at risk of SIDS, until the first year. (And I went beyond the year mark, just to be safe.) You will probably have at least one mom tell you that sleeping on tummies was fine before and worked for their kids, or to give him a pillow or something, but please don't do it. Sleep is nice, yes, I know, I struggled without it for more than a year, but it is just not worth it if that's how you do it.

You're probably doing fine. Read the book, it will help a lot. And don't worry, you're doing fine!

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I co-slept with my children as babies. At seven months it is natural for your baby to be very attached to you - it is actually a very healthy at his age to be attached to you. He trusts you to meet his every need. I know that it is very overwhelming to be a new mom and feel worried about just how attached and demanding a baby can be. It won't be long before your son gradually becomes more independent. In a few years he'll be wanting to go and do things without you and you will be the one wanting to be with him. I know it is exhausting, but love on him all you can right now. He's so little right now, that I might see if he would fall asleep in the house in an infant carrier/carseat in the house before going to pick up Daddy and just move the seat to the car and then move the seat back into the house when you get home and let him continue to sleep until he wakes up. This solution will only work for a few months. Most babies don't sleep more than a few hours at a time without waking up to eat. I nursed my children, so I did not have to get up and fix a bottle in the middle of the night. It was easier to feed the baby and for both of us to get back to sleep this way.

I see many issues here. Firstly, you must stop waking up your infant each night. If hubby gets off work at 11, he must go to work around 3 or so. Can't you have the car until 3 and then hubby takes it to work? I know that you lose your afternoon flexibility, but I'm sure that you can arrange errands and play dates around the time limitation. Maybe try to push back your son's afternoon nap so that you need to be home at that time anyway. At the very least, hubby should have the car 3 days a week and you have it 2, and he arranges with a coworker to bring him home at night for those 2 weeks.

I have no advice on the co-sleeping because I didn't do it. I will say that if he starts sleeping in his crib, do not add extra bedding. The American Academy of Pediatrics unequivocally states that infants should have nothing in their crib except a mattress and crib bumper.

When my oldest son was 7 months, he started waking up more than once a night. He was also waking up at 5am each morning. I was starting to fall apart from lack of sleep. One night, I closed all of the doors in between his room and ours, and set my alarm for 6am. I had the best night of sleep I had had for 7 months. The alarm went off and I jumped out of bed. Jack was just waking up, and he smiled when he saw me. He never woke up in the middle of the night again (well, until he was potty training).

Start with not waking him up at night for the work issue, and then worry about changing other stuff after a week or two of trying that. If the rest of the routine is working for you, it's silly to change it if the problem is the purposeful night waking. Good luck.

What you have done, in effect, is to start your son on a full napping routine. It is correctable, but will require you to not wake him during his night time sleep cycles.
Good luck!

We also have only one car, and I just take the bus instead during the day. Is that an option for you?

my guess is hes waking up because you are pulling him out of bed. you say he gets home at 11 im guessing he works a shift like my hubby 3-11?? its not that bad not having a car their is always the bus. have you ever told him to walk home its good for you and it sounds like you all are close to his work. stop pulling your son out of bed tho thats not fair to him just deal with not having a car. i do it every day

A.,
I think that 8:30-9:00 is way too late of a bedtime. This causes them to be overtired, and not sleep well at night. I think my son was going to bed at 7:30 PM at this age, and would sleep 11 hours straight. I think not waking up to drive will also make things go a little better. A mattress and sheet is all he needs. I also always fed my son right before putting him down for bed. A full tummy is a good way to help babies sleep. I can't really offer any advice on transitioning to his own bed - I never coslept. However, this seems to be a popular question and I am sure the ladies here can offer good advice.
Take care!

He is still young enough you may be able to put him to sleep in his car seat. Sometimes I had to do that anyway if they were cranky. It comforts them and you can still put it in his room with lights out then maybe move it to the car without waking him.

I would also suggest a CHEAP $1k or less car that your husband only drives to and from work since it is so close. The ride home would be best. If it is that close, it should be easy to get a ride home.

His schedule is messed up so once he gets on track he should sleep better. A white noise machine really helps my kids. It lulls them to sleep and keeps them from hearing other noises in the house. No comfy extra bedding as a baby, dangerous. Just sheet and maybe a very light weight, small blanket. I used to always put my kids in feet pajamas w/ no blanket. Yes, put him to sleep earlier, maybe 7pm and he falls asleep by 7:30 pm.
I would feed him and right before bed give him a warm soothing bath so it relaxes him. You don't want his belly all full and gassy or maybe he would have to poop and that would make it harder to sleep.