7 months old baby sleep issues?
Answers:
Here's an answer I gave to someone else on the subject.
This happens a lot with kids that are nursing because of the comfort we provide them.
The reason she is getting up at night is not likely because she is hungry it's because she can and she can get comforted with by you through nursing. I went through the exact thing with my son and then a little bit with my daughter. I do not completely believe in the "scream it out" method like many suggested to me I like a more gentle approach.
Without having all the info it's hard for me to know where to start so here it goes .. Does your child but herself to sleep at night or do you rock/feed her to sleep? If you are feeding her or rocking her until she falls asleep then putting her in her bed she will more than likely continue to get up in the night looking for the same comfort she went to bed with. It's so hard giving up rocking the baby to sleep I know I sure loved that time with my children but in the end it is better for them and you. So if that is the case you need to stop that and start working on her going to bed on her on. Your daughter should be awake but drowsy when you place her in the crib.
If she is already putting herself to bed then when she wakes up in the middle of the night my method is to lay her back down without saying a word and I would gently rub her back. When I first started this with both my kids they would get back up and yell and scream but I was just held fast to what I was trying to accomplish and got through it. After a couple times my kids would then go back to bed if I was rubbing their backs. Then I moved to not rubbing but just placing my hand one their backs. Again this insighted a bit of rioting but I held fast and we got through it. All the while I would not talk just shhhhhhhh them gently. So next I moved to just sitting by the crib and then by the door then on the out side of the door. Sometimes when I was sitting outside the door or by the door I would have to say, "lay your head on your pillow and go night night, mommy is here." But I didn't do this often because it would tend to wake them up because they would want to be with me. After a while when my son would get up in the middle of night he'd either just go straight back with out a peep and other times he would stand up and scream a bit and I would just say from my room that we were there and to go back to bed, and amazingly he would. There will be a lot of tears shed by your child but they are not "real" tears your child is fine they are just mad.
My doctor had always said to me to not go in the room to not turn on the lights just to check on them and lay them back down but with my kids that just didn't work. My kids would be up and screaming so I admended what he said and added in some other things I had read about. Hope it all works out for you. GOOD LUCK!
Also before you go into your daughters room give her a minute to put herself back even if she is crying it's okay she may just lay back down and go to bed. But if you have been jumping at every whimper (I know I sure did) then you will more than likely have to let your daughter learn to soothe herself and you may want to try my approach to do this.
If i was unclear with anything or if you are interested in my method please feel free to email me!
Other Answers:
He could be not getting enough food.
Have you begun to add solids to his diet? This can be introduced at 6 mo. (we made our using the kit from www.freshbaby.com )
If he starts to fall asleep while nursing, have you tried waking him up a bit so he will eat more?
Are you ONLY breastfeeding? At that age, he needs real food. He should have already started eating baby rice cereal and fruits and veggies.
Maybe he's ready for a bit more solid foods.
Well you can try putting the breast milk in a bottle with a little cereal it will keep him fuller longer.
tyring pumping a bottle and then add a teaspoon of cereal to it.. it will keep his tummy full longer. andlet you both sleep. Breast milk is easily broke down and digested so he gets hungry more often
Its just one of these things that us mummys have 2 put up with.
he's that old and you are feeding him that many times a day? bet your baby is 25 pounder...
We went through this exact problem - and because we didn't want to make ours cry no-one got any sleep until she was 11 months - and in then end when we made the decision to sort it out for once and for all, it was solved after five days' work. She's now two and has slept properly ever since.
The answer, I'm afraid, is controlled crying, and like you we ruled it outright. But it's the ONLY answer.
Babies need the security of routine in their lives, and use triggers to associate with that routine. Right now your baby is associating breast feeding with sleep, and his routine is to awake every two hours and he needs the trigger of your breast to go back. Every two hours.
You have to change his trigger, and that means a shift in his routine. Instead of the cycle you're in now, the trigger for sleep should be something like a musical toy that plays for two or three minutes, so tha he eventually associates the music with the start of sleeping time
At the beginning ne is naturally going to be upset, and he will express this by the only way he knows - crying. Loud and a lot, especially at first. And I know, it's heartbreaking - believe me I know. But you stick to an absolutely rigid plan which is to let him cry for two minutes at first, then five, then seven, then ten before visiting him. You neverleave him for more than fifteen minutes. When you visit him you DON'T pick him up, just quietly tell him it's time for sleep, and then leave the room - don't stay there!
At the end - and as I say it took us five days of steely determination - he will no longer associate your breast with his trigger, but rather the music. He will be more content and secure, and everyone gets some sleep at last!
The ABSOLUTE key is that when you decide to do it you DOPN'T WAIVER - otherwise it is cruel. You will have distressed your little boy only to go back to your old ways. Don't do it! Just rememer he's not in pain, he's not ill, he just wants what he's used to. He's just got to get used to another way.
Good luck - but if you do it it will work.
More Questions & Answers...
- Workplace discrimination against parents?
- terrible twos or not?
- how are my 3 aged twin girls affected by the divorce if they have a warm and sweet dady?
- What was your 1st time dropping your baby off at Daycare like?
- im 14&my boyfriend hits me, and pressures me for sex, drinking, and doing drugs.i cant tell mom?
- Does anyone know what a blood pressure reading should be like for a one year old?