Getting My 7 Month Old to Sleep

Sounds like she is teething. Give her some oragel and a little tyn before bed, see if that gets her through the night better. If she was sleeping and now she's not, something is going on like teething or an ear infection. 8 months is prime teeth pain time. When she is nursing for a short time at night, she is using you as a pacificer. Don't let her. Get her something to chew on if you don't like the pacificer. Lord I couldn't of made it without one. Sucking is natural and doesn't alway mean they are hungry. If the oragel doesn't get her some sleep, get her ears checked out.

By the way, mine are 4 and 2 years old and I still have the monitor on, NO way could I give that up, and you shouldn't either if you don't want to. I feel like my kids are safe when it is on. If you want a good book to read, "Babywise" is the best for figuring out sleep/feeding problems. Both of mine slept 8-10 hours a night using Babywise by 8 weeks old.

But me, I still think it's the teeth.

Hope you BOTH get some sleep, hope it helped, good luck.

My oldest is 3 and my youngest is 6mos, so I know where you are. And yes, you have to let her start fussing a little. However, I have read if a child starts waking up frequently in the night at different times, it is probably a growth spurt and you need to try to up her intake during the day. If she wakes up at the same time every night, then that is simply habit and she isn't hungry necessarily. I cluster feed my 6mo. old (he nurses, eats solids, then nurses again before bed at like 5, 6, & 7). He is a big boy 95th percentile on both length & weight, and I do not feed him in the night.
Your first step should be her getting herself to sleep at naptimes and bedtime. I go in about every five mins and talk to him, pat his bottom, etc if he's having a hard time...but most of the time now I don't even have to go back in there. I always try to put him down before he gets too tired, otherwise he is harder to get down. Once she gets the skill of getting herself to sleep, then she will know how to get back to sleep in the night. You might want to check out "The Baby Whisperer" books, (not the DVD's that teach you how to interpret crys). I think most of what she says is very helpful

My experience with my almost one year old was that I got rid of the monitor and I only venture into his room when he has cried for what I consider enough time for me to know for sure he needs some assistance before he can get himself back to sleep. I nursed and kept him in my room ina cradle and would get up at every sound he made, then transitioned him into his own crib in his own room, then got rid of the monitor, now we;re working on letting him get himself asleep when he wakes up throgh the noght. He does really well, normally sleeping from 8:00 at night until 6:30 or 7:30 in the morning, bt there a few times he'll wake up and after he;s cried, played in his crib and had enough time to try to get himself back top sleep unsuccessfully, then I'll go in there and give him a new diaper, rarely do I give him a bottle through the night (I've been afraid of forming a bad habit of that). My advice is to let her cry herself back to sleep, seems to me this is somethign that has to be learned by the baby on her own. If there is truely something wrong that she needs you for it seems after awhile you'll be able to hear what the different crys mean.

Hi, I feel for you!!! My suggestion is to check out the book "The No Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley. It's got great info. and tons of suggestions for easing you child back to sleep without having to go through the trama of screaming until exhaustion finally takes over and they fall asleep. Good Luck!!

Hi, M.!
Go with your gut instinct. Turn off that monitor and see if she will soothe herself back to sleep before you head in there to pick her up. Babies have a shorter and lighter sleep cycle and will reach the light sleep phase where waking is easier a lot more often than an adult. She's really close to an age where she can begin to learn to soothe herself, but I'm not suggesting you let her CIO. Check out Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth - great book!

Good luck and I hope you get a good night's rest very soon!
J.

Hello! I wonder if she is too hot while sleeping.

My son very seldom slept thru the night for the first 8 months. We bought a swing, and it prolonged his sleep a bit but didn't solve the problem totally. I nursed as well.

Looking back on it, I wonder if he was too hot back then, for now he is a very warm-blooded fella, more so than my spouse and I.

I say, unwrap your daughter while sleeping and see what happens. Just takes a night or two of experimentation.

I think that getting rid of the monitor is a good idea.

You have to train her to soothe herself back to sleep. You've taught her already that you're going to offer midnight snacks and snuggles, breaking that habit is going to be hard but once you do then you'll sleep so much better.

We introduced a sleep noise machine into our boy's rooms when this was becoming a real problem

Good luck, once I was broken from getting up my husband started getting up and well the middle boy was 3 before he started sleeping through the night on his own and the younger one was 18 months but has taken to getting up at 5 a.m. lately.

hi M., i have a soon to be 4 month old little girl in 2 weeks, i dont have this not sleeping problem. she goes to bed at 8:30pm and doesnt wake until 7:30am. she takes a 7ounce bottle verytime she eats which is about every 4 hours. so i would say try to up her solid food intake, remember that babies need the fats, starches, and sugars, to grow and become mobile. and try to get her on a regular napping schedule and laying down by herself. maybe even before bed givr her a little cereal before bed it may be she is not satisfied to go to bed try. i would try uping her food intake maybe before bed since thats where your having the most problem. hope it helps in someway. W. mom of 4