My 7 1/2 month old daughter cannot sleep all night long for more than 2 or 3 nights in a row. For some reason, she'll sleep from 7pm-6/7am for a few nights, then she'll start waking up anwhere between 3-5am and will not go back to sleep unless I nurse her. It's so frustrating because we initially let her cry it out when she was about 5 months old (and it worked after about a week) and since then, we've had to do some form of letting her cry it out 5 times because she keeps falling back into her old habits and after about a week of getting up in the middle of the night to nurse her, my exhaustion takes over and I decide to let her cry again. This is not sustainable- I work and am so tired. Any advise? Is this normal?
Likely, she is either hungry or teething.
Hungry: Add more protein to her dinner. If you haven't started solids, now is the time to start. This is a terrific feeding guide:
http://www.babycenter.com/0_age-by-age-guide-to-feeding-y...
Teething: Perhaps 1 - 3 teething tablets, disolved and rubbed on her gums just before bed time could help. "Highland's" or "Humphrey's" are sold in the baby aisle at Walgreens and Target.
is she teething? try going in once when she cries to check on her, but don't take her out of the crib. soothe her, give her tylenol or baby orajel if teething and then lay her back down and tell her you love her. then that's it. if you've decided you don't want to nurse in the middle of the night, then don't offer it. good luck!
my suggestion is to provided total consistency. once she realizes you are going to nurse her again she will continue to want that. since you are up to using the cry it out method (which i support too), give it time with consistency in not nursing her back to sleep. over 1-2 weeks you should see improvements in her sleeping habits.good luck
My first thought was that she's hungry, but I disagree with others who say to feed her when she wakes up. You can increase her food intake durring the day to make sure she is getting pleanty of nutrition.
My second thought is to agree with Nicki. You have to be consistant. I know how hard it is and how sometimes that even means you change your tactics slightly, but all in all, she needs you to be consistant in however it is you choose to tend to her.
Best wishes!
It sound like she may be hungry. My littlest one woke up around 3 or so at this age. I'd feed her and then go back to bed. Since you are so exhausted, could your husband give her a bottle when she wakes up?
I agree with Claire T.
I've been there! We had the same issue with my very active now 18-month old girl. We sleep trained her at 3-4 mos, and she was sleeping well on her own for several months. But after she hit 6 mos, she was on and off with sleeping through the night, until she hit 11 mos. We didn't do anything different, it's just when she finally figured it out! I wasn't breast feeding anymore at the time, so after 7 mos I just gave her a bottle filled with water to hopefully wean her from needing a night time feeding when she woke, because she was getting plenty of food during the day and didn't need to eat at night anymore. It didn't seem to make a difference. I started using a pacifier instead and this seemed to help somewhat. But really it just took some time, and eventually she figured it out. Our pediatrician said 6-12 mos is a time of lots of cognitive and physical changes, not to mention some teething, so interrupted sleep is common. It also helped to give her an earlier bedtime. I had been putting her down between 8-8:30, and when I moved it up to 7:00 (around 10 mos) she slept better. Best of luck!
J.
I think this is completely normal. My one year old still wakes at night! My husband and I make a habit of going to bed really early--not long after the baby. That way, if he wakes early, we've gotten enough sleep. And if he sleeps through the night--BONUS!
I would make sure she's really well fed right before bed time--she might be waking from hunger. You could also try to "top her off" by nursing her while she's sleeping right before you go to bed. These little tummies empty fast--even at 7 1/2 months!
I think what the problem is, and you said it, "and after about a week of getting up in the middle of the night to nurse her,my exhaustion takes over and I decide to let her cry again." It is you, not her. You are setting the pattern and the bad habits, not her. She is following your lead. It is normal for a baby to wake up multiple times in a night and it is exhausting for every mother, we have to deal with it.
You are not being consistent so how can you expect her to be? You need to either continue to nurse her or not, it is not fair to your daughter to give her mixed signals. Either way the cry it out method did not work for her so you need to find another solution. If you are going to nurse and want to stop slowly shorten the time you are feeding her until she is no longer nursing. Offer a pacifier for comfort. There are a couple of good books, like Healthy baby Healthy sleep habits, or something like that. Either way, it is your bad habits that need work on, not hers. Babies thrive on routine and what you are offering is anything but routine. Hang in there she will outgrow it, but until then, plan to be tired. Good luck
Also this is so normal, but your case is extreme because you are not consistent.
Hi Anita,
Some babies actually don't have a "sleep-through-the-night" schedule until 2 years old!!!! Your sweet baby seems to have a GREAT sleep pattern already!
I am sorry that you are tired, it is difficult to keep up with a baby at night AND still work.
My suggestion is to keep feeding her when she wakes up. And focus on a big dinner before bedtime. Soon she will sleep through most every night.
For now, even though you are tired, try to feel blessed that your little girl is sleeping through most nights. It truly is a mother's dream :O)
Congratulations on your perfect little girl :O)
~N. :O)
Wow I would be thrilled if I could get 3 or so nights of full sleep before having to do a morning feed. My 9 month old daughter goes to bed at 7.30pm wakes at 11pm and then sometimes around 2 and then 5.30am. Last night we were out late so she got to bed at 8.45pm, woke up at 2.30am and then at 6.30am. I always nurse her and she goes right back to sleep. As nursing her back to sleep takes less time than trying to let her get herself back to sleep by cry it out or any other assisted method I just go with nursing. She is away from me all day as I work full time so I think these night time sessions are tiring but good bonding time for us. Believe me I am very tired as I also work full time and I run my own business on the side which I do after she goes to sleep in the evenings. I know though that she will grow out of this behavior and at that point I will probably miss it.
If you let her "cry it out" one night, and then you get up and nurse her again the next night she wakes and cries, you're kind of defeating the purpose of letting her cry it out, aren't you? The point of letting her cry it out is that she cries, then she goes to sleep, because she realizes she is not going to get a response from you. If you get up and nurse her after having let her cry it out, what on earth is the point of going through the misery of letting her cry it out?
