7 month old wont sleep

implausible

Every child is different and everyone's family dynamic is different. There is no parent on here who wishes to cause upset or damage to their child.

Listening to a child crying isn't pleasant, but neither is being sleep-deprived for months.

pwurple

100% a fan of doing what works for your family. My niece was a baby who would not fall asleep without 10 minutes of whiny-sort of crying. Picking her up reset her to the beginning of this. My daughter is totally different.. if I let her cry at all at bedtime, will be in a rage in about 3 mins flat, so we pick her up to settle.

Every child is different. As long as they don't have their days and nights reversed, and if you have their needs covered, drink, heat, no pain, not scared... and they still do a little bit of complaining before they go to sleep, then that's just the way they are.

How Strange

I don't don't care if parents do crying it out. I totally understand that we all get to the stage of needs must and I certainly wouldn't criticise parents for the choices they make.

However that a gp told parents not to feed their child during the night and to 'manage his expectations' is shocking and appalling. Whatever parents decide to do for their own family is one thing but to have a gp heavily influence parental choices is another.

Hannibal Smith

At 7 months a baby should be passed the waking in the night for a feed stage. They should be getting enough through solids etc to combat that, if the child is waking and getting a feed as comfort, that's not a good idea. And that expectation does need managing.

We all know as parents you get so much white noise advice. So much 'well what worked for is is....', so if the op feels safe and comfortable with the advice of a doctor then its nobody else's business to criticise that.

We're not allowed give medical advice, but we are allowed criticise the medical advice others are given, based on what? Our own anecdotal evidence?

Kirby

How Strange wrote: »

However that a gp told parents not to feed their child during the night and to 'manage his expectations' is shocking and appalling. Whatever parents decide to do for their own family is one thing but to have a gp heavily influence parental choices is another.

I think thats a bit out of order. The GP wasn't banging down their door and demanding they change their habits. Likely desperate and sleep deprived, the parent's went to him for advice......so he gave them some.

Secondly, you seem very upset about the "manage his expectations" bit. Perhaps it's the wording that is triggering this as it evokes images of the child scheming away in his bed. Perhaps it could be worded a bit better but the sentiment the doctor is talking about makes sense. When a baby cries, he expects you to come running and cuddle him. It's learned behaviour at any age.

To take the advice or not is their choice but I would never criticize a doctor for giving an opinion when asked. You might not agree with the advice and that's fine but to say it's wrong is not your place.

How Strange

My child obviously didn't get the memo about not wanting to feed at night at 7 months and I'm a terrible mother because I fed him.

Crying it out is the popular choice for sleep training. Gina Forde, Tizzy Hall and the baby whisperer and probably lots more all advocate it. There is lots of research to indicate it can affect the child in the long term.

So for every baby trainer who says its fine you'll find a report or study to say its not. As a parent you make your own choices.

I personally don't like it. I also have a very early memory, I wasn't more than 18 months and in hospital, of being left in a cot screaming at night. That memory is still vivid today and it happened 37 years ago. So I won't do that to my son or any other children I may have.

If my gp advocated crying it out I'd change to another.

I've dragged this thread off topic enough so OP I apologise. I also hope you've managed to get some sleep since you first posted. The first year of being a parent is full of 'phases' and turning corners. It does get easier and they do start sleeping better. For us 8 months was the magic mark. He started sleeping through the night every now and again.

Also if you want to encourage your baby to sleep better there's a book by Elizabeth Pantleys called The No Cry Method so it might be worth taking a look.

dublinlady

How Strange wrote: »

My child obviously didn't get the memo about not wanting to feed at night at 7 months and I'm a terrible mother because I fed him.

Crying it out is the popular choice for sleep training. Gina Forde, Tizzy Hall and the baby whisperer and probably lots more all advocate it. There is lots of research to indicate it can affect the child in the long term.

So for every baby trainer who says its fine you'll find a report or study to say its not. As a parent you make your own choices.

I personally don't like it. I also have a very early memory, I wasn't more than 18 months and in hospital, of being left in a cot screaming at night. That memory is still vivid today and it happened 37 years ago. So I won't do that to my son or any other children I may have.

If my gp advocated crying it out I'd change to another.

I've dragged this thread off topic enough so OP I apologise. I also hope you've managed to get some sleep since you first posted. The first year of being a parent is full of 'phases' and turning corners. It does get easier and they do start sleeping better. For us 8 months was the magic mark. He started sleeping through the night every now and again.

Also if you want to encourage your baby to sleep better there's a book by Elizabeth Pantleys called The No Cry Method so it might be worth taking a look.

Just so ya know - the baby whisperer does not advocate crying out. She really does not. That's not what we do - we do the pick up put down method which is different altogether. Just wanted to say!
When she cries we pick her up and soothe her / we don't abandon her! Once she's calm she's straight back down - and repeat until she stays calm! We have Ben doin this new method ( as opposed to sleeping inn arms and co sleeping) and she falls asleep within ten mins and has slept from 8pm to 7 am 4/5 nights. I'm not saying its a wonder cure. It's worked wonders for us! We were up every hr or 2 previously! We still hear her wake around 4 - she talks to herself - sometimes even laughs and falls back asleep!!!
That's the baby whisperer method.. Not crying out. It's persistence and training the baby - but not leaving them to solve it totally on their own. Time consuming first few nights / naps. Worth it - love it

As everyone here has said and agrees - we do what's best for our babies - who are all individuals and diff things will work / be necessary for diff babies! Parents have diff views of what's necessary! I couldn't co sleep cos then I couldn't sleep - and wanted herself to be able be independent sleeper. It really is each to their own!
Nothing more important than sleep... I think it's the hardest part of parenthood!!!!
With it - the rest seems easier!!

Happy zzz's to all!!!

Hannibal Smith

So many u turns...one minute its not the crying out method that's the problem, next it is *confused* . Anyhow...that's irrelevant to the thread.

Just wanted to clear up, that I never called anyone a bad parent and never made any judgements on feeding a hungry baby. Nor did I say all babies are passed waking for a feed at night. In fact I went to great lengths in my first post to stress that all babies are different. My comments on the feeding as clear as day.. it so I thought lol.

A baby waking up in a strange place is not the same as a baby waking up in the familiarity of their room.

nicowa

pwurple wrote: »

Hmm. 3 naps seem ok for that age anyway. Myabe the 2 hour nap is a bit long in the middle of the day if he is having trouble settling later. You could try to shorten that nap down to 1.5 hours mins, or even 1hr over time. and bring the 4:30 nap back to 4. He may not actually be tired enough at seven pm. If he isn't sleepy, does keeping him up 20 mins later make any difference?...

Didn't read the rest, but I agree with this. If my little one - usually brilliant to sleep - has a nap after 3.30pm she finds it very difficult to go to sleep and her sleep will be very broken for a couple of hours until she settles properly.

killiank

Thanks everyone again. plenty of good advice & support. Our little fella has been much better this last week. he must have known we were talking about him. We haven't gone the full hog on letting him cry it out but we have cut out feeding during the night. As it happens 2 teeth made an appearance on saturday so im sure that was muddying the waters too.

meg3178

I fully support the "Pick up put down method" by Tracy Hogg (Baby Whisperer), the baby becomes so much more confident over a number of weeks.
When mine were small I also gave them Ashton and Parsons teething powders at 5pm, which settled their stomachs, they did not get nappy rash and soothed them.
It is very difficult to settle some babies and please do not despair, things will improve. Your baby may have a few night terrors, so cocooning them between two rolled up towels will make them feel more secure. Do not give acidic foods after 4pm, instead give your baby some baby rice and milk at around 6.30pm after a lavender infused bath, then put them down on a mat on the floor for half an hour before bed with some soothing music. This way they can still see you and feel content without having to be rocked or held. At bed time keep the light off in the bedroom when you go in and the baby won't be startled and use soothing tones. I do not mean to sound patronising and I wish you the best. You have a lovely baby, try not to fear the evenings, it will get better. Give baby more water during the day and not many wheat based products until they are over a year old.

killiank

For what its worth we are now 3/4 weeks further down the line & I'm happy to say that he has improved a lot. I cant honestly say whether or not leaving him to cry on one of the nights made the difference or not although my wife believes that to be the case. We only did this once.

Most nights now though he will wake once or twice at most but will go back to sleep pretty much straight away. So he is a lot happier & so are mammy & daddy.