help! my baby won't stay asleep!?

Question

my daughter is 7 months old and i have recently been able to get her to sleep at night. but, she wakes up every two hours. i nurse her but, i make sure she gets plenty of milk before she goes to bed. people told me to not go into her room, but we share the same room. i have a 2 bedroom home with a 14 yr old also. so the baby and i share. i am NOT going to switch rooms. my teen will hate me putting the baby in her room or me bunking in with her. the baby seems to know that im in the same room sleeping with her. any suggestions? maybe i'll just go out into the car to sleep, the couch is too hard. NOT!!

Answer 1

It is normal for babies to wake frequently at night. Some babies do it more often or for more months than others. But generally speaking, somewhere between 6 and 12 months, a baby is developmentally ready to sleep through the night. If you sleep in a different room, she will probably continue to wake up at night. Either you won't hear her (and she'll learn that you won't help her when she needs you), or you'll keep waking up and have to drag yourself into a different room to nurse her back to sleep (and she'll be wider awake and take even *longer* to get back to sleep!).

Answer 2

Try a variety of things, something is bound to work! Make sure baby is not wet when waking and if so change her, keep the room dimly lit with little noise or just background noise, don't rush to her every time she cries, some babies will cry themselves back to sleep. Try to keep to a routine with bedtime, maybe your other daughter might be open to an occasional night where you bunk with her. Is she at a growth spurt where she does need a little extra food before bed?! Is she doing this for attention as it seems to work!! Get as much sleeping space between you as you can, change the room around maybe, wish you luck and hope little one soon sleeps soundly through the night!

Answer 3

I had this problem. I also have a 2 bedroom and the baby slept in my room. I bought an air bed and started to sleep in the living room. After about 3 nights of that, the baby started to sleep longer than usual, I actually went in to the bedroom to make sure she was still breathing.
Just an Idea, but it seemed to do the trick for me. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

I started doing this when my daughter was 2 months old and it worked wonders. At Night right before she is ready to lay down to go to sleep pump your breast milk into a bottle and add some cereal. The Rice cereal is what you should use if you are just starting out and don't make the milk thick just a little bit like put 1 oz cereal and 7 oz milk. This will fill her tummy more than what milk is doing and hep sleep a longer restless night.

Answer 5

I would say if baby is waking up because she wants to be near you, bring her into bed with you. I do that with mine and she only wakes up twice a night to nurse, which I feel is still necessary (she's 10 months) based on her solid food intake.
Also, could she be teething or anything? It is pretty normal for babe's to be up that often at that age. We struggled on and off with it for a long time (still are, she's got a cold right now she was up every half hour a few days ago!!!!!) but i just found it the easiest to sleep with her - that way i can nurse her while i'm still laying down and i hardly have to wake up at all - and she's happy and content and has mama beside her.

Good luck!

Answer 6

Is she taking anything besides milk? If she maybe just not getting satisfied with the milk and shes hungry. Try starting her on some 1st foods Many times babies wake up during the night because they are hungry. Trust me I have an 11 mnth old and my dr got to fussin at me because I wasn't feeding my daughter food at 6 months. And I know its difficult I also have a 12 yr old, how things have changed over the yrs.

Answer 7

At 7 months old, your baby may be ready for some rice cereal if your are not already giving it to her. It definitely helps with sleep.

Also, don't respond to your baby at those hours...don't turn on lights, don't talk, don't look at her. She will stop if she realizes you're sleeping and you won't get up. It may take a few nights, but it works. I has the same problem and it stopped after a few days of that.

Answer 8

You got to sound her out. Before you put her to bed, give her a nice warm bath and tire her out. I put my baby to bed every night around 11:30 so she sleeps through the night. Being 18 and having a newborn, I look for all the little tricks because I'm so busy during school. I ran into the same problem. And dont pick her up when she wakes up, put plugs in ur ears or listen to an iPod, radio or walkman while you sleep to tune her out. She will self-soothe herself. Everyone thinks they want to be picked up. Also, if you have her sleeping on her back, put her on her stomach. It allows any gas in her belly to pass. This will guarentee he to sleep through the night.

Try this & I hope I helped!

Answer 9

I promise you that leaving your baby to cry for a few minutes (15-20) the first time she wakes (while you will be awake anyway) then soon she will learn to "self sooth" and go back to sleep on her own. I too have a 7 month old son and have some a mount of trouble allowing him to self sooth, but the more I let him help himself the more he helps me. Best wishes

Answer 10

Well, I will tell you what I did with my little one when this was happening. You are still nursing (bravo, by the way---I nursed mine to 12 months)....if it is because she is hungry, then you MIGHT want to think about giving her a few ounces of formula instead of just breast milk with her final feeding. I know, I know....nursing advocates will say no---breast alone is best---but let me tell you, the first time I gave my son 4 ounces at his 11pm feeding, he slept for 7 hours and I was sooooooooooo happy!!

It is not for everyone, but it is worth a try.

Also you might consider running a small fan in your room (not pointing it at anything) to provide some white noise.