7 month old and wakes up in the middle of the night?

Question

my son was a great sleeper.he would sleep all night and wake up for a feeding at 8am.i give him his last bottle for the night and he drinks 8 oz before he sleeps.i have recently went back to work and both my husband and myself are very tired waking up at 3am everyday.i have tried feeding him and he doesn't want that .i know there might be a chance that he could be teething so i usually give him night time orajel before he sleeps and that doesn't seem to work either. i need advise on what we did wrong for him to wake up at 3am all the time .he isn't hungry nor isn't in any pain.he wakes up and it takes us a half hour to put to bed for him to wake up 2 hours later...please help me!!!!

Answer 1

You need to set up a schedule. My mom always gave my little brother a bath around 830 along with his last bottle and he would fall asleep by 9pm and he slept throughout the night. There is just something about a warm bath and a nice bottle that knocks babies into dream land. Try setting up a schedule and see if that works.

Answer 2

You're gone all day, before that he slept better, now he doesn't... this is simple. Whoever is watching him is letting him sleep too damn much during the day!! You were interacting with him a lot more, I'd put money on it.

Cut down on the nap time during the day. Keep him up a little later at night (30 minutes). Feed him, burp him, and put him to bed. I'm betting he sleeps until 4:30 or so the very first night.

Think about it, if a kid needs x amount of hours of sleep, they don't know the distribution, they just know they got enough. My last two (twins) got a two hour nap during the day and went to bed at 9ish at night, and they slept through until 5:30 or so because they were tired. They'd wake up every once in a while, but not every night.

Answer 3

Had similiar situation with my daughter. Try to determine first if he is in any pain. Sounds like you have already addressed possiblilities of hunger and teething. May want to check the ears if you have not already. Once I went through all of this with my daughter, I decided on possibility of sinus headache. My husband drove me nuts- kept saying to wait, she has only been crying for a few minutes. But I know when my daughter's cry is one of pain, and this definitely was. Once I ruled out everything else, I thought I was going to go crazy. Then it occurred to me she may have a sinus headache (I have allergy/sinus problems, as does my 3-year-old). I elevated her mattress a little and used the Sudafed vapor plug-ins for a week and she was fine (drainage from nose confirmed sinuse problem). The plug-ins are great! No mess from steam/mist of a regular vaporizer, and they give some immediate relief. Have even used them for myself. Pediacare also makes them. If you don't think the baby is in physical discomfort, may be he is missing you since you went back to work. I just returned to work and find that the baby is even more attached to my hip then ever and only wants me to put her to bed. If this is the case, try setting up a special bedtime routine and establishing a special sleep buddy (my daughter always sleeps with her bear and favorite book of the day). Good luck!

Answer 4

If you are sure that he is not sick, hungry or needs to be changed, then simply let him go back to sleep. If he cries and you go get him, then he learns that all he needs to do is cry and you will give him attention.

However, 7 months is a very young baby to not be hungry or wet in the middle of the night. I know you are tired but it seems like your frustration is making you expect things from your child that he may not developmentally be ready for.

Talk to your pediatrician about what you should be expecting your baby to do at this stage. And be aware that most child abuse comes at a time when parents are sleep deprived.

Answer 5

First you did nothing wrong, second if you didnt want to wake up at all hours of the night you shouldnt have had kids. Thats a part of it.
All children no matter how old they are will go through stages where they dont want to sleep, Im still dealing with it and my daughter is almost 2! What worked for me is we got one of those machines that makes noises like, flowing water, white noise, hearbeat. That might sooth him. But other than that besides a nice bath before bed, you'll just have to deal with it. It sucks i know. But hey their just babies and they are new to this world. It takes time for them to get used to small things like sleeping!

Answer 6

First off, you have done nothing wrong. Talk with your baby sitter and see what kind of nap schedule your child is on. Not letting your child take late afternoon naps will help. Try a lavender soap, I like Johnsons and Johnsons Lavender and chamosille. Also you may try keeping your child up a little later at night. Another thing to try is when your child wakes up try not rushing to her or his bedside, the first night wait 5 minutes the next night a little longer and so on. If he or she sees that a little cry will send you running to their bedside then they will try it more and more. Don't underestimate how little ones comprehend things. When your child wakes up and you have to get up with them, do not play games or make it playtime. Stick to your guns and get your schedule back in tact. Hope this helps.

Answer 7

either he is sleeping too much during the day, or it is a stage. My 10 month old is just now finally getting back to sleeping through the night. he went through about a month of waking up every night.

Answer 8

I feel your pain and frustration, dear one.

There are many things you can try, but you need to give each try at least two weeks to effect a change:

Try - putting the child to bed later.
bathing later and use a lavender-based soap.
try a noise machine
Try letting the child cry...if crying longer than 15 minutes, go in, change, soothe, rock, but only for a short time.

I wish you all the luck, dear one.

Answer 9

babies have there own little minds. you didn't do anything wrong. my 8 month old does the same things. the baby just wants to test the waters and see what you will do at 3 in the morning. if he isn't crying then leave him in his bed and don't turn on lights. keep trying to signal to him that its bed time not play time.

Answer 10

Well if you haven't started solids, you may need to. Start giving him some rice cereal before bedtime, and see how that works. If that doesn't work try a later bedtime, or a warm bath with lavendar soap and lavendar lotion to follow. If that doesn't work, well maybe you should talk to his Pediatrician.