Is there anyway I can get my 7 month old to sleep through the night?

Question

He wakes up like 3 times every night to drink a bottle. Will he ever sleep through the night or am I doomed? He has done this since he was born. Any hope for me?

Answer 1

I used to bathe my babies right before bed..and give them theyre nite bottle & always added an xtra oz or two..and they were so sleepy & full they would crash out the whole night.Try that and good luck to you.

Answer 2

Put him down for a late nap, around 3 or 4. Let him sleep an hour or so, just make sure he's up by 5 pm. Play hard with him. If he's crawling, you should have him all over the house. Wear him out. Laugh it up with him. Get in the floor with him, just play for a couple hours. Then dinner time. Make sure his tummy gets full. He's 7 months old, so I'm assuming that he's on some solids now. If not, it might be time to start. Make sure he's good and full. Then off to the bath. You should play there too! It's not quiet time just yet. Splash, laugh, have a good time. Then around 8:30 sit down with him. Read him a book, make it a night time routine. Maybe rock him, and sing a song or two. Around 8:45 or 9(remember, if you lay him down too soon, he's going to wake back up) lay him in his crib with a bottle of luke warm water. You don't want to give him milk, for obvious reasons. He should pass out and be so tired that he'll stay that way for awhile.

Answer 3

His body expects the bottle, so you have to take away the expectation, slowly. Choose the middle feeding, and slowly reduce the ounces in the bottle every few nights, until there's no milk and he gets just a comfort pat and back to bed. Then hopefully you can move onto the next feeding and do the same thing. I am not saying he will be thrilled about it, but he will get the idea, and that two ounce bottle won't be worth getting up for. Good luck! I really believe in the Ferber method. To some it may sound harsh from the press it received, but if you really read it, it's not harsh at all, and my twin girls have thrived and sleep well every night now. They are 14 months.

Answer 4

First thing don't let him sleep alot during the day. Then depending on what stage baby food he is on. If he's on stage 2 baby food then give him a stage 3 at night it'll be heavier on his tummy help him sleep longer if he's on stage 3 already then give him the dinner ones at night.will be alot heavier and in turn help him sleep better. If ya not giving him any baby food yet. Or last with his last bottle before bed or even the ones in the middle of the night put baby cereal in it when ya make it. The thicker the heavier on his tummy will help him sleep. He may not sleep the whole night but it'll at least be longer then what he is. My son is almost 6 months and when I started him on cereal at 3 and 1/2 months I gave him a thicker bottle at night and now I give him a dinner meal of baby food at night and he only wakes up once. Good luck. But warning once he does start sleeping longer you'll be up anyway to check on him at least I was.

Answer 5

By six months my daughter slept through the night. I breastfeed her until she was 14 1/2 months so I can not relate to the bottle feedings, but I can tell you what I did with her... At six months is when she moved from my bed into her crib (husband finally had enough), the first few nights she screamed bloody murder, sometimes for as long as an hour. But she finally screamed herself to sleep. After a few days that was it. No more screaming, no fuss. (by the way, her doctor was the one who told me to let her scream it out).

If you feel he still needs the bottle, why don't you slowly drop a feeding here, a feeding there. For example, if you put him down at 7 pm, he wakes at 11 pm, and 3 am, and 6 am and then he is up for good at 8 am.... Let him scream at 6 am. Don't go to him, when he finally gets used to that, drop the 3 am, and when he gets used to that drop the 11 pm. Of course, you could drop all the feedings and just let him scream it out. It is up to you.

I do have several friends that ended up using the screaming it out method and it worked very well for them (as much as it hurts us, the mothers) I also have a friend who refused to let her 2 daughters cry it out and to this day, she has a 4 year old, and a 2 year old sleeping in bed with her and her husband. And they both wake up all the time needing their parents... NO THANK YOU!!!! nip it in the butt early!

My daughter is now almost 16 months old, she sleeps from 9 pm straight through till at least 9:30, sometimes even 11!!! I am very lucky!

Good luck.

Just wondering... could you leave a bottle of water in the crib with him? Maybe he would drink that and it would sooth him enough to go back to sleep? (I have heard it could cause tooth decay if you leave a bottle of milk/formula in with a baby if they fall asleep with it in their mouth).

Answer 6

It sometimes matters if you're nursing or not. Most nursed babies don't sleep through the night. They digest the breastmilk a lot faster then formula. At 7 months it should be more then okay to give your baby cereal. If your baby still wakes up then he or she just isn't ready to sleep through the night. Are you nursing?

Answer 7

When my 21 year old son was a baby, I'd give him a bottle of eggnog in the evening and he would sleep all through the night. Eggnog is heavy on the stomach. When you can't find eggnog in the store, I used to make it from scratch, it isn't hard to make. Lots of good recipes on the Internet for eggnog.

Answer 8

...sounds like he needs a Baby Jack.

If you are at your wits end, dilute some beer or another alcoholic beverage. You don't want to get the kid drunk, just relax him a bit. Open a can of beer, pour two ounces in an eight ounce bottle, and fill the rest with cold water. See if he likes it. If he does, he might actually sleep through the night. If that doesn't work, drink the rest and two more yourself and then you might sleep through it.

Answer 9

hi...well guess what ma'am my daughters 9 months and in the same situation....as she grew older she worse hersleeping got. you covuld let her cry it out if you want, but i dont believe in that. pediatrician tell you to, mine did too....if you talk to a a montessori or child orineted person youll hear otherwise...

If the problem is needing to be with you:
Here's my thinking: (and i work full time too so i know how hard it is) i end up having next to me a lot...i tried crying it out, but belive it or not i could see her losing her trust in me...i didnt really let her cry it out i didnt have the ehart to not listen to her needs, i mean comon if i was a kid i would cry if i was alone in a room too, and would be scared as heck if noone came to be with me...so i stayed with her but didnt pick her, just patted hjer, let her cry, hold her, rock her if it was bad and put her down again and all, and boy she started grabbing my finger too scared to let go since that day...and she stopped snuggling when i slept her next to me, and she started that again, she just wants to skleep warm and cuddled next to me...i keep her back when shes sleeping but i realised im not going to beat myself over it, shes small, she nmeeds me, its not her fault, and soon shell grow up and ill miss it.

Now if the wake up is for food only, my mom's old advise: give her water in the middle of the night. shell reject it and get mad in a day or two she wont wake up...(i tried that, and she started drinking the water pertty well in the middle of the night haha but she does get up a little less)

good luck...

Answer 10

Unless you can break the habit, i don't see any other option. Might try overfeeding before bedtime. Though stay away from those old age remedies, like alcohol. It's not healthy for a toddler.