Night Time Sleeping Troubles?

Question

I have a 7 month old daughter and she will not sleep through the night (I know this is common) and always wants to sleep in bed with us. So we bring her out (after letting her cry for 20 min) and I feed her and she falls asleep and my husband puts her back in her crib where she'll sleep another 3 hours and we're at it again. Her crib is in our room (we've only got 800-900 sq ft house) and we'd like to help her. She also only wants to take 10 min naps...

Answer 1

I feel for you. My son (now 2 and a half) didn't sleep through the night on a regular basis until he was over a year and a half. But here's part of the problem...you bring her out AFTER letting her scream for 20 minutes? Sometimes it's hard for us adults to think this way, but look at it like this, how easy is it for you to get a restful, easy night's sleep after CRYING that long? Cry it out methods were not developed for the benefit of the baby, but for the convenience of parents. When a baby does cry it out and then stop (and some, like mine, don't ever stop!) they have not 'learned' anything except that they can not trust their caregiver to come and take care of them when they need it. It is not spoiling a baby (even at 7 months...or a year, for that matter) to rock her, hold her, and help her soothe herself to sleep. The previous generation was the big one that did the cry it out thing and look at the myriad of gadgets we've had to come up with to soothe them off to sleep!! If grownups need help, why shoudln't a baby? Remember, she's still spent the better part of her life in a comfy, warm, cozy, very small, space where there was constant movement and humming noise. It can be very disconcerting for a baby to be in a big empty crib. My son pretty much never submitted to sleeping in his crib. At first I felt like a bad parent for letting him sleep with me, and then I figured a few things out: 1)Who's the better parent? The one who's completely stressed out for lack of sleep b/c of a screaming infant who gets irritated with the baby and then doesn't enjoy the baby fully? Or maybe the better parent is the one that gives the baby the simple thing she's asking for, closeness to mom/dad while she sleeps. Allowing my son into my bed has meant I've gotten a full night's rest almost every night except when he is sick, and therefore am better able to cope with my son (and other things!) during the day. 2)US is one of the few countries that frowns upon kids sharing a bed with parents. Most other countries see it as the norm, and have less insecure kids b/c of it. 3)Exactly what harm is it doing to allow your child to sleep with you for as long as she needs to? Everyone says, "Well, she has to learn to put herself to sleep" Not at 7 months she doesn't! If you're going to use that philosophy, why not go ahead and potty train her, teach her to read and write, hold a spoon and get a job while she's at it, b/c those are all things she's going to have to learn, too. But that would be silly, wouldn't it. She'll learn in her own time. She'll learn to put herself to sleep in her own time, too, and will be more successful if you have taken a laidback approach to bedtime, making her feel good and secure about sleeptime.
Here's some tips to help her get sleep, or rather stay asleep once she gets there: a noisemaker, a fan, or one of those wind/noise machines that makes a constant, consistent noise. Lots of adults use them, it calms us and keeps the sound neutral even when other noises happen. Make sure she's not too hot. Don't let her scream like that, it'll only wake her up more and make her want to go to sleep less, cuz she knows then it'll happen again when she awakes. For the 10 minute naps, when she awakes, keep things soft and quiet and lay with her or rock her back into la-la land. Best of luck with your little one.

Answer 2

Your child is old enough to start sleeping through the night. The key to making this happen is establishing a schedule, having a consistent bedtime routine, and developing positive sleep associations. Seven-month-olds should nap two or three times a day at approximately the same time, and go to bed between 7:30 and 8:30 at night. Babies love routine, especially ones that happen around bedtime. You can first bathe her and change her into pajamas, then nurse or give her a bottle. You can top the night off by reading a bedtime story (pick one or two tales that you'll read every night) or sing a few songs (choose a set of tunes for bedtime). By doing the same thing night after night, you will be letting your baby know that it's time for sleep.

To teach your baby how to fall asleep on her own, put her down in her crib while she's still awake and periodically check on her. Within a few nights, she will be falling asleep quickly and easily at bedtime. Once she is able to soothe herself to slumber, she will inevitably begin sleeping for longer stretches, and eventually, all night. Until she learns how, respond to her the way you usually do when she wakes up in the middle of the night.

Answer 3

I feel for you. I had a similar problem with my second baby. I didn't have a descent nights sleep the first year of his life. Unfortunately, your going to have to either deal with out sleep for awhile or find the trigger that will knock your baby out. One thing, you have to stop her from sleeping in bed with you. She has probably gotten use to the physical connection and the crib just doesn't feel right to her.
Also, make sure she's comfortable when you put her down. Not too hot or cold.Dry behind and a FULL belly. My son had a HUGE appetite, to the point that I was putting rice cereal in his bottles at every feeding. You can do this even in the bottle of breast milk, if you don't use bottles yet, you might want to start spoon feeding her a few teaspoons at feeding time. Start with small amounts so she doesn't get constipated.
You need to put her in the crib every time she starts to fall asleep. It's going to take some time and ALOT of patients. So hang in there, you'll get through it.

Answer 4

I don't think she is full enough when she goes to sleep. Make sure she has had plenty of milk (if you are only feeding breastmilk) Or some solids a few hours before bedtime.

Other than that, we did controlled crying when my son was 9 months and have slept all night, every night since. It was easy. However, that isn't for everyone.