My 7 mo. old grandson is still not sleeping through the night? Suggestions?

Gwen - posted on 12/02/2009

Quoting Sierra:

I was having the same problem with my four month old, and here's what my pediatrician told me. It sounds a little cruel, but it works and he promised me over and over again that it doesn't 'mess them up' or even upset them as badly as it seems to.

Give them some cereal right before bed. Set up a routine (read a book, turn on a mobile, have a bath, or any combination of things you want to do right before putting him to bed) and as soon as you're done doing the routine things, put him in his bed. Make sure he's still awake--this method doesn't work if you put him down already asleep or falling asleep. Say goodnight, give him a kiss, and then leave.

And don't go back until morning.

Even if he screams for two or three hours, don't go back. He has to learn his own method of putting himself to sleep/back to sleep. You let him cry during the night if he wakes up. You simply don't even so much as go back into his bedroom to 'check on him'.

This should work after a couple of nights. I wouldn't try it longer than a week--my ped said that if it didn't work after a week to give him a call and we'd try something else. But for me it worked, so I never found out what 'something else' was. He said it works in almost all of his patients, though.

I went from having a baby who kept me up until four in the morning to having a baby who goes to bed at ten and then wakes up for the day officially around noon. He does sleep in my room, so I did take to checking on him, but I don't pick him up. He gets one middle of the night snack for about ten minutes, but then he goes right back to bed. He doesn't cry anymore, and he puts himself to sleep.

I really, really recommend this method. It's hard the first few nights (it hurts the parents more than the kid) but you can do it! Good luck!

edit: oh, and I forgot the other thing. Only two or three naps during the day, only an hour long each. no longer than that, or he won't be tired at bedtime. I don't have a problem with this as my little guy is officially a terrible napper--two naps, anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour if i'm lucky.

That is the worst advice I think I have ever heard from a doctor!  Especially w/ a baby as young as 4 months.  It sounds cruel because it is.

Bonnie - posted on 12/02/2009

I have heard that children go to sleep better if you have the same routine before bed. It doesn't matter what it is as long as they know what to expect.My son is two and has had the same routine since he was born. Now he knows what to expect and doesn't really argue when it's time to go to bed.
You have to find the right thin for you. If you have someone to help with bedtime you can take turns so it doesn't get too stressful.
I also heard that starting bedtime you let them cry for a couple minutes. Then you go in and soothe them. The next time you make it five. Slowly work your way to longer times and eventually they just go to sleep. Just remember everything takes time for adjustment so you have to stick to the same thing for at least a couple of weeks before you may see a difference.
My sister said she heard it takes a child two weeks to break a habit.

Therese - posted on 12/01/2009

I don't know to tell u because my 7 mo old son is doing the same thing. Although I recently stop feeding him when he get up the second tim (because he gets up 3 time for the night) and he sleeps all the way throught until 6:30. I' ll try not feeding him from the fridt time he gets up and see what heppens.

Amanda - posted on 12/01/2009

try puttin a little baby cereal in his milk this helped wonders with my daughter aslo helps with not holding down formula well.

Sylvia - posted on 12/01/2009

At 7 months old, "sleeping through the night" means one 5- to 6-hour stretch -- it doesn't mean sleeping straight through from, e.g., 7 pm to 7 am. Many 7-month-olds still need to eat during the night.

My daughter was still waking every couple of hours for much, much longer than that. OTOH, since we co-slept full-time, she didn't have to wake up all the way in order to nurse, and I hardly had to wake up at all. So that would be my advice.

I know bed-sharing doesn't work for everyone, though.

Michelle - posted on 12/01/2009

a book i love is "Ruby in her own time"

you can guess from the title that ruby does things in her own time...babies are much the same, my brothers daughter slept 10hours from 1 mth, my kids all varied

i have 4 boys, i would give my right arm for more than 3 hours sleep in a row...bennett (5 mos) does not sleep through the night, he feeds at night still...he is not doing this to irritate me or because he is trying to punish me! he is hungry or he needs a cuddle or he just wants to know i am still there...one day he will sleep through the night and he will grow up and he wont need to feed and he wont want to cuddle...so if for the first year of his very long life he wants to i am ok with that!

if god forbid something happened to your child you will wish you cuddled or fed him instead of letting him cry alone in his crib.

this too shall pass...put your helmet on and ride the wave

"baby in her own time"

Juanita - posted on 12/01/2009

WOW..this is a very interesting post. Mainly because I too am having the same dilemma w/my 8 mth old! As of now, I'm been lucky to have daddy at home to help so daddy always ends up giving in and my baby ends up coming to our bed after only being in his for about 3 hrs. I then nurse him and pray he goes back to sleep but as soon as I take his sucking mechanism out (nipple)..he awakens & daddy has to rock him back to sleep. Sometimes, he puts him back in his crib or I will if I am still awake but most of the time, we both just pass out & he stays in between us. I am not a fan of co-sleeping simply because my shoulders, back & neck all ache the next day & I am always tired.

W/my 1st son, we did let him cry it out in his crib until he fell asleep but since this one is our last baby, I think we have been reluctant to do this method again. However, I do wish I could get a good nights sleep...but I guess it will come in the toddler ages...(Lets hope!)

Kelli - posted on 12/01/2009

Quoting Sierra:

Quoting Sarah:

I'm not surprised. I think I'd give up if I was screaming for hours on end and no-one came. This is not learning his own method to get to sleep, it's collapsing into sleep from the exhaustion (emotional and physical) of unanswered screaming.

No, it works. He doesn't 'collapse from exhaustion' and obviously it worked if he happily goes to sleep now anytime I put him in bed.

The problem with going in to check on them every fifteen minutes or so is it puts into their head that 'hey, if i keep crying, i'll keep getting attention, awesome!' which isn't necessarily a good thing.

My little guy lived through it, obviously. He's one of the happiest babies you'll ever meet, and he went from the worst sleeper ever to the best. Don't you try and tell me it's not a good method until you've tried it.

 

Babies are not manipulative at this age. They only know that they want someone to help them. Every need, even just the need to be held, is a valid need. When they are left to cry, they are being shown they have been abandoned. They stop crying to conserve energy...not because they think "I should just go to sleep."

My 7 1/2 mo. old daughter is up several times per night. She is a very high needs baby. Because of this, we bedshare and nurse through the night. Infancy is such a short span of their lives...it'll be over before you know it. I fully intend to cherish every waking moment of it (all almost 8 months so far). I would hate to ignore my baby's cries only to find out she was in pain or ill later...a common scenario with many people I know.

For the record, I practiced "sleep training" and cry it out with my two older boys...now 10 and 12 years old. I regret it to this day. I fully researched parenting styles this time, and have chosen AP and parenting by instinct this time around, instead of doing things "by the book" or for convenience sake.

This is a phase and eventually all children will sleep through the night. It just takes a little longer for some. Good luck! :)

Sierra - posted on 12/01/2009

Quoting Sarah:

I'm not surprised. I think I'd give up if I was screaming for hours on end and no-one came. This is not learning his own method to get to sleep, it's collapsing into sleep from the exhaustion (emotional and physical) of unanswered screaming.

No, it works. He doesn't 'collapse from exhaustion' and obviously it worked if he happily goes to sleep now anytime I put him in bed.

The problem with going in to check on them every fifteen minutes or so is it puts into their head that 'hey, if i keep crying, i'll keep getting attention, awesome!' which isn't necessarily a good thing.

My little guy lived through it, obviously. He's one of the happiest babies you'll ever meet, and he went from the worst sleeper ever to the best. Don't you try and tell me it's not a good method until you've tried it.

Sarah - posted on 12/01/2009

Quoting Sierra:

I was having the same problem with my four month old, and here's what my pediatrician told me. It sounds a little cruel, but it works and he promised me over and over again that it doesn't 'mess them up' or even upset them as badly as it seems to.

Give them some cereal right before bed. Set up a routine (read a book, turn on a mobile, have a bath, or any combination of things you want to do right before putting him to bed) and as soon as you're done doing the routine things, put him in his bed. Make sure he's still awake--this method doesn't work if you put him down already asleep or falling asleep. Say goodnight, give him a kiss, and then leave.

And don't go back until morning.

Even if he screams for two or three hours, don't go back. He has to learn his own method of putting himself to sleep/back to sleep. You let him cry during the night if he wakes up. You simply don't even so much as go back into his bedroom to 'check on him'.

This should work after a couple of nights. I wouldn't try it longer than a week--my ped said that if it didn't work after a week to give him a call and we'd try something else. But for me it worked, so I never found out what 'something else' was. He said it works in almost all of his patients, though.

I went from having a baby who kept me up until four in the morning to having a baby who goes to bed at ten and then wakes up for the day officially around noon. He does sleep in my room, so I did take to checking on him, but I don't pick him up. He gets one middle of the night snack for about ten minutes, but then he goes right back to bed. He doesn't cry anymore, and he puts himself to sleep.

I really, really recommend this method. It's hard the first few nights (it hurts the parents more than the kid) but you can do it! Good luck!

edit: oh, and I forgot the other thing. Only two or three naps during the day, only an hour long each. no longer than that, or he won't be tired at bedtime. I don't have a problem with this as my little guy is officially a terrible napper--two naps, anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour if i'm lucky.

I'm not surprised. I think I'd give up if I was screaming for hours on end and no-one came. This is not learning his own method to get to sleep, it's collapsing into sleep from the exhaustion (emotional and physical) of unanswered screaming.

Sierra - posted on 12/01/2009

I was having the same problem with my four month old, and here's what my pediatrician told me. It sounds a little cruel, but it works and he promised me over and over again that it doesn't 'mess them up' or even upset them as badly as it seems to.



Give them some cereal right before bed. Set up a routine (read a book, turn on a mobile, have a bath, or any combination of things you want to do right before putting him to bed) and as soon as you're done doing the routine things, put him in his bed. Make sure he's still awake--this method doesn't work if you put him down already asleep or falling asleep. Say goodnight, give him a kiss, and then leave.



And don't go back until morning.



Even if he screams for two or three hours, don't go back. He has to learn his own method of putting himself to sleep/back to sleep. You let him cry during the night if he wakes up. You simply don't even so much as go back into his bedroom to 'check on him'.



This should work after a couple of nights. I wouldn't try it longer than a week--my ped said that if it didn't work after a week to give him a call and we'd try something else. But for me it worked, so I never found out what 'something else' was. He said it works in almost all of his patients, though.



I went from having a baby who kept me up until four in the morning to having a baby who goes to bed at ten and then wakes up for the day officially around noon. He does sleep in my room, so I did take to checking on him, but I don't pick him up. He gets one middle of the night snack for about ten minutes, but then he goes right back to bed. He doesn't cry anymore, and he puts himself to sleep.



I really, really recommend this method. It's hard the first few nights (it hurts the parents more than the kid) but you can do it! Good luck!



edit: oh, and I forgot the other thing. Only two or three naps during the day, only an hour long each. no longer than that, or he won't be tired at bedtime. I don't have a problem with this as my little guy is officially a terrible napper--two naps, anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour if i'm lucky.

Jamie - posted on 12/01/2009

a hot bath at night...let him play and then a warm bottle and rock him to sleep..try that!

Nakita - posted on 12/01/2009

Give him a good bedtime routine, like for my 5 month old lil girl, i give her a bath at 8:30 use bedtime wash, when he gets out use the bed time lotion, then give him his bid time bottle, but put a lil bit of cereal in his bottle like 2 spoon fulls then shake it up and give it to him, it makes it a lil heavyer in his tummy, so he wont want to get up and eat in the middle of the night. i do this for my lil one and shes been sleeping through the night since she was 2 month. good luck!

Kristen - posted on 12/01/2009

Give him some solid food before bedtime. just milk before bedtime wont sit on his stomach very long. put a limit on his naps and make sure he gets plenty of playtime during the day. giving him a bath before bedtime also helps too.

Julia - posted on 12/01/2009

Feed him some baby cereal before bed. Some times that helps and let them cry for 15min then go back and check on him. Do this every 15 min and in 3 days he will learn how to soothe himself. I have 4 children and it worked with all of them.

Gwen - posted on 12/01/2009

It could be a growth spurt or possibly teething. They go through so many sleep phases. Just when you think you have one pattern figured out, they change it on you! There's teething, growing, walking, separation anxiety, dreams, etc. All of these things affect sleep at different times. As a matter of fact, I was awake last night 4 times w/ my crying 22mo. daughter and I have NO CLUE what the problem was! Lol :-) Tell her to hang in there. 7mo. is still very young.

Tam - posted on 12/01/2009

cereal before bed.. Thats what my granny always did even when we were big!

Karen - posted on 12/01/2009

How many hours is he sleeping? The definition of sleeping through the night is 5 or 6 hours (depending on the source). It is not normal for babies to sleep for much longer than this, although every baby is different and some lucky parents get to sleep for 11 hours each night. Most babies get 25% of their nutrition at night, remember at 7 months old they still have small stomachs and so need filling up often.

Marie - posted on 12/01/2009

make sure you dont go to him to soon when he wakes, sometimes its ok for them to have a little grumble or chat in the night and it doesnt always mean he needs you and it will be good for him to learn to get himself off to sleep again, if you do have to get up, dont make eye contact, settle him enough so he is not screaming and then say goodnight and leave, it might take a week or so of this but it does work! now's the time to refuse night feeds if you know he is getting enough food during the day, offer water (definately not squash!) as he'll realise its too boring to wake up for!!