I need some suggestions / advice desperately!!
DS has always had a little trouble sleeping, nights have always been great he has pretty much slept through since only about 2 months old, although getting him to sleep was a massive drama once asleep he stayed that way! We co-slept until he was about 5 months, it took a little bit to transition into a cot but it generally was a pretty smooth changeover and up until recently has slept in the cot great. Day sleeps have always been an issue, I tried everything as I was having to nurse him for his whole sleep time day and night and I just couldn’t manage doing this anymore. I ended up as a last resort using controlled comforted crying method. It wasn’t as traumatic for us as some mothers I saw at Tweedle go through, and he responded really well. I ended up getting him to sleep in his cot for all sleeps day and night, and I was putting him in awake and he rolled over and went to sleep no fuss!
So that was about 6 weeks or so ago now. We have since moved house, DS has started crèche 3 days and I have just gone back to work. Now we seem to be slipping back into old habits, and its killing me. During the day he wont sleep for more than 20-30 min at a time, and screams the minute I put him in his cot. During the night he is grizzling on and off every hour and a half or so, and waking up at least once (bout 2am ish) and the only way I can settle him is with a bottle (when he hasn’t had night feeds for months). He normal goes to bed at 6.30pm and wakes around 7 – 7.30am. Now he is waking at 5am and nothing I do can get him back to sleep, he just wants to be up for the day.
I have tried putting him to bed later to see if that helps, but because he is getting up so early he is wrecked even keeping him up till 6.30 is a bit of a struggle, and I cant give him a late sleep and get him down later because even if he does go down its only 15 min at that time of a day and only if he is in the car! He is teething quite a lot at the moment but this doesn’t seem to cause him much discomfort during the day, and I have tried giving him panadol at night and it doesn’t seem to make a difference so I don’t think that this is the issue.
He is also no longer responding to controlled crying since he started at crèche, he just gets more and more upset and i have never let him cry longer than 6 minutes using this method as I was too uncomfortable letting him go any longer. I have even reverted back to my old habits (which I so badly don’t want to go back to) out of sheer desperation, rocking him, putting him into my bed, feeding to sleep etc. None of these seem to make much difference either. He wont sleep with me anymore as I have to hold him otherwise he will wiggle out of bed, and he hates having his movement restricted. Rocking I can sometimes get him off but the transfer to the cot then tends to mostly wake him again.
I am just at my wits end! I cant do 5am starts, and up and down all night whilst I am working, and not working is financially not an option. I know that he may be a bit unsettled due to moving, and crèche, but our living situation is MUCH better now (we used to live with my parents in a house of 6 adults) and he LOVES crèche. I don’t know what to do… Please please help me…
I couldn't read this and not respond - you poor thing, you just sound like you've about had it. Big hugs to you
Why don't kids come with a manual??
A few things I can think of...
I know you said your living situation is better now but the thing to remember is that it is different now to what it was... and around 6 months, bubs starts to realise "Hey there is a whole world around me" and they start to have wants, not just needs.
They also don't deal well with change, regardless of whether it is a good change or a bad one! So he's probably got that bit of extra understanding and awareness now to realise that something has changed and he doesn't like it.
Was the house always noisy when he slept previously? Maybe playing the radio, or a white noise tape might help, during the day at least.
As for the early waking - is he cold? 5am is usually the coldest part of the day and with Autumn upon us now, it has been a little chilly in the mornings. DD was waking between 4 and 6am and we realised she wasn't warm enough. You could try an extra layer on him at night - whether it is an extra layer of clothes or an extra blanket, up to you. It might work wonders - I always go into DD's room when I am going to bed (so like 11pm or something) and add an extra blanket, so she hasn't gotten too hot while she's going to sleep and the house is still warm, and it keeps her toasty warm through the chilliest part of the night, as the house cools down.
Could there be some other reason he is waking at 5am? Maybe do some detective work to see if something else is waking him - like a street light outside his room going off or on, a neighbour starting work early making noise, something that is regular like that in the new house?
DD doesn't really respond to rocking or feeding to sleep anymore either... we find we just have to sit quietly with her in our arms, in her room, lights off.
I am finding with DD she has phases of being great, and then phases of being not so great. Maybe this is just one of the bad phases... but try and remember that it WILL pass. Eventually!
I would be concentrating on the day sleeps more TBH...20-30 mins a day is not much at all for a 7 month old....im a big believer in if they're day sleeps are consistent, and solids blocks, the nights usually are too
HOw does he go at crehce with day sleeps ????
At 7 months i would still be expecting him to sleep every 2.5- 3hrs in the day, so 2-3 sleeps still.....thats not happenign at all ???
Also....he is sleeping 630pm - 5am ?? Thats 10.5 hrs.....your right it is heaps early, but he's been in that bed for 10.5 hrs...it doesnt sound like he is self settling either....i.e he doesnt know how to put himself to sleep ?? They get wiser and a bit smarter as they get older...newborns and up to 6 months of age, i always found they were 'easier' to put to sleep. 6 months right up to 12 months encounters huge development milestones, with this, coupled with his lack of sleep in the day, i reckon is the reason his night wakings are so frequent.
I know its hard with you back at work, but maybe on days u r at home, and weekends, really get the routine happening. Put him to bed every 2.5 -3hrs in the day- give him a blankie or a soft toy to cuddle, and do what you were doinog previously...
I hope he settles for you soon. It could be his teeth too......
Hey thanks for the advice guys! I think we may have solved the problem! I think it may have been a combination effect of moving and him creating some new bad habits and teething!
Poor little monkey got 2 new teeth in 2 days and looks like at least another 2 to come in within the week, so my guess is the poor kid is in a bit of pain he has been rufusing his bottles since Thursday as well, so they must be extreamly sore. He spits out panadol I normal put it in his bottle but because he won't drink it's been a nightmare! Today and yesturday he has picked up though still not drinking great but we manage, this happened when he got his first tooth as well. I just have to be very careful of dehydration.
Thanks for the suggestion that he may be cold OP, I think that may have been an issue too. He moves heaps while he is asleep, so I bought a sleeping bag and it is working wonders!! It's also helping with our controlled crying because he can't move around as much and can no longer stand up, which was a big problem when we did this technique as he moves to keep himself awake and the sleeping bag restricts his movement enough for me to settle him to sleep! HUGE sleeping bag fan now!!!!
His daytime routine does definantly effect his night always has, i think the night issues are the same as the day time ones, because he did sleep really well after we used controlled crying. So I am using the sleeping bag days as well now and not being able to stand up is helping emensly! He has had a 2 hour day sleep the last 3 days now! So I wonder of he wasn't self settling anymore because his teeth were too sore?? Because he definantly knew how he just stopped doing it!!
I am also making sure he is getting sone extra tine with his GP"s as that's who we were living with so he may have been missing them a little
So thank you guys soo soo much for all your help and suggestions. Hopefully he continues to improve! I will post in a few days how we are going!
7 month old sleeping dramas!
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he has been rufusing his bottles since Thursday as well, so they must be extreamly sore. He spits out panadol I normal put it in his bottle but because he won't drink it's been a nightmare! Today and yesturday he has picked up though still not drinking great but we manage, this happened when he got his first tooth as well. I just have to be very careful of dehydration. 
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