My 7 Month Old Still Doesn't Sleep Through the Night

Sometimes it is habit they wake up and not hunger, if you feed him at 10, espically a bottle with rice ceral in it, (that worked for me) , then if he wakes up pat him and give him a soft pacifyer, it may take a bit, but it is better than have to get up every night. Good luck.

I am having my second child in just two weeks. My sister gave me the book, "SECRETS OF THE BABY WHISPERER" and it is fabulous!! I am hoping to employ the sleep tips given in this great book very soon. You may want to pick up a copy at the library. It talks about EVERYTHING you need to know when you bring a baby home, but also how to effect change after the baby is on the wrong track. What I like best is that it classifies babies into 4 categories. Having only one, I need to realize that every baby is different and needs to be handled differently. It also explains the cries of a baby and how to "interpret" them and not just stick a bottle in their mouth or lie them down. The author is Tracy Hogg. My first son didn't sleep through the night until he was over 1 year old so I hope to get it right this time! ;) Good luck to you! - T.

My Baby boy is 6 mon old and he still doesnt sleep though the night either but i found if i feed him as much rice cereal right before bed that he can eat, then he sleeps much better.I cant let him cry it out when i know hes hungary either!

One bit of advice... Many parents have done it. I didn't. All of the advice, "I did it and it worked for me...", may work just fine for right now BUT what are the long term ramifications of crying it out? Google "Harvard Cry It Out". The results may just surprise you. Opinions may have their place however they can never be outweighed by Harvard scientific research.

BTW, many of the "CIO" books have a hard time proving real scientific data. Also, if you are breastfeeding you can start drinking mother's milk tea found at whole foods. A dear friend of mine did that and her son went from eating every 3 hours at night to sleeping 7 hours straight! I co-slept while breast feeding my infant (google infant mortality and sids while co-sleeping so you feel safe about doing it)and got to enjoy light sleep while my daughter was feeding. I must have been the most well rested new mom and by the time she was 7mos, I never had a problem with not enough sleep! (She co-slept and breast-fed for 2 years) I'm a Dr.Sears fan!!!!

Hi T.,

Well, you've touched on the most controversial issue in parenting today! Congratulations!

Half the world will tell you to "cry it out".
The other half will tell you that this is insensitive.
Consider that both views can be correct, depending on the circumstances.

If the alternative to letting the baby "cry it out" is throwing the baby out the window, then perhaps you should let the baby cry it out, since there is no physical bodiy injury involved. If you are a working mother and have to get up in the morning and your lack of sleep is placing your job in jeopardy, perhaps cry it out is a good alternative. If you and your husband are on the verge of divorce and believe a quiet baby will help repair the marriage, perhaps cry it out is best. There are other examples. You decide if it is best for you.

The opposing "no cry" view goes something like this:

Babies like to be close. Americans do NOT like to be close. We like our space. Big cars, big houses, babies quietly sleeping down the hall out of our hair. It is a culture thing. Look around the world at other cultures - family sleeping arrangements are the norm in many other societies, including highly developed nations like Japan. There is nothing wierd about parents being close to children and responding to their needs. This teaches children security. 7 months old is NOT an "old" baby who "should know better."

When the baby cries, he has a need. This may be as simple as reassurance that you are there. Or he may actually be hungry. Hard to figure when the poor little guy can't talk, huh? When you let the baby cry, you don't "teach" the baby anything other than that he cries and you don't come. If you stand over the baby and let him cry, his need is obviously still being ignored. After a while, baby learns "when I cry, nobody comes and nobody addresses my need." If you kept asking your mother for something and she ignored you each time, eventually you stop asking, don't you? He is no different. It doesn't take an army of psychologists to figure this one.

If this view makes any sense to you, try reading the "No Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley. She was a breastfeeding co-sleeping mother. She has a sensible "no-cry" approach to encouraging more nightime quiet. Sleep IS important for you. It takes time to encourage good behavior in children. The time involved takes patience on the part of parents. Patience is another thing that goes against modern American culture - our penchant for quick results.

One more thing - If you are breastfeeding, he may very well be hungry. Most women in our society are not breastfeeding at 7 months, so their babies may sleep through the night earlier. Absolutely nothing digests better and more quickly than breastmilk. This is best for you baby. The flip side - he may be hungry sooner than other formula fed babies. In the end, he may really be hungry. Imagine how you would feel if you knew he was in fact hungry and you stood there and let him cry.

Follow your instincts! They are the very best tool you have!

Good luck!

My 2 year old has only recently begun sleeping through the night. She'd wake atleast once a night to nurse; we coslept until a couple of months ago, so atleast I didn't have to get up to quieten her. I know lots of parents don't want to cosleep, but we've done it with our two and plan to with our next. It works for us.

I think maybe some kids just don't sleep through the night. They're hungry, lonely, uncomfortable...whatever. I don't hold with allowing a child to cry it; our pediatrician told us to try it when I confessed that Meara was still waking to nurse at about 12 months. Nope, won't do it. I asked for advice on Mamasource, too, and nearly every single response was "let her cry it out." Not the right answer for us.

Try giving him some baby food before he goes to bed, then follow a bedtime ritual. The one that worked for our eldest was a bit of baby food, warm bath in a dimly lit room (we used the kitchen sink while she was small) with that Johnson's bedtime bath stuff (lavender scented); massage with the lavender lotion while listening to relaxing music; a story or two then a bottle while I held her. She'd fall asleep and be out for the night.

Like I said, our two year old wasn't so easy. Nothing worked with her. Maybe your little guy just isn't ready yet. I think we get caught up in the "should bes" when we just need to look at what works for the baby; not what "should be," you know?

I hope you find a better answer that my rambling one. :) And if you don't, just remember that IT WILL PASS. He WILL sleep through the night at some point. And then before you know it he'll be reading to you & tying his own shoes. This is such a small small small moment in the huge huge huge life you're going to have with him. Hang in there, follow those momma-instincts and you'll both get through it.

My daughter didn't sleep through the night until 8-9 months, and even then, she was (and still is) and early riser. She just turned 4. I worked full-time and was going nuts on lack of sleep. I can't recall if I was still feeding her during the night, but I breastfed until she was 10 months old, so I might have still been feeding her at night. My milk supply dropped significantly to almost nothing at 10 months. Anyway, I noticed my daughter liked the Baby Einstein DVDs and wondered if I could find a crib toy that would allow her to watch something and soothe her back to sleep. I found the Fisher Price Flutterbye Soother. It plays a "video"/cartoon on the ceiling and has 3-D birds that spin around in the crib toy. They have different songs too. It wasn't long before she figured out how to turn it on herself when she'd wake up in the middle of the night. It worked wonders for us - she would go back to sleep. Even though she's now in a regular bed, it's still on the nightstand and occasionally I'll hear it go on at night. You might try something like that as you try to wean your son off the nighttime feedings. Good luck!

It's normal for your son to be waking twice during the night. My daughter is 8 months old and also wakes twice during the night. She goes to bed between 6 and 7, wakes around 12:30 to eat, wakes again around 4 to eat. She gets up for the day between 6:30 and 7. I see that many have already recommended Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child - I have it and I agree that it's a very good book so that you can learn what is normal for sleeping patterns for a baby. 10 is too late for bedtime, and once you move that earlier, there is a chance you will eliminate one of those night time wakings.
A quick summary of the cycle that the book says is normal for a 5 to 9 month old baby is bed between 6 and 8, two wake ups during the night, up for the day between 6 and 8. First nap between 9 and 11, second nap between 12 and 2, a third nap (which should disappear by 9 months) around 3 or 4 (should be a short nap.)
I think we put too much pressure on our babies to sleep through the night and at too young! So many parents say that their babies wake up during the night, I think that is what is normal, not the ones whose babies sleep 12 hours straight at 6 weeks, 3 months, even 9 months! Every pediatrician I know says they "should" be able to sleep through the night once they are a certain age or weight. That's baloney!! Not every child is the same, they have different emotional and physical needs. I agree with a previous poster; I'm not going to let my child be hungry and cry when they need either an emotional or physical need met. I have adjusted my schedule so that I can go to bed earlier than I used to - that's helped a lot with my sleep deprivation.

Oh I totally feel your pain! At 5 months we were in the same cycle.
I went to the book store crying, because I needed some sleep.
Get The Sleep Lady's Guide to Getting your child to go to sleep, stay asleep and wake up happy. It is not the CIO method. I could not do it either. Babies at this age need to now you will respond it is their survival method.
This book saved my life and got us on track for sleeping throught the night. We are now 16 months old and he does not miss a beat. He sleeps 7:30pm to 7:15am. Halleluah!
It did take about 2 weeks for us to get him adjusted -- at the time it seemed like forever -- but now I am so grateful we suffered through the 2 weeks.
Goodluck!

I agree with Melissa W. My son is 28 months and is just now starting to sleep through the night. I don't know why all kids are expected to sleep through the night by a certain age. We don't expect kids to begin crawling, walking, running etc at the same age. I see nothing wrong with a 7 month old waking up wanting to be nursed whether it is out of hunger or just simply needing comfort. I don't understand why we think it is so terrible for our children to want to be close to us at night. Believe it or not, they do grow out of this in their own timeframe. I know moms need their rest as well. I nap with my son on the weekends. He is a fantastic napper by the way, so I can get a good 2-hour nap if I need it (which I usually do since I am pregnant).
Oh, my son's pediatrician is an advocate of the cry-it-out method, yet his daugther didn't sleep through the night until she was beyond 2-years old. My sister used the cry-it-out method with her twins. They are three now and horrible sleepers. The cry-it-out method does not work for all children and all families. You could give it try for a couple of nights and watch yor son's behavior during the day. If he acts differently (may be more distant or just the opposite and super-clingy), you may want to back off and try again later. I'm not saying the cry-it-out method does not work. I'm just saying it doesn't work for everyone. Good luck to you.

I'm assuming that you're feeding solids by now? That helps a lot with the hunger issue. I did a sleep solution program with my twins and it took 3 nights (with some crying). The book suggests that babies wake during the night, just like we do. The difference is that we roll over, fluff our pillow, and go back to sleep etc. and babies cry because that's all they know. They haven't perfected "going back to sleep". I think that you might be mistaking hunger for your baby trying to get back to sleep. When you feed during the night, they get dependant on you to get them back down. Here's the link to a great book:
http://www.amazon.com/Sleepeasy-Solution-Exhausted-Parent...
My kids still occasionally wake during the night, but they find a new sleep position, and go right back down. I won't beat the bedtime issue to death, but mine go to bed at 8p sharp. Your child should also be napping twice a day for a total of about 3-4 hours. Its true, the better they sleep in the daytime, the better they'll sleep at night. An overtired baby will definitely not sleep through the night.

My daughter and son were both the same way and I never really knew the reason. I now have a granddaughter who has the same problem. When she came along and she and her mother started living with me, I decided to try something a little different. In the evenings and during the day we would interrupt her sleep. Mom and I would let her sleep for about 30 minutes and then go in and wake her up and keep her up for about 2 more hours going for walks, taking baths, more feeding's, anything to tire her out a little more. After we did this for about a week she finally got a little better. I hate to be the bearer of not so good news but maybe she just doesn't require sleep and unfortunately you will have to pay the price. My granddaughter is six now and only started sleeping completely through the night when she started Kindergarden. Probably because she is so busy during the day at school. I know this news isn't very encouraging but what can you do outside of turning to some sort of sleeping aid. Don't do that!
Good luck.

We went through the same thing with everyone, and I do mean everyone telling me, He shouldn't be hungry. Well that didn't help, because he was, just like your little guy. The best thing that helped us was continuing to feed him, but every few nights back off about 1-2 ounces. Of course, we were bottle feeding. He did eventually get it. The cry it out thing... I believe in it. But, I am just now reading Dr. Ferber's book and it talks about a whole lot more than just letting them lay there or stand there and cry. There is a methodology behind it, and it has nothing to do with letting them just cry. If you would like, give me a shout or an email and I can help explain it to you. Wouldn't mind at all. I just wish someone had explained the whole thing to me, instead of just saying let them cry it out. Send me a personal email and I'll reply back with my personal email address or my phone number. Whichever you prefer... Hope this helps a little bit. D.

Both of my sons never slept through the night until they were one year old. They now at 3 and 5, have absolutely no sleeping problems. My advice is to be patient and like others said, feed them and put them right back to bed. I could never let me kids cry because they would cry for hours. We tried every trick with both boys without success ... they were chubby and active little guys who just needed to eat. I breast fed both and the reality is they just need to eat more frequently with breast milk. I found that even though the majority of their nutrition came from solid food, they were still hungry at night. My oldest still has an amazing metabolism and eats an unbelievable amount of food each day. He eats all the time, but fortunately now sleeps. Hang in there it will get easier - he will sleep. Perhaps you are growing a little athlete who just has a fast metabolism!

As is suggested for all sleep problems on here, you need to read the book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child.

Please read the book, but I can tell you right off that 10:00 is too late a bedtime for a 7 month old. 6:00-8:00 is the suggested time. At that age, my son was a 6:30 sleeper, and some nights he even went as early as 5:45. Now he is 14 months old and goes down at 7:30. (And he has always slept until at least 7:00 am and now is up at about 8:00 am every morning.)

My success is due entirely to the book. Give a try!

I feel for you - sleep deprivation is the worst! My son is now 18 months, and didn't sleep through the night until 15 months! Our son would wake up 1-2 times a night as well, needing a bottle. We tried to let him cry it out, but he would start gagging from crying harder and harder. At one year old, he stopped needing to eat when he woke up, but he still woke up. It wasn't until he had had too many ear infections, that we saw an ENT, got his ears fixed, and now he sleeps through the night!

Has your son been sick a lot, and do colds always turn into ear infections? You might take him to an ENT to have the pressure in his ears checked. The pressure can hurt worse when they lie down, and could be what wakes them up.

Good luck! H. P.

My son is almost 9 months old, and he just started sleeping thru the night. He is a huge eater, and he too, was waking up hungry. I fed him. I still do if he wakes up. I tell myself it will not last forever, and I try to cherish our quiet time together. Most nights he sleeps now. Please don't make him cry for too long at night at this young age...

Hi T.. I can relate. My son didn't sleep through the night until he was 9 months old, and I was exhausted. I had to let him fight through it about 3 nights, but that was all it took, and we haven't looked back (he's 2 1/2 now). I think your little guy is over-tired and is having trouble staying asleep. I doubt he's hungry, but it seems that way to you because he's waking up. He should be sleeping 12-ish hours at night with 2 regular naps during the day. Bedtime should be around 7-ish. If he's not getting enough sleep, he will have trouble staying asleep. Scientists don't know why, but the more kids sleep, the more/better kids sleep. My favorite sleep book (okay, sleep bible) is "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. Eric Weissbluth. It's only $15, and it's completely worth it. It gives great guidance on what your son's sleep patterns should be like, which should help you both to sleep well. You can do it! Best of luck!

I'm sorry to say the same thing happened to me with my twin boys. They were still waking during the night as late as 22 months, although they were generally down to once a night then. And when they woke up they were extremely hungry; screaming for milk and they sucked it down like they had not eaten in weeks. My pediatrician said the same thing. She at one point suggested watering down the milk so they would get used to not having so much. that resulted in more frequent wakings because they really were truly hungry. and my babies, all 4 of them, never went to bed much earlier than ten, no matter what. And if I did manage to get them to sleep before ten, they would surely wake up before 1 am and be refreshed and ready to party. One thing I did when they were as old as your baby was to start introducing one additional solid feeding right before bed - anything they would eat; fruit with a little cereal mixed in was good. Also be sure they are getting enough food during the day. Try to reduce the milk intake and encourage more solids. By this I mean be careful about letting him fill up on milk right before or during solid food time. Talk to the pedi about timing of the meals; you may want to space out more so he can learn to take in more, or maybe you need to make more frequent solid feedings - every baby is different. Like your other posts, I think all babies are different and they do not all sleep through the night at young ages. Try to have bottle ready at night and learn to sleep while holding your baby so you can get rest. finally at 2 years old, one of my twins usually sleeps through the night every night, but the other wakes at least once if not twice for a bottle. At this point, I do think he is just in the habit of having one; I don't think he is hungry. But at your son's age, he really was hungry and crying it out did not help that one bit. Good luck, hang in there, and know that it will get better.

My second and third child did the same thing at 6 and 9 months respectively. My pediatrician said the same thing. They were both big babies and ate well during the day. My husband told me to go get ear plugs so that I wouldn't hear them cry. It worked and within three nights they were both sleeping. They have to be trained. Sometimes even hunger is a habit. You just have to be the one in control and train THEM instead of them determining the way things are going to be. The good news is that at this age any habit can be broken VERY quickly. A good read for you would be the book called BABY WISE. It helped us see how babies really thrive better and need parents to put them on a schedule and teach them that they are not the center of the world they just entered into. We kind of relaxed a bit with our third child and BOY can you tell a difference in his attitude. At age 5, we are having to undo some mistakes we made earlier with him by not staying on top of things. Start now taking control of his schedule and behavior.

My second daughter was very fussy as well.
We found out later on that she had tons of food allergies.
I was breast feeding her but it was the food I was eating that caused the problem.
I don't know what he is eating or if you have a history of allergies in your family but it would be worth looking into.
I would start by eliminating common allergy prone foods one by one to test.
Sounds like your pediatrician isn't listening to you.
You might ask around for a new one or at least get a second opinion.
As mothers we know the cries of boredom from pain and pain should never be ignored!
Take Care - D.

Are you breast feeding? Have you tried giving him some cereal right before putting him down for bed? Have you been "watching what he is eating?" Since breastmilk is easier for infants to digest they do get hungry more frequently than formula fed infants. I have found feeding my baby a little cereal right before bed and making sure that she is full has made our nights a lot more restfull. I couldn't let my baby cry it out either. The first year is important for building trust and if our babies can't trust us to meet their needs they could have trust issues later.

Babies need a certain amount of food to keep thriving. If your baby is honestly hungry, then you shouldn't make him cry it out. However, you might try feeding him just a tiny bit more at each feeding throughout the day. If he gets more during the day, then he will not need to eat at night. Babies have a way of balancing out the amount of food eaten in a 24 hour period. He may still wake up and act like he wants food, but you will probably notice he is not taking as much. If he isn't taking a full feeding, Then you can let him cry it out!!!

I had the same problem with my baby girl and still working on it and she is 13 months. I make sure she has a bedtime routine. She gets a bath everynight to calm her down and then around 8:00 I give her a snack and then her milk with a little rice cereal in it( if i think she still hungry).Then story time and off to bed around 9:oopm. She cries but i try to let her cry it out. If it does not work i would give her some more milk.I don;t know if i helped you any but wanted to let you know that you are not alone.

I was in the exact same boat as you not long ago. I couldn't bear to do CIO after reading the research about how bad it is... and figured my daughter would one day sleep through the night...

Then 12 months came and went and she only got worse. I was rocking her for HOURS and she and I were both incredibly tired. After reading the American Pediatric Associations research on brain development and obesity (the risks are terribly greater for babies who get less than 12 hours of sleep in each day) I knew that CIO simply had to be done- she needed more sleep.

It only took ONE night of CIO- and the crying was less than an hour. Since then she has slept through the night 10-12 hours each night (with the exception of when she was teething)and she take 2-4 hours worth of naps each day NO CRYING at all! After I read her story, give her the blanky, lay her down- she just goes right to sleep or plays for a minute then sleeps. Sometimes she will fuss when I leave, but it isn't crying.

She and I are both so much happier. We can be on a regular schedule and plan things in advance now.

You have to do what you think is best- but I sure wish I had done CIO at 6 months, I could have had MONTHS more sleep and my daughter perhaps would have been able to have had a much happier babyhood.

Hey,
My son is 7 mos 2 weeks, so they're close to the same age. We had a lot of trouble getting him to sleep, period from day one, and I was desperate by the time he was 4 mos. Pretty much everybody except my parents told we just had to be tough and let him cry it out because he was indeed physically able to make it through the night without eating. For us it was an even bigger deal because he wouldn't even go down for naps without rocking and rocking and patting and singing and a slew of things. Our pediatrician told us she had the same problem with her son and to go ahead and let him cry it out, especially when we KNEW he had been fed, changed, and wasn't hurting. She said babies make habits at that age even faster than adults, and he will be okay, this is for his own good and he won't remember it. Told us to put him down sleepy, do the bedtime routine, and let him cry it out, turn up the TV.
We were so sleep deprived that we were able to handle it just at the thought of being able to sleep again. He fought it pretty hard (45 min) the first time and subsequently went down on the amount of time he cried. The important thing we had to learn was consistency: when he goes down, he doesn't get up until he's slept enough. After having to stay in bed and go on to sleep "from sleepy" for naps and all bedtimes, he started sleeping longer at night too. We also learned the importance of putting him to bed around 7:30-8:00 pm too....if he doesn't get 10 hrs of sleep at night we can tell a big difference in his demeanor throughout the day and while he was waking up at night he seemed to be slowing down in development as well.
I know not what you wanted to hear, but that's the bottom line we had to learn: he may think he's hungry but if he has had enough milk and food before bedtime, he will make it if he just gets used to it! We can tell our son has learned how to put himself back to sleep because not only does he wake up sometimes after going to sleep and then we don't hear him anymore, but he's usually in a completely different position and place in bed by morning....and he doesn't crawl.
Hope things go better for you, sleep deprivation is NOT fun!

My daughter would wake up hungry in the night, although she was much older. We would just make sure she had a meal right before bed and then put her down for the night! Start out just letting him cry it out on the 1:00 waking and then still feed him on the 4 if you feel like you need to. Then after you make it over that hump try pushing the 4 to 4:30 then 5. That way you can retrain his body when to expect food. It may take a few weeks but will be worth it. I think sleeping habits are so hard at this age anyway because you don't always know what they want or need when they wake up, and nobody wants to hear their sweet baby cry. Do what you are comfortable with! And remember he is still very young, and not all babies sleep through the night at the same age. All three of mine have been different. Don't get discouraged! I know you are wiped out but it will get better!

are you nursing? Check and make sure you are getting enough from your milk supply. Also maybe check into seeing if you can suppliment his feedings at night before bed with cereal to hold him throught the night. Is he really wet when he wakes up...try get a more SUPER absorbant diaper for night time.
What are his naps like during the day-- he maybe ready to adjust to just 2 or shorter ones.... staying awkae longer during the day.
He's seems to have you figured out and knows he is going to get fed at 1 and 4 am-- he seems like he has a hard time soothing himself back to sleep and his little engine turns on--I know it is HARD but try to let him cry it out a little more... esp. after you suppliment w/ cereal. good luck...

I had the same problem... you need to feed your baby some more food before going to bed. Add a nightly feeding of baby food with oatmeal/cereal and the regular amount of milk/formula you would normally give. My daughter sleeps through the night now... loving my sleep! Been almost a month now since I started this routine. If she wakes up she just wants to be changed, but I notice she stays dry longer and when she wakes up around 4:30-5:30 she is ready for her morning bottle and changing. Falls right back to sleep most times after feeding in am.

Please note: the first week is the hardest. The first few nights she would wake up, but I would put on her baby einstien lullabies and rock her back to sleep. After the third night she started to get the idea that I was not going to give her anything (not even water). As each night passed it got easier and easier and by the second week we had no problems. Be patient. I don't believe in letting your child cry it out, but if you do that is your choice. This worked best for me and I didn't have to let her cry it out. It was simple, a little tiring, but the end result was the best. Your child is NOT eating enough in the daytime, this is what my doctor told me. Up the feedings in the daytime to eliminate night time feedings... viola... he was right! My sitter even told me the same thing... she is waking up because she is hungry... she is not getting enough to eat before she goes to bed. When I finally listened, I began to get my 6-8 hrs of sleep! My daughter will be 7 months tomorrow and this has worked perfectly! Good luck and listen to your instincts!

I have a six month old that sometimes wakes to eat, and sometimes sleeps all night. I feel your pain if you think he's hungry, and I'm sure he eats when he wakes, but I'm with the dr., he doesn't NEED to eat at these times, he probably just WANTS to eat. So, here are some ideas/thoughts. Every child is different, so hopefully someone will have some insight for you that will help. My first thought is - is he overly tired and therefore not sleeping well. A baby of 7 months should be getting 1 hours of sleep a day. Typically around 8hrs at night and 3 hrs from 2-3 naps during the day. You said he goes to sleep at 10PM, mine is dying to go to bed between 7PM & 8PM, so that's why I thought maybe he's just so tired that he's not sleeping well and he needs the comfort of nursing to get back to sleep, which brings me to my second question. Does he have a bedtime routine (or normal nap routine)? If he's used to being nursed to sleep, then he will have problems getting back to sleep if he wakes up. Try to lay him down drowsy, but not sleeping for naps and bedtime. It might be easier to do this during the day when you know you have fed, changed, and loved on him before naps and you can just let him "cry it out" for naps so he learns to do it on his own. When I say "cry it out", I mean, lay him down and if he gets really upset, go pat his back, sing to him, maybe pick him up and rock him a bit to calm him down, and then lay him back down again, but you need to do what you feel comfortable with. Another thought is to make sure he's getting enough to eat during the day. Maybe let him eat every 3 hours instead of every 4. If he eats more frequenly during the day, maybe he won't be so hungry at night, but again, I bet it has more to do with needing comfort than with being really hungry. My final thought is to let your hubby try to comfort him for at least one waking b/c if you are nursing, he will associate food with you and if you are trying to NOT nurse him, it will be hard for him to get it. However, if your hubby tries to comfort him, maybe he'll go back to sleep.

Good luck! Know that this is only a season of your life and it will change before you know it. Know that you are the adult and you know what is best for him, and just like you don't eat in the middle of the night, even if you may want to, you need to make sure he eats for the right reasons and not just for comfort.

I had to fight for practically every hour of sleep with my son (he was my first). Your pediatrician is right...he really isn't hungry and does not need to be fed that much during the night anymore. He is waking up out of habit and is relying on the feeding to lull him back to sleep. Trust me, he will cry like everything when you first stop going in with a bottle or to nurse. The first few times you let him cry he will kick it up a notch and will make you feel absolutely horrible. He will scream like everything because it is the only way he knows how to communicate at this point. It will pull on your "mom strings" and you will feel like caving in because you feel like you're depriving him, you're starving him, etc. If you let him cry, you will not be starving him, you will not be harming him, I promise!!! He is not going to die because you are cutting back on unnecessary feedings. If it makes you feel better, you can go in there and rub his tummy or pat him on the back to let him know you're there and that you haven't abandon him, but then you must leave! Realize, however, that he will probably even get madder after you do this because you're not giving him what he wants -- to be lulled back to sleep with a bottle or nursing. That's okay, just don't give it to him, or you will be stuck getting up twice a night to feed him back to sleep. Trust me, I have been through this very same thing. It was hard, I definitely wished I had a baby that just naturally slept through the night, but I did not. I had to be hard core and I could not rock him to sleep, feed him to sleep, or give him a pacifier. He became addicted to all of it and would not sleep for more than 2 hours at a stretch without those things.

To make it easier...you should try omitting only one of the feedings at first. Get rid of the 1 a.m. -- it will probably only take about 3 days to get rid of that. Give it a week on the new schedule and then work on the 4 a.m.

By the way, I've read some of the other replies and I have to tell you that feeding my son more during the day did absolutely nothing for us. I added cereal to formula and squeezed in an extra feeding before bed time. I tried changing his bed time, etc. The only thing that worked for us was letting him cry it out. It sucked. I hated every minute of it, but it worked because the issue for him was that he eating to go back to sleep had become a habit. Habits can be changed. You can definitely try pumping up the feeding before bedtime, it sounds like it works for some kids...however, it did not hing for mine. JMO and experience. He will not sleep through the night on his own if he isn't doing so already. Good luck -- and may the force be with you!!
He has developed a habit that must be changed.

As hard as it may sound, you need to listen to your pediatrician. Your sun is NOT hungry . . . he just knows if he cries, you'll be there and feed him. At 7 months, he does not need night time feedings. I went through a similar situation with my eldest daughter and it was hard but I let her cry. And believe me, she cried hard and long!! But by the fourth night, she was sleeping through the night. I would suggest you do one timeslot at a time . . . the 1:00 a.m. sounds like a good place to start. It is likely if that you can get him to sleep through that session, he may very well start sleeping through the next one on his own. If you don't like the cold turkey method, you can try a more gradual approach . . . I think they refer to this as "Ferberizing", where you let the baby cry XX minutes the first night, then extend it a few minutes the next night, etc.

Trust me, you are not being cruel and you'll both be happier for the sleep you'll get!

I'm still nursing and my 15 month old doesn't sleep through the night. We co-sleep a bit, so it's easier (I sometimes fall asleep when I'm nursing him). But this notion of all babies sleeping through the night is BS. I've heard from MANY moms who've had more than one child that they all had different sleep habits. One mom I know who has 4 kids said 1 of them didn't sleep through till he was 3 - just funky sleep patterns - and she's an "earth mother" type - very tuned in to the kiddos.

The other moms had great ideas, so put them to use, but don't drive yourself crazy cause your Ped said he shouldn't be waking up.

Something else you can try, if you get him to go to bed earlier, or even if the 10pm thing still happens (my little guy did that, too), do a "dream feed" - where you feed him just before YOU go to sleep, but you don't wake him up all the way. He'll suck as a reflex and get some food in him so you get some more sleep.

Good luck!

I had similar problems with my daughter....I know the insanity that you feel!!!
Try putting him to bed before 10:00pm. This is kind of late for a 7 month old. He may be too tired to sleep really well. I've noticed that with both of mine. If they go to bed too late then they have trouble sleeping.
I put my daughter down at 6:30pm and then would feed her at 10:00 - a bottle with cereal mixed in - to help her get through the night. The cereal made a HUGE difference for us. Our pediatrician said she just needs more calories...the cereal in her 10:00pm bottle does that for her. Now, you are wondering what time she wakes up in the morning....any time between 7:30 and 8:30. Babies need a lot of sleep....
blessings and hang in there...this too shall pass....

has he started eating cereal? my pedi recommended starting on thinned out cereal to help fill his stomach b/f bed.

http://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Sleep-Habits-Happy-Child/dp... 1 - Buy this book.
2 - Become his personal soldier of sleep.
3 - Put your son to bed - not just a nap - but bed by 6:00 p.m. Even if this means he can't see dad until the midnight feeding.
4 - Go to sleep by 9:00 so you have a little sleep before he wakes up for the first feeding.
5 - Go into a dark room and DON'T talk to him - just feed and leave! In fact, if you can get Dad to take this feeding turn it over; if you're nursing then pump and let him feed. (He can change the baby and get everything ready while you pump)
6 - Go back to sleep so you can be ready for the next waking between 2 & 4.
7 - Again - just feed and go back to sleep.
8 - Everyone is up at 6:30 - 7:00 for a better day.

**Note - If you have a really great friend or a sister who can come in and stay on your couch for a night or two LET THEM. You 'prepare the meal' (if you're nursing) for the baby and they take the nightly feedings. They get some quality time with your little one and you get some sleep.

When my second one was six months old I "would have sold both of mine on a street corner for a full nights sleep!" A very dear friend of mine said - "Now will you let us help?" - Both of my kids had an event filled weekend (my [now]6 year old still talks about it) and my husband and I got LOTS of sleep. My son is now 3 and did not suffer because I wasn't the one who fed him for one weekend.

Let go a little and let others help. They're not you - but they can give you a break so you can be the best "you."

Blessings to you and your little one.
Suzi

He will never stop waking up if you continue to feed him throughout the night. Ever. Babies are creatures of habit and routine. At 7 months your child gets enough sustenance throughout the day to carry him over to morning. He will not starve. W/ my daughter when she was 6 months, we knew she didn't need the bottle, but because it was easier to give it to her and she would go right back to sleep, we just kept gving it to her. Realizing the error of our ways, we stopped and by 7 months she was sleeping through the night. The only time now that we do give a bottle is if it is w/in an hour or so of when we normally get up for the day. Your son will get it if you quit giving him the bottle. Good luck!

Give your child baby cereal during the last feeding ie right before you lay the child's head on the pillow. Yep, I agree with your doctor. As long as the child is clean/fed/safe, let the child cry.

Look, if he's hungry -- he's hungry. Crying it out is only going to make him more hungry imo. He needs to eat to go back to sleep. If you're nursing, I highly suggest cosleeping. It was a life saver for us. He could be going through a growth spurt so it's not surprising that he's waking. He could also be teething and this could be aggravating it as well.

Regarding sleeping through the night, check out the book No Cry Sleep Solution. It discusses this and shows data from several sleep studies. Sleeping through the night is only aobut 6 hrs and most, at this age, aren't quite there yet. So from that standpoint, your baby's completely normal.

The other thing you should look at is his sleep schedule. 10 is pretty late. Have you tried to slowly bring it a bit earlier? We found that that made a huge difference in our son's sleep. He was over tired when he went to bed and therefore wasn't sleeping very well.

Good luck!

He wants to eat because you have trained him to eat during the night. By feeding him when he cries, he thinks it is time to eat.

If you let him cry through the night for one week, you will no longer have a problem. Just for one week. That is all it will take to train him to sleep through the night. I know it is hard to listen to your baby cry, but you are training him on more then one level.

You are training him that he is not in charge...when he cries, you do not come running.

You are training him to put himself back to sleep...this one is huge. YOu are training him to soothe himself.

You are training him that there are appropriate times to eat and it isn't every single time he thinks he is hungry.

You are training him to self entertain...he will learn to wake up, play a little, and put himself back to sleep.

So this isn't just about feeding your baby because he is hungry. It is about training him to do the right thing because it is the right thing. You need to sleep, and your not sleeping affects every single aspect of your life, including your marriage. Make a pact with yourself to let him cry for one week.

The way it works: turn off your baby monitor. Are you just down the hall? You will hear him if he really needs you. Leave doors open if you must. But you do not need to be listening and agonizing with every whine.

If he cries (seriously cries...not cries/plays/talks) for more then twenty minutes, do go in and pat him on the back. Do NOT pick him up. Talk to him, soothe him, pat him, and LEAVE him back in his bed. This will make him angry, and his cry will be a bit more stimulated after you've left. But you are training him again. You are training him, "I am here, I love you, but you must sleep now. You do not have to be scared because here I am. You are safe."

Give it one week. Be strong. You will both prosper from it.

VickiS

I agree with the pediatrician and other moms--you have to let him cry. A 7 month old can sleep through the night without eating. He is not hungry, but has you well trained to come for his comfort! I would pick a night when you can sleep in the next day if needed, and just let him cry. You can go in and rub his back or give hugs for comfort, but DO NOT PICK HIM UP! Stay a few minutes and leave. This way he'll know you are there and he is safe but that you are not going to let him get up in the middle of the night. You may have to go in several times the first night, and don't plan on getting much sleep. He will probably get really mad and start screaming after awhile, but DON'T GIVE IN, no matter what. That will only teach him to throw a temper tantrum to get what he wants. He will finally give in to exhaustion and sleep. After a couple nights of this, your son will be sleeping through the night.

I know this may sound harsh, but sometimes as parents we have to stand firm on certain things for the good of the child and for yourself. If you let your baby control you on this, you're in for a rough road in the coming toddler and preschool years.