My 7 month old has turned into a monster at night. He will fall asleep in my arms and he will either wake as soon as I put him down or an hour or two later screaming his head off. We have tried to let him cry himself back to sleep, but it generally just escalates. I will go in to check on him and he is sitting in the middle of his crib screaming and shaking. When I pick him up he is usually cold and clammy. Sometimes it takes me awhile to calm him back down, while other times he collapses on me and goes right to sleep. The amount of times he wakes in a single night can vary from once to as many as 6. I have had him on the same schedule for months now. He is usually good at taking naps atleast taking one a day. I put him down the same way I do for bedtime. Sometimes he even opens his eyes as I lay him down but then he just rolls over and he;s out. Why can't he do this at night??? My husband thinks he' spoiled.
He may need more sleep durning the day. When my daughter was that age, she slept 10-11 hours at night and 2 naps a day for 1 - 1 1/2 hours each. I now when she is overtired it is impossible to get her to sleep at night and she dosen't sleep soundly. My daughter is also the same way about rolling over into her blanket and going right to sleep, unless she is really tired (ex: missed a nap) and then it is a battle. GOod Luck!
Several things come to mind, so I'll just throw them all out there...
One is daytime napping. He should be taking 2 naps during the day. The morning nap could be as soon as just a couple hours after waking in the morning. For both of mine, the two naps started out about 2 hours each, then gradually the morning nap got shorter until it was gone, and we transitioned to one 2- or 3-hr afternoon nap. Some kids can drop the morning nap after their first birthday, but most I know didn't drop it until closer to 18 months.
You might find some tips from Kim West, a child sleep expert, at http://sleeplady.com/. Her book is called "Good Night, Sleep Tight"
The other things I think of are always teething and ear infections. Symptoms are similar, but ear infections definitely cause major sleep disturbances.
My son did the same thing to some extent and I talked his doctor about it and she thought it was night terrors. I don't know if it is the same thing with your son but it is something to think about. Hope everything works out =)
We went through the same thing so I feel your pain. I don't know about you but I actually was more tired than when she was waking up throughout the night right after birth!
Our little girl is 9 1/2 months old and she began waking up during the night at around 7 months when she began having separation anxiety during daytime hours. It only took a few weeks for her to get past the separation anxiety during the day but somehow she continued to wake up at night - sometimes as few as once and sometimes as many as 5-6 times. I would go into her room and rock her back to sleep but many times, she would wake back up when I'd put her in the crib. On occasion, I'd bring her back to bed with me and she'd sleep through the rest of the night - no problem. However, I don't recommend starting that up because it probably prolonged the problem.
The good news is that for the past week, she has not woken up at all until morning. I think we are finally past the phase and I didn't even have to make her cry it out. The only thing we changed about our routine is that I stopped letting her nap after 4PM. She didn't always do that but on occasion, she'd take a 30 minute cat nap and I think that was partly responsible for her waking up in the night.
So I'm hopeful that this is a temporary phase for you like it was for us. My sister in law had the same problem with her daughter and it ran its course starting at 6 months and by 9 months, she was back to sleeping through the night - although, they did have to resort to the cry it out method unfortunately.
Good luck!
Have you discussed this with his doctor? I have suffered from separation anxiety since I was a child and I still don't know why my reactions were so strong, even then. It is something that I still experience to varying degrees, depending on the event or action. I am a new mother to a now three-month-old and I had a very hard time with separation anxiety right after the delivery (I was not depressed). If available, I hope that you can provide me with an update on your child's progress. It is not something I wish for anyone. Good luck!
First off, he's not spoiled. How silly! He's too young to be spoiled. My only advice is to keep putting him to bed when he's just falling asleep, not totally out. That way he can practice putting himself to sleep and eventually do so on his own.
Have you tried ambient noise like music or a small fan? Some babies sleep better with a little background noise.
Have patience! He'll grow out of this before you know it- I promise!!
I found a book that helped me some, "The No Cry Sleep Solution". I didn't follow it exactly, but did follow it for the most part and then tweeked it where it would work better for our family. Unfortunately, at 7 months you really can't determine yet if it's a need or a want when he wakes up. So most people will say err on the side of caution and consider it a need. Hope you are able to get some relief soon.
