pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

Yes me and the baby again ..

He started sleeping right through at about 2 - 2 1/2 months, we were the luckiest parents alive .. now at 7 months .. nearly 8 I've been up 7 times in the night to see to him.

I've tried leaving him to cry for 10 minutes, I've tried feeding him, I've tried changing, trying bargaining but he's not having it ...

Any suggestions on a good night sleep ?

FlightMan

If he's clean and not hungry, leave him.

He cries, you come running. To a baby it's the best game in the world. Close the door and ignore him.

Easier said than done though

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

Its the way the cries build though .. it says on the "helpful" site to not leave him for more than 10 minutes ..

At this age is it ok to just leave him completely and not go to his calls, he still feeds a few times in the night ..

dynamix

iTrader: (3)

Ignore him or if you must go check don't pick him up - picking up will just re-inforce the bad habit.

Will take 3 or 4 nights and it will be sorted - leave him to cry and let him know who is boss.

FlightMan

The helpful site isn't getting up 8 times a night is it?

Leave him the problem will be gone in a week.

Neanderthal

iTrader: (6)

Is he teething mate?
Ours (12 weeks old today) goes to bed at 7-7:30, sleeps till about 3am then feeds and sleeps till 7ish. It has made such a difference to our lives to have some sort of decent nights sleep.
Those first 6 weeks, to put it plainly, were absolute hell.
My sister says this is the calm before the teething storm at around 6 months....

Rob Day

iTrader: (78)

As above: peep in to see if hes ok without him seeing you if you feel the need, but dont molly cuddle him or he will play you for the fool. We had simular with both ours, but did i said above and it was sorted within a week.

If concerned contact your GP, give him the once over and if alls ok. Leave him to cry mate, you got to be cruel to be kind.

Another options is a Projection mobile and a rapid 1 hour battries & battery charger. Keeps the occupied rather than bleeting.

Rob

molko

"leave him"...as mention by lots above, is the best advice. Going in and attending to him is just encouraging to cry more.

We have had this problem for the last 6months as my missus always went to see our daughter when she cried in the middle of the night - end's up with no-one getting any proper sleep !....

Our strategy now is whenever our daughter is crying/tantrumming/screaming etc....just leave her, dont even make eye contact now.

Klaatu

Agreed. Websites don't help with parenting. But...

All depends (I have not read the thread) on the sort of crying. Is it a gut wrenching, screaming type crying or just a "I got wind" type?

My mum had the same with me. It was a gut wrenching scream, and then she had had enough, threw me in my cot and then overnight the abscess in my ear burst. I was a lot happier after that.

(To me it's all the same as I naturally dislike rats)

moneys

iTrader: (5)

someone has already said it but i reckon as well that at that age it will be teething, is he constantly chewing on everything and has red cheeks and slobbering a lot?

Trout

iTrader: (1)

I would go with Dynamix's advice.

With our first we used to pander to his every bloody cry and it was a nightmare for the first year. He would not go to sleep on his own because we had created that habit.

Second baby, moved into his own room at 8 weeks - was put down and left. Now at 20 months he is the best sleeper and has been since he had his own room. To go to sleep he wants to be left in his cot. Sure when he was younger he would wake once or twice to feed, but even then once he had finished he wanted to be back into his cot to go to sleep.

Another thing that can help can be a musical toy or a sleeping CD. Use this regularly and this will become a trigger that it is sleep time. With out oldest we got a baby sleep hypnosis thing off the web. If nothing else it is very soothing for him.

With the youngest we got a musical night light that projects colourful stars onto the ceiling. Put him in his cot, turn it on and he is asleep in minutes.

Create sleeping routines like this as it is the best way.

Good luck,

Trout

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

All sounds like good advice .. but as you know at 3am its a different matter ..

How do I know if hes hungry/thirsty ? too hot? too cold?

He's not teething at the moment, he's just finished his two bottom teeth ..

I'm all for leaving him, but I don't want to do any harm or miss something ..

JDM_Stig

iTrader: (3)

All the above advise is spot on but can you keep him awake more before bed time at all too?
start to wake him if need be in the early evening or late afternoon so he is more tired.

Jamie

Calpol

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

Its knowing hes ok though

FlightMan

You're concerned he's OK. Understandable.

So, take him to the GP, get a medical opinion. When the GP confirm's he's OK, then let him cry.

We've all been there Pimmo. Listen to experience.

Jamie

Calpol Night

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

GP saw him the other day, he had a cold..

I'm not questioning you and am grateful, the problem is I need to be sure in my own head, cause I'd never forgive myself if he got ill because I wanted him to sleep more..

madscoob

iTrader: (3)

odds on he is now hungry . here is the advice given to us by a old midwife
1/2 a farleys rusk in with last feed . put in 2drops of wind drops and then wisk in blender then poor through tea strainer put in bottle and let em hav it no wind and good nights sleep for sure worked for us with all 3 kids, the wind drops are called dentinox

hodgy0_2

babies who are seriously ill rarely cry btw

Trout

iTrader: (1)

You can also get baby milk that is much richer specifically for nighttime feed. At 7 months he should be starting to eat solids anyway - so pureed banana before bedtime is good as it is filling and should last a good 4-5 hours.

It could simply be a growth spurt and he has not got enough food.

And you must get him into a sleeping routine. His routine at the moment is that 'I cry, I get attention/cuddles'. From the baby's perspective that is great!

Chip

Do you have a gas hob in the kitchen??

Chip

SetoN

Ok if a baby is crying at 3am because its hungry then your not really going to get a spoon out and start feeding it, not at 3am in the morning. At the same time, its not going to tell you its hungry either. Best thing to do is to try giving it its tea a bit later than normal and see if that makes a difference to what time it wakes up. If its still 3am than its more than likely not be hungry.

Even though its winter, make sure you have thick curtains to keep out street lights etc.

When the baby wakes up, if its not going back to sleep, go in, dont make eye contact and dont say anything. Place the baby back in the middle of the cot, tuck it in and leave. If you keep up this process everytime it screams then it will realise there is no reward for its behaviour. On a good nights sleep make sure you do reward it by making a fuss of him/her in the morning.

I know I refered to your son/daughter as 'it' quite alot, but I cant remember what sex you said 'it' was

SetoN

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

Every night he has his solids, a bath, some milk and is put down awake at around the same time. It worked for months.

I'm not cooking him ..

Boy lol ..

I have been doing that with 10 minutes gap between checking and checking without him knowing about it, after 30 minutes of crying, I really have no choice but to pick him up and after a minute of cuddling, he's calm. Soon as hes put back down he starts again.. after 2 -3 minutes he will fall asleep, but wakes up again after about 20 and its starts over ..

I had two hours sleep last night ... and I'm in work..

sssssteeeee

hi this is highly iregular lol. my boy is now 22 months. he is powered via nuclear kinetic energy ! i fing that keep him awake through the day,wear him out lol. a good warm bottle of milk say an 8 should see him rite, if hes waking up could be hunger - nappy- the cot mab and the sheets.also i found that a soft night light with a bit of quite music in the background does it. if this fails just hand the keys to yr baby prob wants ago of the car! 6000 rpm and no more ! lol.hang in there they can be trying little things babys,but its a mere phase thats all. hope things get better soon. ps if u like yr car clean check out the site www.cleanyourcar.com is superb for getting yr car looking like perfection. ;0)

pimmo2000

iTrader: (6)

All the English nuts on here will be having palpitations from this .. thanks for the reply.

MMT WRX

Hey Pimmo

My Daughters baby is about the same age as yours. He hardly ever cries and has a night time routine tea, milk, bath, milk, put in his cot awake and is usually asleep in 10 minutes. He normally sleeps through till' about 7.30-8.30am. He's stopped at our house a couple of times recently and its just the same routine here and its great: he wakes in the morning all smiles sometimes a bit grumpy for his milk which he glugs down in about a minute.

However, the last week or so he has been teething, his two top teeth are just starting to show. They appear to be coming through the front of the gum rather than the bottom, which is why we didn't notice them at first, and they look bloody massive. As a result he has been crying through the day sometimes, which is unusual for him, and has been waking a lot during the night.

My daughters boyfriend is a Doctor so she doesn't have the worry he maybe ill.

She uses Baby Bonjela and some powder stuff* in paper satchets (look like the old Beechams powders) which I can find the name of if you want.

The other thing she says: If he wakes up don't talk to him or look him in the eyes. Sometimes he just needs a cuddle and rocking for 5 mins and put him back in his cot.

Good luck

Edit to add *the powders are called: Ashton and Parsons infant powders for teething with a smile

boab74

iTrader: (1)

Any tips for older kids, my daughter is almost 3 and still doesnt sleep all night.
I would love to give you advice pimmo but everything i have tried over the years has been added already, Good Luck

New to the forums so hey all.

Boab