7 Month Old Is Starting to Have MORE Sleep Problems!

You poor thing...and I hate to tell you this, but if you leave the all-you-can-eat-boobie-buffet open all night, she's going to take advantage :) I couldn't do CIO either..until my darling daughter was 13 months old and still waking 5 times a night to nurse. It broke my heart, but something had to give.. I'm old.. and lack of sleep was really making me crazy. Two nights of some pretty horrendous crying fits and then smooth sailing from then on. The trick is to be consistent. Don't let her CIO for an hour only to give in.. because these babies are smart, she'll figure you out in a heartbeat and cry the next night for 2 hours, until you give in. Co-sleeping will make CIO really hard to do...maybe trade places with the hubs.. then the buffet would be hard to get to :) Good luck!

Let me preface this by saying that I am fervently against crying it out. I believe that your daughter is learning everything about trust and security right now and learns that through your responses to her NEEDS. This is not a power struggle, nor is it an attempt to manipulate. She is an infant. She needs security and the knowledge that the adults in her life will keep her safe.

So, if you choose NOT to cry it out, then you and your husband need to be on the same page. Different parenting styles will leave everyone involved frustrated. Explain to him that crying in his arms is not the same as crying alone. A baby left to cry alone will release stress hormones that a baby crying in the arms of a loved one will not.. So, at the very least, perhaps he could hold her when she's crying till she falls asleep. Since you have an older child that he needs to be with, might a baby carrier help him. He can wear the baby while spending time with the 3 year old. Chances are your baby will fall asleep on dad at some point and can then be transferred to bed.

You should be very proud for nursing your baby on demand. She is too young to be night weaned. She is nursing for comfort of course, but perhaps also for hunger. I am also a big proponent of co-sleeping. That is how it has been done for a long time and what more wonderful thing could you do for your baby than be there for her in a big loving group!

And, I believe parenting is a 24 hour affair, as do you since you are still night nursing. There are parents who seem to believe that parenting ceases at night.

It makes sense that your daughter is struggling with sleeping right now after her night of crying it out. Babies are very instinctive beings. She's had an experience where she not only couldn't find mama, she was left alone to cry it out...so naturally she is going to make damn well sure that she knows where mama and the food source is at all times.

You need to do what is right for you and your family. Studies have shown that babies who are "dependent" on mom (ie extended breastfeeding, co sleeping) are much more independent individuals in the long run. They are secure and confident, because that is how they were raised.

I wish you luck, mama!

I'm all for allowing children to sleep in their own beds, in their own rooms. In my daycare, the children who are allowed this consistently sleep longer & better. The parents are happier, have more time together.....

Placing your child in her own bed, in her own room does NOT make you a "bad" Mom. Not allowing your child to use your breast as a pacifier does NOT make you a "bad" Mom. (& again with my daycare Moms, once the breast-fed baby is removed from Mom's bed....the sleeping begins.) Allowing your child to learn how to self-soothe herself to sleep is teaching her an all-important life skill.....which is how we should teach our children. Life skills are what makes a functioning adult achieve success. Removing your child from your breast will not impede her adult functionality!

i would recommend by not letting her nurse all long- this actually contributes to her waking up constantly to eat- my son was nursed (and a NICU baby in very critical condition) by 5 months we moved him out of the basinett in our room to his crib in his room (we started with nap times) and was gettig up 1 time at night to nurse.

It's ok to let them cry it out for little bit- this dosen't make you a bad mom- on the other hand if youo jump everytime that they start crying, they learn very quickly thats all they have to do to get what the want (not neccessarily need)

Hope this helps :)

Cosleeping is comforting for babies for the first 5 or 6 months. After that, your close presence becomes a distraction. The smell of you wakes her up to nurse more often than necessary -- and your quick reaction of picking her up and nursing her at the slightest stirring....well, that is training her to wake up more and more.

You will likely find that the only solution is to move her into her own room -- into a real crib -- and get ready for some crying. I have 3 kids and this has been the case with each one of them. Your baby's personality will determine how bad the crying phase is -- but you must handle it correctly.

I strongly suggest you consult a couple of books: "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weissbluth.........and "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problem" by Richard Ferber. Crying will not destroy her self esteem or doom her to a life of misery! Best of luck.

With both of our boys, we did the CIO method because we were at our wit's end. It took a few days for one, almost a week for the other, and honestly, we haven't had any sleep problems since then (unless they are sick).

Once you start the CIO method, stick with it for 5 nights. After that, either she'll go to sleep very well or you'll need to try another method. Either way, good luck. It does get better!

my 2 yr old does similar i started making him and daddy only go to bed he sleeps in our room due to lack of room. we are moving soon. Daddy can bark and tell him to lay down works like a charm as long as Im not in the room. I make sure he has a tippy and a blankie in case he wakes up. Sometimes he will drink and go back to sleep sometimes its just the blankie and if both don't work I make daddy bark again " lay down" Its starting to work. but mine is older and I don't know if this will help at that age.

The natural, instinctive state for a human child is next to their parents. In fact, most of the world co-sleeps with their children (often due to financial necessity). In the USA, our wealth allows us to have separate sleeping spaces for our children, however this goes against nature's design.

This is how I have always transitioned my children without CIO:

I co-sleep in my bed with my child and hubby until nursing starts to span out to about 3 hrs at night(about 12 months of age for my kids). Then, I bring the crib into our bedroom and set it up next to our bed, take the side off and lash it to our bed. Then I start nursing my son in our bed until he is asleep, then moving him into the crib. Initially he may only sleep there an hour or so, and then he will come back into our bed. But slowly, he will start to sleep longer stretched in his crib. He is now 18 months and I can nurse him in bed till he is sleepy, but not fully asleep. I can put him in his crib and he snuggles down and is dead to the world, no cries at all. He sleeps about 3 hrs at a time now and I can put him back after nursing, but can reach out and rub his back if needed.

If he follows his sister in stages (and so far, he is), he will be in his own room by the time he is 3. It is a gradual, and yes, slow, way to make your child a secure and comfortable sleeper. They know mom and dad are there and they do not have bad associations with sleeping.

This is from Dr. Sears, who championed Attachment Parenting and is a huge advocate of long term breastfeeding:

LETTING BABY "CRY-IT-OUT" YES, NO!

If only my baby could talk instead of cry I would know what she wants," said Janet, a new mother of a fussy baby. "Your baby can talk," we advised. "The key is for you to learn how to listen. When you learn the special language of your baby's cry, you will be able to respond sensitively. Here are some listening tips that will help you discover what your baby is trying to say when he cries.

The cry is not just a sound; it's a signal – designed for the survival of the baby and development of the parents. By not responding to the cry, babies and parents lose. Here's why. In the early months of life, babies cannot verbalize their needs. To fill in the gap until the child is able to "speak our language," babies have a unique language called "crying." Baby senses a need, such as hunger for food or the need to be comforted when upset, and this need triggers a sound we call a cry. Baby does not ponder in his little mind, "It's 3:00 a.m. and I think I'll wake up mommy for a little snack." No! That faulty reasoning is placing an adult interpretation on a tiny infant. Also, babies do not have the mental acuity to figure out why a parent would respond to their cries at three in the afternoon, but not at three in the morning. The newborn who cries is saying: "I need something; something is not right here. Please make it right."

At the top of the list of unhelpful advice – one that every new parent is bound to hear – is "Let your baby cry-it-out." To see how unwise and unhelpful is this advice, let's analyze each word in this mother-baby connection- interfering phrase.

"Let your baby." Some third-party advisor who has no biological connection to your baby, no knowledge or investment in your baby, and isn't even there at 3:00 a.m. when your baby cries, has the nerve to pontificate to you how to respond to your baby's cries.

The cry is a marvelous design. Consider what might happen if the infant didn't cry. He's hungry, but doesn't awaken ("He sleeps through the night," brags the parent of a sleep-trained baby). He hurts, but doesn't let anyone know. The result of this lack of communication is known, ultimately, as "failure to thrive." "Thriving" means not only getting bigger, but growing to your full potential emotionally, physically, and intellectually.

"Cry…" Not only is the cry a wonderful design for babies; it is a useful divine design for parents, especially the mother. When a mother hears her baby cry, the blood flow to her breasts increases, accompanied by the biological urge to "pick up and nurse" her baby. ("Nurse" means comforting, not just breastfeeding.) As an added biological perk, the maternal hormones released when baby nurses relax the mother, so she gives a less tense and more nurturing response to her infant's needs. These biological changes – part of the design of the mother-baby communication network – explain why it's easy for someone else to advise you to let your baby cry, but difficult for you to do. That counterproductive advice is not biologically correct.

"It…" Consider what exactly is the "it" in "cry-it-out": an annoying habit? Unlikely, since babies don't enjoy crying. And, contrary to popular thought, crying is not "good for baby's lungs." That belief is not physiologically correct. The "it" is an emotional or physical need. Something is not right and the only way baby has of telling us this is to cry, pleading with us to make it right. Early on, consider baby's cry as signaling a need – communication rather than manipulation. "

K., Cape Cod Breastfeeding Moms, MyMammasMilk.com