Why is he waking?

[camsma]

Hi there,

I am hoping for a bit of advice about my 7.5monthold bubs night time waking. From when he was about 4 months to about 6 and a half months my little boy slept 12 hours a night and rarely woke through the night at all. For the past 3 or 4 weeks he has started to wake up sometimes many times a night and Im not sure why.
His bedtime is usually at about 7-7.30 and he would have gone right through to 7am most nights. Now he has started waking up at 8pm, 9pm etc. As he is waking so early I know he can;t be hungry as he has a bottle right before bedtime and he eats really well through the day.
There hasn;t been any real change in his routine, diet etc so I am at a loss as to why he might be doing this.
He wakes up crying and almost screaming out and sounds distressed. Mostly, as soon as I pick him up and comfort him he stops crying and will settle off to sleep again with either just a hug and cuddle or a drink of water. Sometimes that might be it for the night but other times he will wake up two or three more times doing the same thing.

I weaned him about a month ago, but Im not sure this could be the reason as he has always had a bottle for bedtime and it had never happened before.

Do babies have nightmares?
Could he be afraid of the dark or something? Not sure about this as he has never needed a nightlight before, but maybe he is more aware of things now as he gets older??

I would really appreciate any advice anyone can offer:fingerscrossed:

[AM]

Could he be having pain from teeth moving around?
I know my 8 month old is teething like mad at the moment, and he wakes up and practices crawling around the bed too!
Babies do have bad dreams, my toddler used to get them occasionally when he was a baby.
Sometimes when they are having a growth spurt they WILL wake hungry, there are heaps of options to choose from, I don't really wonder why now, just latch him on to the boob, and get him back to sleep pronto!

[nick]

I have been having almost exactly the same problem with my 7.5 month old. I have been doing some reading and it seems that it might be hunger related in my case. I have been feeding him twice during the night (not voluntarily!), and maybe his nightfeeding is interfering with his solid intake. Perhaps now you have switched to bottles your baby is getting more milk than he needs and is not taking in enough solids. Apparently by this age they only need three milk feeds totalling about 600ml. And no milk feed at lunch time when they have their protein meal as milk intereferes with protein and iron uptake.
So there you go. But i really have no idea. I hope both our babies start sleeping more soon!

[meme]

it's pretty common i think for babies to have a period of sleeping through and then begin waking again. 2 of mine did it and this last one just never had the sleeping through bit:rolleyes: .
my theory is that is sorta seems to coincide with developemental milestones like learning how to crawl and noticing that mum is a seperate person, perhaps all these new things do affect their dreams and lead to more waking :confused: . i don't really know. sorry:o

from what i've read milk is still the main food until they are one and it sounds like bubs is happy in that department and has a familiar pattern of events to the day which all seems to help. i just try to ride out these phases and reassure myself that it does pass and when it does i will probably wonder where the time went....

[Miss_Vicki]

My 7month old has been wakin up for a feed at 3am most nites, an not really sleeping in the day.
I was told combined with the teething alot of bubs around this age decied they dont like sleep , mabie our bubs are been like that? or just wantin some mummy cuddles (even thou would be tiring us out )

I think in my situation could be hunger , but she wont eat solids :(

Nik was doin this when she first went in her cot (before she was in a basanet or with Mum )
the way i stoped the wakin an cryin for me was to keep a little toy in there . Always the same one to so she can recoize the smell an feel , That stoped the wakin up an screaming part but havent stoped wakin for a feed yet.

Another thought , is it possible to get your partner to go in an settle them?

[jkate]

There is something about this age where they do start to wake more, and may become more clingy. Do you use the dummy, maybe a touch of bonjela (or something similar to help him resettle), if he is still wraped make sure you wraped back up so he feels secure, we have even started putting a cd on for our DS2. In terms of the bottle, I found a few weeks ago that when I cut out his night bottle he sleeps better during the night. Have a look at the controlled crying section and the non controlled crying section (I cant remember what it is called) there maybe something in either of these that will help. It is hard to find the perfect solution and just when you think things may be getting better, a tooth may come through and give you a bad night :banghead: .

At this age there is so much happening, teeth, they are learning to crawl/walk, they are learning how to get mums attention, they are taking in more of thier suroudings. I do believe babies can dream and just like us have nightmares.

HTH, the hardest thing is, is that sometimes you just dont know what is wrong...welcome to Motherhood :D

[MrsMiggins]

My DD slept through from about 6 weeks to about 6 months and then, I'm afraid to say, that was the end of our blissful nights!!

She has woken virtually every night since. The only exceptions being those nights where she just refused to go to sleep until 10 or 11 pm.

I do think, as others have mentioned, that it has a lot to do with their development. From around 6 months, they definitely become much more "switched-on" to the world and it must be quite overwhleming! I have noticed when DD is learning something major, the sleepless nights increase and it becomes a lot more difficult to resettle her.

ETA: With regard to the nightlight, I don't think it would necessarily matter. My DD has always slept with the lamp on in her room & she still wakes, regardless of whether it's on or not. (If we are away somewhere, she doesn't have a light on) I haven't noticed any real difference in how upset she is when she wakes during the night either.