7 month old not sleeping - HELP PLEASE!

[channy]

I don't know what to do. Due to reflux and wind trouble at 7 months he has never slept well and never slept through the night. We are still wrapping him due to his reflux and having to raise his cot slightly. He can get out of the wrap if he wants to. It just settles him initially. Last night about 2am we heard him wake and talk to himself. Then about 3am he started crying and DH went in to check on him and he was completely unwrapped standing up at the end of the cot leaning over playing with the pedastal fan!! He had dragged it over to the cot and so we discovered it was close enough for him to reach! He was ok and was unhurt just wide awake. We rewrapped him and put him in bed with us but it took 30-60min to resettle him and then he was awake for the day at 6.30 after having gone to bed at 8.45pm! His day time sleeps are not too bad. He will have 2 sleeps a day of between 1hr and 2 1/2hrs. Obviously we are going to put the cot down now. As for wrapping I don't know whether to wrap him just to get him to settle and then if he wakes just rewrap him. Or whether to have a few sleepness nights trying to get him to sleep unwrapped. Any suggestions? How do I get him to settle without being wrapped? I have heard of grobags but his issue is not the body being wrapped it is his arms being out. Arms out = playtime. Normally at night he will wake a few times for his dummy back or because he has wind. But this is the first time he has woken just to have a play and then taken awhile to resettle. Thanks.

[Ky]

Channy ...

I hate to say this, but until this new skill becomes old hat, you maybe having very broken sleeps for a while!

When a baby learns to do something ... standing in their cot is a great example, they practice and practice at every chance they get! This will continue until they have started learning something else - it will feel like you have a different baby overnight!

Can he get back down by himself? This is really scary for little ones - the feeling of not having control when they bump back down onto their bottoms once they have been standing for a while ... you may find that the crying is actually a cry for help. This will keep going on until he is either distracted with a new skill or figures out how to sit down again all by himself.

In a few weeks time, you won't even have a clue of the number of times he stands up and then settles himself back to sleep each night ... he will be so good at doing it that he won't need to call out and it will become such normal behaviour that you may not even be disturbed by his chatting to himself while he does it!

It sounds like you have a lovely bright little boy who is learning new skills very quickly ... it may be exasperating, but be proud of him!