7 month old and waking at night

[murpheroni]

My 7 month old still wakes 2 or 3 times a night.  We followed the shush-pat method about 2 months ago and that helped because before that my son was waking up every hour!  We did the pick-up/put-down as well and that used to work (but not as effectively as the shush-pat).  The problem now is that we can't do the pick up/put down anymore since he stops crying as soon as I enter his room.  It seems like he wants me to sit with him for a while until he falls back to sleep.  I don't know what to do.  He starts crying again the minute I leave his room but usually stops as soon as I enter.  I don't even have to pick him up, which is why I'm stuck and feel like I can't use pu/pd.  I work outside the home in the mornings, so it's important that we get help him to stop waking up and needing me as soon as possible!  Any suggestions?  Thanks!

[Jaime]

hi, can you post a typical day routine for us, including naps?  that might help a bit.

also... this crying at night... is it suddenly a loud ear-piercing screech??

[murpheroni]

A typical day would look like this:
Wakes between 5 and 6 (although he is supposed to wake at six for his first feed).
Goes to my mom's house while I go to work.  While he is there, he eats a bit of solids at 7:30 and naps from 8-9ish.  Plays from 9-10.  He has a bottle of breast milk (6 oz) at 10 am.  Plays from 10-11:15.  Has a bit of solids around 11:15.  Naps from 11:30-1pm.  I pick him up around 2 and I breastfeed him then.  Back at our house he naps from 3-4ish.  We play for a while and then I feed him dinner.  The kid is hungry!  He loves his food!  We start his bedtime routine around 5:30 or 6.  We put on his pajamas (sometimes we give him a bath first), read a story, listen to some quiet music and then nurse.  He really likes nursing right before he goes to bed but he seems to know that he isn't going to be fed in the middle of the night.  I haven't fed him during the night is almost two months.  I put him in his crib when he is almost asleep and he drifts right off.  I used to nurse him earlier in our routine and it was a battle to get him to go to sleep.  I'm not sure if the nursing is causing the problem, but he was very difficult to settle before.  He is asleep in his crib around 7 pm, give or take 15 minutes in either direction.  He sleeps very well until 9:30 when we give him the dream feed.  We used to feed him at 10 pm but then pediatrician said we could slowly eliminate the dream feed now so we are gradually moving it closer to his last nursing of the night before we drop it completely.  After the dream feed he is pretty quiet until around 2 am and then it starts.  Between 2 and 5 am (when I have to get up for work), he wakes at least 2 times, but often a lot more.  Last night it was 5 times between 3 and 4:15.  It can be a bit different every night, but there is usually a waking around 2 and usually one around 4 and many times a few more in between.  It can be very difficult to get him back to sleep during the 4 am waking, but for the others, I usually just have to go into his room and put my hand on his back.  That's not a big deal, but we were at this same point 2 months ago and I'm wondering why we're not making any more progress.  Also, doing this once a night is fine but on nights when he wakes 5 times in an hour period (like last night), I might as well just get up at 3 am and get ready for work!  We would really appreciate some advice!  He has been a challenging baby, but it is getting easier little by little.  Thanks for your help!

[murpheroni]

oh, sorry.  I forgot to mention that it is not a loud, ear-piercing cry.  It starts as a whimper and then builds.

[Jaime]

hi, can you have a look at this:

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=52878.0

i'm thinking a combination of #2, #5, & #6

if you can extend his first nap to 1.5 hrs i think that will help, and then moving his afternoon nap to 12 or 1 for 2 hours.  also, i think he might be eating his solids too close to naptime, and his digestion may be causing some sleep disturbances. 

has he started to do anything new lately?  if not, he may be about to, and that's causing unsettling.

here's a start.   

[murpheroni]

Thanks for the advice.  I did take a look at the page you suggested and I think you may be right about the naptimes and feeding solids being too close together.  I experimented a bit this past weekend and have seen some changes.  He has had 2 longer naps rather than 3 shorter ones for 3 days now.  I also moved the two naptimes to a bit later.  Now he has solids around 7:15 and naps at 8:30-10.  He eats again around 11:30 and naps from 1:30-3 or 3:30.  The length of that second nap is key.  If he wakes up earlier than 3:00, he can't make it until his bedtime of 7:00 without getting really cranky.  Over the past 3 nights he slept through without waking on one night and he only woke once on the other two nights.  This seems like progress, doesn't it?  I'll let you know how it goes.  Thanks!