Can't get 7 month old to sleep through the night!

[Sidney's mom]

Someone please help!?!?!?  I have a 7 month old daughter who really just doesn't like to sleep.  I have no problem getting her to sleep, but on the norm, she'll only sleep about an hour before waking.  Through the day I can go in and give her her soother and she'll go right back to sleep, but during the night, nothing seems to work.  We have tried everything from sleeping with her, rocking her, feeding her, to letting her cry all night long (and everything in between), but she just won't sleep.  We're getting very discouraged and need some help!!  We're willing to try anything at this point!

[CharlotteS]

First of all, huge hugs to you!  It'll get better!  There are wonderful people on this board who will help you through this (even if I can't)!

At this point, I would say that you've given your lo so many different ways to fall asleep (in your desperation) that she's not sure how to do it.  So, she wants to sleep, but doesn't know how.  But I would need some more information.  Do you have a regular sleep-time ritual now?  What is it?
 
How does she sleep during the day?  Is it the same problem during the day as it is at night?  Have you given her any props?  Meaning, have you given her anything to help her sleep? If so, have you taken it away recently?  (Maybe the soother is a prop since you can go in during the day and give it back to her.) 

Was she ever able to sleep on her own without waking every hour?What is her daily routine?  Do you think she's going through a growth spurt?  Have you recently started solids?  Or a new food?

Also, I would check to make sure that your lo doesn't have reflux.  Reflux babies usually wake up from 30 min. to an hour from when they first went to sleep.   Is she spitting up quite a bit?  If you suspect it's reflux you can raise the side of the crib she sleeps on (UNDER the matress), or there are special pillows that you can buy to help out too.

So sorry for all the questions, hon!  Just need a little info to help out!

Many hugs and prayers,
Charlotte

[Sidney's mom]

Hi Siah's mom.  Sorry about the delay, but my computer died and I just got a new one.  So, to answer some of your questions.  She's been eating the same diet for months now and doesn't seem to have any major problems with reflux.  Her daily routine is, she gets up around 7am, has a bottle, plays for a bit before having some breakfast then back to playtime again until about 9-9:30, when she goes down for a nap.  At this time, she'll usually sleep for 50min. then is up again until 1-1:30, at which time she'll usually only sleep for an hour (on a good day), then she's up until 7:30 and that's bedtime.  We play alot during the day and she likes her Baby Einstein videos.  After she has supper, she'll have a bath, then usually we'll try to have some downtime before going to bed. 

During the day, when she goes to bed, I put her down when she's awake and she has her soother and a blanket.  In the evening when she goes down, most of the time she'll be asleep because she falls asleep while drinking her bottle, but will still get her soother and blanket(she has gone down when awake though).  I've even tried not giving her the bottle at bedtime, and that doesn't make much difference. 

She'll be 8 months old on Boxing Day and so far we've probably only had a half-dozen nights that she might have slept through.  Other than that, she's waking up anywhere from 1-3 times a night.  Usually she just needs to have her soother put back in, but when she wakes up around 5am, she usually thinks she's ready to get up for the day.

So that's the scoop, don't know if it will help or not, but I'm definately open to any suggestions that anyone may have.

Thanks,
Wendi (New Brunswick, Canada)