My 7 months baby wakes about 8-10 times a night

[ancri01]

My 7 months baby girl is on easy schedule since she was 2 months old.
she slept great all through her first four months waking one time for feed and back to sleep.
Since she was 4 months old something went wrong and she started to wake up every hour and even every 20-30 minutes. She is looking for water or for her dummy and goes back to sleep almost immediately most of the times.
I don't think the PU/PD system is the right solution and I can't implement the 5 minutes system.
We are exhousted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What can we do to help her put herself to sleep?

[NikiJ]

Hi

Can you post your dd's routine please?

Niki

[SiestaNoMore]

Hugs - we had similar NW at that age!
One (of the many) reasons our LO woke up was for his 'dummy'. (He always needed us to do that in the middle of the night).
After reading many postings on the Props Board at this site, I felt I had enough ideas and support to wean him from his Dummy.
I'm sure others will be able to help with your schedule. Just wanted to let you know something else to possibly consider if NW continue to be a problem.

[ancri01]

6:00 - wake up
7:00 - bottle
8:00 - nap (usually 1.5 hr but 45 min happen as well)
9:30 - 10:00 - solids
11:00 - milk
12:30 - nap (usually 45 min)
14:00 - solids
15:00 - milk
16:00 - nap (usually 45 min - sometimes less)
19:00/19:30 - bath
19:30/20:00 - milk
20:00/20:30 - bedtime

she starts waking up at about 22:00 / 23:00

[Bryony]

Hi there and welcome!

I agree with Siestanomore that the dummy may be an issue - does she need it to go to sleep?  If so it may be a prop - it's quite common to get problems with the dummy around this age.

What is she doing when she wakes up (screaming?  grizzling?  chatting?) and what do you do to get her back to sleep?

Other possibilities are that her bedtime is very late - if she's getting up at 6am then most people would go for a 6pm bedtime.  This may mean she is getting overtired (OT) especially as her last A time before bed is so very long - you would want to aim for 1.5 hrs A time after a short nap at her age

What do you do when she gets 45 min naps - have you tried extending naps at all?  Lack of daytime sleep can also lead to OT.

You say that the last nap is sometimes less than 45 mins - do you wake her, or does she wake eg at 30 mins?  Waking at 20-30 mins into a nap would suggest OT.  OT is a common cause of NW and I would definitely try and rule that out first

Hope that's given you a few things to think about!

Bryony

[ancri01]

Hi Bryony,

Thanks for all the advices!

I started to feel that the dummy is becoming a prop long time ago but I don't know how to teach her fall asleep without it...
Regarding her late bedtime - she is not tired before that, and if she falls a sleep before 8 PM she wakes up very very early - around 5 AM - it's too early for her and for us!

in the afternoon nap I don't wake her up, and she's not falls back to sleep, she starts to smile and talk, and wakes up cheerful so I think its enough for her...

I think my only solution is to get rid of the dummy - but - isn't she too small for that? it calms her and I feel she needs it..

[Bryony]

Regarding the dummy, I suggest you have a look on the props board - there is lots of useful info on weaning props.  I think Tracey suggested that dummies were weaned around 3 months, so you may be at about the right time.  Or you can decide to stick with it until she is old enough to put it back in herself (around 8 months)

I would also not rule out the bedtime - have you tried an earlier bedtime eg for a week, to see what happens?

Bryony