How to let an active 7 month old cry it out

knoxJb

i really don't know what to do. This baby is so active and has breastfed to sleep his whole life, And been co-sleeping. He wakes me up every 1-2 hours to nurse and I've been back to work for 4months now. I'm so tired and need to do something. The hardest part is he is an easy baby, as long as he's being breastfed to sleep. But now, I'm trying to get him off drinking/nursing and he isn't having it. He's basically crawling around and rolling around his crib. Getting limbs stuck in the bars of the crib and crying the saddest cries. It makes me want to say, screw my sleep I'll just nurse him to sleep and keep him in bed with us.
Anyone else dealing with this or have some words of encouragement!?

xc1148

Yes, about 99% similar. Sometimes my baby can be rocked to sleep, sometimes dad can give her a bottle when I'm traveling, but the mostly she nurses to sleep. She has had major sleep regression recently, and we've tried keeping a consistent routine, formula, earlier bedtime, later bedtime, etc. I think people forget that babies are little people. My husband stays up till 2am, I go to bed at 10pm. People are different, babies are different too!

I can give you some encouragement. Cry it out just isn't for me. I did a lot of research today and I've taken the "screw it" approach. I have the happiest, healthiest most beautiful baby girl and if she wants to nurse 2x a night, then oh well. She is growing like a champ and the doctor said she had the best demeanor of all the babies she had seen that day. She is so young, only 7 months old, of course she wants to be near her mommy. I had 30 years to sleep haha. When she smiles it's totally worth it. Good luck! Feel good knowing that you make your baby happy and can satisfy their needs 100%. It's a good thing...all your baby wants is you!

aqualovetx

We are very similar. I nurse my 7 mo old to sleep too. I also work out of the house and need my sleep. We do our night time routine but then we don't nurse to sleep in the glider, we go to our bed and nurse to sleep there. She and I both fall asleep pretty quickly. Then anywhere from 1 to 2 hours later I usually wake up and she's hard asleep. I put her on my shoulder, get out of bed and take her to her crib. She generally stays there the rest of the night. Before, when we coslept all night, she would wake up frequently to nurse, or so I thought. I realized she just wasn't sleeping as well with us and was just waking more and went for the boob because it was there. Now, after she's in her crib she might wake occasionally, but will fuss a few minutes and then fall back asleep. If she really cries and isn't just fussing herself to sleep, I'll go in and nurse her in the glider and then right back in the crib. That usually only takes less than 10 minutes. My baby too is a pretty easy baby other than trying to get her to sleep initially at night, we're pretty lucky. Anyway, this is what's working for us right now. I just couldn't do CIO. Oh and we do use the mesh bumper to keep limbs unstuck.

xc1148

jbarretttk said:

We are very similar. I nurse my 7 mo old to sleep too. I also work out of the house and need my sleep. We do our night time routine but then we don't nurse to sleep in the glider, we go to our bed and nurse to sleep there. She and I both fall asleep pretty quickly. Then anywhere from 1 to 2 hours later I usually wake up and she's hard asleep. I put her on my shoulder, get out of bed and take her to her crib. She generally stays there the rest of the night. Before, when we coslept all night, she would wake up frequently to nurse, or so I thought. I realized she just wasn't sleeping as well with us and was just waking more and went for the boob because it was there. Now, after she's in her crib she might wake occasionally, but will fuss a few minutes and then fall back asleep. If she really cries and isn't just fussing herself to sleep, I'll go in and nurse her in the glider and then right back in the crib. That usually only takes less than 10 minutes. My baby too is a pretty easy baby other than trying to get her to sleep initially at night, we're pretty lucky. Anyway, this is what's working for us right now. I just couldn't do CIO. Oh and we do use the mesh bumper to keep limbs unstuck.

you know...I might try nursing to sleep in the bed first, then moving her. That's a good idea!

sugarbug3212

I did the same thing in the beginning too. I find she sleeps so much better in her own space and since we put her down for naps in her crib she has grown to feel safe there. I start her off in her room and she is good for 4 hours then I breastfeed her and put her back and when she wakes again it's usually closer to 5 or 6 so I just bring her back with me to bed. She loves waking up next to mommy and daddy.

There is no way I could do CIO or a specific bedtime. We still use the easy method and that works for us. She is never up at the same time or taking the same number of naps so I put her down when she is tired. Just like adults do.

Tichrist

If you want to try sleep training you can try moms on call. It's crying it out method (but only to a point)....it's where you wait 15 minutes to feed....and stretch it every 3 nights. After 3 nights babies sleep through the 15 minutes then you stretch it 15 more minutes....after about a month you eliminate night feeds gradually and the lo will be sleeping through the night. Mine sleeps from 8:30pm-7am every night since he was 1 month old (he is now almost 7 months). It's truly amazing and it's all due to the moms on call feed/sleep training. I hope this helps you!
But always do what you feel is right for you and your baby!:)