Seven month old suddenly waking at night

[Mooghes]

Hi Lisa,

My baby girl will be seven months old on Friday and has slept through the night, without feeds, since she was six weeks old. For the last 2-3 weeks she has been waking up any time between 2am-5am and I'm wondering whether you could suggest any reasons why this may be?

She has been on solids for a couple of months now so I originally thought it might be because I wasn't feeding her enough at dinner time, but after increasing the size of her meals she still woke up early. She generally has 7-8oz of milk before bed, so it's not because she needs milk, and she drinks water throughout the day so I don't think she's thirsty. I then thought it might be because she was napping too much during the day (she usually has three 45 minute naps each day) so I started to wake her after 20-30 minutes (something which I would usually disagree with, but I thought it was worth a try) but she still woke up early, so I thought maybe she was over-tired and I should let her sleep as much as she needed throughout the day without waking her but, again, she woke up early. She's not too hot, she's not too cold, there aren't any new or strange noises happening in our house at those times of the day. She's never had any problems going to bed - I've always been able to put her to bed asleep or awake and she'll get herself off to sleep without crying, so I know it's not because she doesn't like her cot. I can't think of anything else it could be! Can you?

[Theblissfulbabyexp]

Hi there
Is she able to self settle herself to sleep at all or does she rely on you in some way-cuddling, feeding to sleep, rocking etc?
Or does she have a dummy?

A baby who relies on any kind of sleep prop will eventually begin to wake frequently even if previously they were deemed a 'good sleeper'

[Mooghes]

She does have a dummy but if it falls out she can put it back in herself now so I very rarely get up in the night for that because I put two in her cot so that she can always find one.

I usually put her to bed when she's still awake at night and she always settles herself to sleep, unless she's had a particularly exhausting day, in which case she'll fall asleep on me the minute she's finished her bedtime bottle and then I put her straight to bed. During the day, I usually have to rock her to sleep but I've never had to at night.

[Theblissfulbabyexp]

Ok the dummy will be the problem then. Even if she can find it and put it in herself, the reason she is waking in the first place so frequently is because she's relying on that as a sleep prop to get herself off to sleep. Each time she comes into a light sleep she will wake up as the dummy has fallen out and she needs to find it again.

If you would like to email me directly or post your email address here I can send you details of a method called timed comforting to teach her how to self settle without the dummy. That will in turn help her have a longer nap in the day. I can also send you details of recommended routine for a baby of her age. My email is lisa@theblissfulbabyexpert.com

[XxJack~AcexX]

Teething??? My 2nd was a beast for it x