7 month old baby with no schedule and frequent wakings at night ?please help?

Question

i have a 7 month old with no schedule whatsoever of eating or sleeping.he is breastfed and supplemented by formulae as well.for the first 5 months he atleast slept well at night waking up once a night for feed but since then the wakings are 7-8 times.he has already popped 2 teeth so its not teething for sure. he nurses to sleep always.as far as eating is concerned he takes some cereal twice a day and some fruit and veggie sometimes once a day.i try to feed him solids at the same time everyday but doesnt work.sometimes he doesnt take any.his naps are bad i guess coz he is never full enough he wakes up early.he is also very gassy all the time.i have read gas gets better with time but it doesnt seem in his case.could he be lactose intolerant or something his weight and height percentile are really good so doctor says no he is not good at passing gas thats why is fussy always.his routine is somewhat like this

6.30 am wakes up

8.00 some cereal with milk

8.30 or so nap for 30 min to 1 hr

10.30 breastfeed or bottle 4 ounce mostly he resists bottle during day

12.30 nap 30 min to 1 hr

2.00 some veggie or fruit 2 tbsp

3.00 breastfeed or bottle

3.30 nap 30 min to 1 hr

5.30 cereal with milk

7-7.30 bedtime nurses to sleep

11-11.30 pm 5-6 ounce bottle

3-4 am 3-4 ounce bottle

this is a general outline keeps varying usually he keeps nursing all thru day for few minutes every time rather than a full feed.how many minutes should a 7month old nurse for a full feed anyways?in addition to the routine he gets up a lot during the night and wont settle without nursing? should i wean him to get him into a routine coz he also seems upset all the time?

Answer 1

In my experience, when baby won't settle without nursing, and they nurse for onlya few min. at a time, weaning him at this point may backfire. As far as the fussiness goes though, try cutting back a bit on your dairy, whole wheat/grains and then veggies first the ones that are known to cause gassiness and then all veggeis (in that order, slowly, one thing at a time) to see if his fussiness decreases. (that worked for me with my youngest baby)

Answer 2

I can tell you what I did with my 3 that worked for us.  About 2-3 hours (depending on your child) before you want them to go to bed, kep him up, up, up! (which now that I look, you are doing that, lol... sorry)... I have a 7 week old now that sleeps through the night, he was really gassy and still is.  First we give him his baths at night to tire him out and relax him, then we feed him his last feeding for the night and we give him Mylocon Infant drops before bed.  We give him a dropperful and then keep him upright for about 20 minutes patting his back and he burps and farts up a storm, lol.  Then we lay him down.  

To be honest, it sounds like yours is waking to pacify.  My first did that.  The pediatrician said to not make night time a party.  When he wakes up at night only turn on a low light enough to see what you need to.  Get up and change his diaper and then feed him.  I was told to pump and bottle feed him at night feedings.  (I pump before bed as you can keep your milk for 8 hours (per the LaLeche League) out as long as it stays 70 degrees or below. I would prop the bottle up with him on his side.  And then burp him and lay him right back down.  It took a few nights for him to realize that night time wasn't for cuddling and playing or entertainment and he dropped the night feeding.  I did that right off the bat with my second and third sons and both have always slept through the night, save for a couple here or there.

I hope this helped!!!

Answer 3

I truly understand what you are going through. I was the same way with my son. I didn't know much about schedules and how to set one. One of my friends gave me the book "Baby Wise" by Gary Ezzo, when my son was 3 months old and I must say that was the most helpful book I ever read. The essence of the book is as follows:

1. Establish a wake-up time for baby. As soon as baby wakes up, feed him enough milk/solids etc

2. Keep him awake by playing with him, etc for about 2 hrs

3. Lay him down to sleep for about 1.5-2.5hrs

4. Repeat the schedule.

I don't know what it is about this schedule but it definitely works. My 7 month old son has been sleeping through the night since he was about 4 months old. His schedule looks something like this.

6:00 a.m. Wake up-change diaper-nurse

6:30-8a-Play, go to daycare

830-10ish-take a nap

11- breastmilk by bottle and oat cereal

1130-130-play

1:30-3ish-nap

3:00 breastmilk and 2 oz vegetables

3:30-5 play

5: pick him up from daycare

7: take a warm bath

8-830- nurse for 30 minutes

9pm to 6 am- sleep

Try and see if the 4 hr schedule works. Also you want to make sure the baby is taking enough food when he feeds for the schedule to work. My son is now eating only 4 times a day and weighs 20 oz. I wish you the best.