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I have two kids. A 4 year old daughter who has been easy since she was conceived. Wife had no morning sickness, water broke in the shower, got the hospital and she was out shortly after that. She’s smart, has a great heart, and I couldn’t be prouder.

My 7 month old son, on the other hand....

Over the last month, he hasn’t been sleeping through the night. He takes forever to get to sleep. We start at 8 like usual, and he fusses until about 2 AM, and then sleeps til about 7 - 8 AM.

I thought he was teething, but it’s been a month and nothing. Wife and I both work 12 hour shifts and have them off-set so one of us is always home. Neither of us is getting much sleep.

Any advice or tricks?

Strict routine for naps during day, don't let get overtired, start earlier at night, play hard, warm bath then use a swaddle and wrap tight like a burrito. And read a book!

Gooch;
Good evening to you sir, I hope that other than not getting sleep that you and your family are well.

This is going off of a wee bit of a foggy memory here as they're both adults now, but it went something like this.

Our first daughter slept through the night after maybe 7 or 8 weeks. She was so easy for the first bit that I considered writing a parenting book - that's how good I thought I was doing.....

When daughter number two came along, I shredded the book manuscript and then burnt the shreds.....

She had day and night mixed up for what seems to me looking back on it for nearly a year.

We just kept plugging away at it, starting bedtime at 8:00 like you're doing and then letting the fussing get worse and worse as we were pretty sure she was just being stubborn and didn't really need anything - besides to get her way.

Eventually she started sleeping on the same hours as the rest of us, but indeed as I type this years later, I still recall feeling perpetually tired.

We kept supporting each other as parents as far as sticking to a plan and it did work.

Now that all said, as an adult she's more of a night owl than any of the rest of us, so there are traits that stick with us for sure.

I'm not sure that was super helpful other than to let you know other parents did survive it, though I don't recall it fondly for sure.

All the best to you all this Christmas Season.

Dwayne

His day looks like this:

Wake up between 7-8:00
Eat (mostly breast feeding)
Play
Nap #1 11 until 12:30
Eat
Play
Eat
Nap #2 4:30 to 5:30
Eat
Play
Bath
Play
Eat
Bed Time @8:00

He will doze off for 20-30 minutes and start crying. Repeat until 2:00 AM. He is normally swaddled. He always seem to want out of it. Thought he might be hot, but taking him out doesn’t seem to help.

You got a cholicky baby


Investigate fennel seed all you can

It’s what we used on our son


https://internationalintegrative.com/colic-fennel-to-the-rescue/

If you are a parent who has marched the halls at 2:00 a.m. with a screaming tot, you probably would cheerfully give up your right arm for a good colic remedy.

Fortunately, you only have to give up a couple bucks at the health food store. Fennel is here to save the, er, night.

Just what is colic? That’s a bit of a slippery subject. Colic is defined as infant crying at least three hours daily, three days a week, for more than three weeks- the extreme of normal crying between 3 weeks and 3 months of age. In the Western world, it strikes 15-30% of newborns. Colic is physically benign but can be emotionally devastating.

The party line is that it’s from immature development, and not health issues, such as digestion. However, traditional remedies usually treat the baby’s intestinal gas. Dicyclomine, the only drug that works consistently, causes breathing difficulties, seizures, dizziness, and even death, in 5% of cases.

Fennel seed (Foeniculum vulgare) is probably the world’s most popular gas remedy. It contains essential oils that warm the stomach, increasing intestinal motility.

No need for you and your toddler to suffer, when herbal medicines can do such a great job of easing emergency colic.

In the first study to show that fennel is an effective colic treatment, researchers found that it is able to reduce the intensity of the symptoms. Parents gave their infants a fennel preparation when crying began. In the experiment, 121 colicky infants randomly received 5 to 20 ml of a 0.1% fennel seed oil emulsion, or placebo, up to four times daily, for one week. Symptom diaries were kept for the week, as well as the week before and the week after.

The infants taking the fennel formula had a significant 45% decrease in colic symptoms, in contrast to only a 5% symptom reduction from the placebo. According to the diagnostic criteria used, colic was eliminated in 65% of the fennel group.

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, from 2005, involved 93 healthy breastfed infants with colic. For 7 days, they received a dose of fennel mixture twice daily before breastfeeding. Crying time was reduced (by an average of 2 hours per day) in 85.4% of infants in the fennel group, compared to 48.9% for placebo. No adverse effects were noted in either study.

Europeans have been using herbal gripe water for colic for years. One of the oldest is based on the closely related dill seed. Chamomile, lemon balm, and ginger are common ingredients.

Use commercial gripe water, or brew a tea with 1 tablespoon seeds in a cup of water. Sweeten as desired. Use 1 ounce.

Is he breast feeding before he goes to bed or is it formula? If it is formula he may be lactose intolerant and his gut is hurting. Our son and twin daughters were that way until we got them on soy based formula. Just a thought.

Get a nanny,

Consider checking the little dude for acid reflux. Our first had that mess and it caused her to have major sleep issues. There was a huge difference in how much/well she slept after solving that issue. Good luck!!!!!!!!

Also, to help settle them

We used to drive them around the neighborhood, that motion of the vehicle put them to sleep

Also, a battery powered baby swing

(We had a crank up one, spring would last 15 mins, get 15 mins of sleep, kick the ole lady tell her its her to turn to crank the swing)

But they got battery swings now

He’s never had formula. Wife is a regular super-producer. He’s 7 mos and she still produces 30oz a day. She’s freezing a lot of it. He also eats baby food several times a day. He’s not a picky eater.

The worst part is I have it in my head that he’s doing this on purpose. He’ll scream until you pick him up and then he smiles. Put him down and he starts screaming again. Pick him up.....smiles.

I’ve just about convinced myself to buy him a 338 for his first gun and mount the scope like Ingwe.

He won’t do the battery swings or cars. BUT, if it requires manual labor like holding him or swinging him in the hammock, he’ll usually chill out. But, it has to be something manual or he won’t calm down.

I’ll look into this. He hates laying down.

Benadryl

Study up on the fennel

For real, I’m not giving you some Happy Camper, Dr Mercola horse shît advice

Sounds just like my girls, but the first one was the non-sleeper. Basically, you just have to muddle through until the "problem child" gets a little older. I didn't get any sleep for a year and a half. Just make sure you don't start letting the 7 month old sleep in your bed. It might be harder now, but you'll thank me in the long run.

Very often this is caused by foods his mother is allergic to.

A little dose of probiotic and a change of diet for mom sometimes resolves the problem. Chocolate is a troublemaker for some moms, and also coffee. Wheat and dairy are two others. Some have trouble with eggs. You can try rotating her diet, eliminating coffee and chocolate for about three days, and then work through the others.

Phone around for a chiropractor that does NAET. That may speed up the process of finding and fixing the problem.

Adoption.

It’s weird this would manifest itself after 6 months, but I’ll give it a try.

Whiskey in moderate doses.

Colic sucks, they grow out of it eventually.