# 7 month old fighting sleep - wired and exhausted



## natesmamma (Jul 8, 2005)

hi-
Is it common for a 7 mo old to get overtired and wired and literally FIGHT going to sleep? It just started about a week ago.

I used to be able to just nurse him right to sleep EVERY night at a decent time (like 7:30). Now he gets really wound up around that time and kicks and pulls my hair and bites (my nipples! ouch!) It is now 10:00 nearly 3 hours past his bed time and he is WILD. He's so strong I can barely hold onto him to rock him in the rocking chair or soothe him. For the sake of my own back I had to put him down and now he is about to cry because he wants to be held.

I think I am on the verge of actually having to let him Cry-It-Out because there is literally not much else I can do!

Anyone else dealt with this??


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## Little_Ladybug (Aug 10, 2005)

Is he teething? Does he have a temp? I wouldn't suggest letting him CIO, he is still very young (not that I agree w. CIO at any age, but that's just me). He's only 7 months old and needs his mama right now, try to just soothe him, rock him and sing to him, walk back and forth and shhhh in his ear (that's what I did with my DD for hours on end). Some nights are going to be like this with a baby that age, it will get better I promise! Try a bunch of different things like that, you will find one that works and gets him to settle down w/o having to cry himself to sleep. Oh, another thing that works like magic with my DD is a soothing lullaby CD, do you have anything like that?


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## natesmamma (Jul 8, 2005)

Yes, he is teething... And no, I can't let him cry it out. It just breaks my heart and I know he is crying for attention because he needs it. I did however let him fuss a bit tonight. It seemed like he really needed to blow off some steam. He fussed/played until I could tell he was getting upset and then I scooped him up and sang to him and at that point he was settled enough to nurse and fall asleep. PHEW! Maybe it is because of his teething. Thanks for your comment!


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## shannon0218 (Oct 10, 2003)

Ohhhhh, I so know where you are coming from. Molly is 7 mos too and I think much of it is that she feels she has to process her whole day before bed. On someone elses advice I started really pushing her to nap during the day and since then the longest I've tried getting her down is 90 minutes. I have ordered the No Cry Sleep Solution and await it's arrival eagerly. Unfortunately the more tired they get, the harder it is to get them to sleep.


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## natesmamma (Jul 8, 2005)

Shannon - that is a good point. It does seem like he is processing his day before sleep (and come to think of it, I do that too!)

I am curious about that book. I'm not familiar with it!


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## abac (Mar 10, 2005)

Maybe you could try putting him to sleep earlier? When ds started acting that way, we started putting him to bed about a half hour earlier and it worked like a charm.


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## avivaelona (Jun 24, 2005)

I second Abac's suggestion, but also my son needs a blowing off steam wild play time before being ready to settle so we build it into the schedule. Usually half an hour of dancing to music or just tickling on the bed works and then we start the bedtime routine.


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## Slabobbin (Jan 29, 2004)

Doesn't Hylands make some sort of calming homeopathic remedy?

My DD also needs to blow off steam sometimes, it's just her nature. As long as she is just "griping" she is ok but when she gets to the point of being upset/crying I go right to her and she usually nurses on down to sleep.

I sympathize.


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