Crazy/hyperactive baby before bed!!! Help!!

[Rorysmum93]

My 7 month old has suddenly gone crazy! He's so hyperactive at bed time...our routine is dinner, bath, pjs, sometimes a bottle or breastfeed then straight in his cot where he sucks his thumb and goes to sleep. Well now I put his pjs on him and he's squealing and giggling and is then too hyper to feed/take a bottle so I put him into his to and he's a nutter! Rolls everywhere up and down side to side back wards forwards, bangs on cot bars, hits his head against cot ends, all the while screaming and shrieking (in a happy not upset way) even if he's been awake hours before bed and is yawning and sleepy as soon as he's in his cot he's wide awake. Iv tried shortening his awake Time before bed and doesn't make a difference so it's not over tired. He has also started sleeping on his tummy, I guess that's just where he crashes out eventually. It takes so long for him to fall to sleep he can be in his cot squealing for up to an hour before going to sleep. He previously was fab and went straight to sleep when I put him down. Any help would be appreciated x

 

[seaweed eater]

What is his daytime sleep routine?

 

[vintagecat]

My daughter started acting like that around 7 months shortly before she began trying to crawl. I think they're just practicing and have a hard time calming down. Your nighttime routine sounds the same as mine.

 

[Rorysmum93]

His daytime sleep routine was was previously a nap every hour! He could never go any longer but now he will easily go two hours and be yawning/sucking his thumb but when we put him down he goes crazy in his cot! He is now starting to get the hang on wriggling along the floor so I'm sure crawling isn't far off. Any suggestions what would help? Or is this just a stage he's going through? X

 

[seaweed eater]

I've heard crawling can be really really disruptive (no experience with it yet here). I've also heard it can help to give LO a LOT of activity early in the wake time so he gets plenty of practice (and doesn't have to do it in his sleep) and then a long wind down/quiet time before bed. But it might just last for a week or two no matter what you do.

Two hours of wake time sounds on the lower end for his age. A lot of babies start to transition to two naps at 6-7 months. How long is he sleeping per nap? Unlike when they were little, at this age you can start trying to keep them up sometimes even after they are showing tired signs.

If I were you I would just wait it out for maybe a week or two and see if things improve on their own as he continues to master crawling. It sounds like he is fine, basically happy, just not going to sleep as well as he used to. If it doesn't go away on its own I would start thinking about extending his wake times and getting into a daily routine with two naps, or two and a catnap.

 

[Zephram]

Two hours of awake time doesn't sound like much for a 7 month old. My 6 month old is awake 2-3 hours in the morning and sometimes 3-4 hours before bed. He has 2 or 3 naps per day and is transitioning to 2 full time at the moment. Bedtime is a bit of nightmare when he has 3 naps as he isn't quite tired enough yet and he rolls around the cot and babbles and eventually screams.

Give it a go keeping your LO up a bit longer.

 

[vintagecat]

My daughter was napping every two hours at that age still, but then it changed drastically to just two naps seemingly overnight. I think an hour of playtime in just a diaper, nursing, and then bed usually works well! It tuckers them out. Otherwise, you could always go on a short 15 minute walk outside for some fresh air and then play a short while, then nurse, and bedtime. Outside air ALWAYS makes my daughter tired.

 

[Rorysmum93]

I'm a bit concerned now iv heard he should be awake longer? Sometimes he can't go longer than an hour and by cant I mean he will grizzle and not be distracted by anything until he is put to bed. Although sometimes he goes 2 hours just fine. He naps anything from around 30mins to 2hours in his cot. Doesnt matter how long he sleeps for he still gets tired after an hour/2 hours! We don't let him sleep past 5ish and his bath and bed is 7-7.30 so he's always awake a good 2 1/2 hours before bed. I always let him kick about nappy free before bath and he goes nuts in the bath splashing his arms and legs so I would have thought that would ware him out? Last night I tried rocking him to calm him down then reading him a story....made him even more hyper! I left him to roll around last night as previously I would go in and put him on his back as he would be crammed against the bars or god knows where but I just let him fall asleep where he wanted (with his face against the bars last night!) then moved him to a comfy position. Didn't make much difference though x

 

[bookreader]

I have no advice on the sleep issue.
In regards to the behaviour though, my LO is the same (he is 9 months) and every night now before bed he starts jumping up and down and getting pretty hyper. For him, he is trying to keep himself awake.