You want your 7 month old to sit up, crawl and sleep through the night? Og forbide he is only 7 months old! Of course he’s going to wake up 2,3, 4 times a night! He’s not that old. My boys didn’t start sleeping through the night until they were 9, 10 months old. (I think) Be patient with Charlie and soon he will have a better schedual. I am not an expert nor am I saying I am. My kids are now 8 and almost 11. (he turns 11 on the 18th) Just be patient, all new parents go through this, we know/knew how you feel! BTW where are the pics of this new addition??
Ah - I think I see the problem.
Has Charlie read these books yet?
Or is it just you reading them? When you do, are you reporting this information to Charlie? If not, perhaps he doesn’t know that he doesn’t have the biological need for nighttime feedings.
Even then, there might be the problem that you haven’t established yourself as a credible source of information…Charlie might just be the type who needs to read it for himself. After he’s read it - I’m sure he’ll agree with the experts and stop the nighttime feeding.
About a third of babies never crawl - it isn’t that uncommon in these days of “sleep on the back”
Interesting. I had no idea. Sis was the only one I ever knew personally that did it that way, so I thought she was some sort of walking supergal 
Now all I can picture is Spiral Stairs standing by Charlie’s high chair. He’s about to say his first word. What will it be? C… ci… Cite?
(although that would be absolutely appropriate for a DoperBaby :))
Well, I have been reading him Open Me … I’m a Dog and Good Night, Gorilla, but I suppose it is time to start in on the peer-reviewed medical journals. God knows I’m not peer-reviewed.
Thanks to all for the tips and reality checks. Teething is a live issue for us, it appears. He’s been really fussy for a couple days now, with copious drool issuing from his mouth. Nothing’s broken through yet, but I’m cheering for the little buggers to break on through to the other side and relieve us of some of this chaos.
Seriously, for a second, I thought you were my husband posting on the Dope - we also have a 7 month old (in a week) who gets up anywhere between 1 and 3 times a night. We’ve been trying various things to get him to sleep through, but unfortunately, he does seem genuinely hungry at night, so we won’t deny him a bottle. He also used to sleep through, but since just before 4 months, that’s been a no-go.
My son is sitting up unassisted for short periods of time, but he’s nowhere near sitting up regularly. He’s also scooting, but not crawling yet - he’s rocking on all fours, but hasn’t quite figure out how to move himself.
Umm, yeah, that throwing himself backwards thing while sitting up? They do that 
. B does that all the time.
I’ve been reading ALL of the books. You know what my new mantra is? “The books LIE!” 
.
Seriously, I feel your pain on the sleep thing. Eventually, something will click and these boys will start sleeping all night. I’m just hoping I can stay awake until then :D.
E.
IANAD, but Hyland’s Teething Tablets have been a godsend for us. They’re a ‘natural’ remedy, and don’t work on all kids, but they’re worth a try. We get them at the local drugstore. B’s got his two bottom teeth and his top teeth seem to be working now, too - they help with the tooth pain for him. I honestly LOVE them.
E.
First of all- what, no pictures?
That said, I can address the sleeping problems. A lot of parents accept as a fact of life the nighttime wakings, as well as prolonged rituals and hours-long bedtimes. And for some, most, or all of them, that’s fine for them- it must be working for them and their children and I’m cool with that.
However, I need my sleep. I really needed babies that went to bed on time and slept all night. It went like this: First baby- no sleep, ever. Went well over a year with serious sleep deprivation. Second baby- more sleep. Getting a little better at this. Third baby- started practicing more acceptable (to me) sleep habits straight home from the hospital- no sleep problems ever (except for one very minor glitch due to a surgery) and read this from a recent sleep thread.
It can be done, if you are willing to put the effort into it and your wife agrees. Google “Ferber” for ideas.
Dangit, that’s what I was thinking the second half of the thread!
Okay, you asked for it. (I never inflict pictures on people without a request.) Don’t blame me if you are blinded by his cuteness. Here’s one, and here’s another.
Ferber is something we’ve considered but are rejecting – for now. I am not sure a cry-it-out strategy would work now anyway, given that he generally does eat a fair bit overnight. Whether it is possible to wean him off those night feedings with dilution is another matter.
For now we’re trying the No Sleep Baby Crying Solution, as I like to call it. My wife calls it the No Baby Cry Yourself To Sleep Solution. But we’re, like, halfway through the book and we’re still waiting to find out the magical codeword that makes all babies sleep ten hours.
It’s really amazing how two of the most fundamental things in an adult’s life – eating and sleeping – are so crazy and unsettled for babies.
Elza B, wow, there’s some parallel living going on here.
How cute!!!
Oh my god- he is seriously the cutest!!
And yes, I did mean to include that the research on sleep solutions should come after the hunger thing is resolved if the waking is still an issue. I do wish you all the luck- may Charlie sleep long and peacefully in short order, no matter how it happens!
OMG. Spiral Stairs, he’s absolutely gorgeous, and very healthy looking too.
When I read your OP, I sighed. I remember feeling guilty about something because my baby wouldn’t sleep through the night while “everyone else’s” did. I tried all kinds of advice, but he’s now over 30 years old, and he STILL doesn’t sleep through the night.
When he was 4 years old, it finally clicked: neither his father nor his paternal grandmother ever slept through the night either. I felt stupid at that point.
Anyhow, just enjoy your beautiful son, don’t worry if people’s recipes don’t work. One day you’ll get yourselves back to normal sleeping patterns. 
'Bout time for the pics! He is so cute! His eyes are gorgeous! I absolutley love his smile!
Ouch. That’s painfully cute!
As everyone else says, don’t worry about either of these things. My sister’s daughter was still waking up in the middle of the night when her younger brother (2.5 years younger) so some kids are like that. Other than inheriting her mother’s and uncle’s literalness, she doesn’t seem to be the worse for it.
That is one very darling little boy.
Just echoing everyone’s advice.
I have a four year old. She never really crawled. I was a little worried until she started walking at eleven months. She hasn’t stopped since. I think I lose weight just chasing after her a dozen times a day.
Are you sure this is your kid, and that you did not kidnap the Gerber Baby? That’s one hella cute kid. I hope my future kids are that adorable.
As for advice, I can only say: hang in there!
I generally avoid people when they’re showing their babies around because if you don’t think it’s cute, what do you say?
But that is some serious cuteness!!
That one is going to be a heart breaker! More anxiety in store for the future.
I was waking up one hour before the books and experts said I should, about that age.
And crying.
AND CRYING.
AND CRYIIIIIIIIIIIIING!
For that hour. Then I’d get fed and stop crying.
Finally Mom asked the pediatrician and the pediatrician, after the kind of look that manages to cuss Dr Spock and the mother who gave birth to the priest who baptised him without actually saying anything out loud, told Mom to just feed me. Every kid is different, nothing wrong with being hungry and asking for food. Thanks, Doc.
Lessee, kids in my brother’s group…
Keira: until 8mo, she hadn’t showed any interest in crawling. You put her down, she stayed down. Then one day she grabbed one of the table’s carved legs and climbed it. She spent a gynormous amount of time (as reported by her mother, who is a 1st grade teacher) looking up… and down… and up… and down. Didn’t do any standing experiments or crawl for almost another month, but she’d watch carefully people walking and VERY VERY CAREFULLY people running.
Then one day she stood up without holding anything, took several tentative steps. Next day she ran. Hasn’t stopped since except to play, sleep, eat and get bathed. Her mother says it’s a great workout.
Marcos: his parents wouldn’t let him touch the floor. Hard to get crawling when you’re missing a key tool, uh? Once Keira’s dad and myself convinced his da to put the darn kid down, Marcos started crawling (but he has to like the surface, he won’t crawl on grass… damn citified kids, geroff mylawn! oh wait, you don’t like my lawn in the first place). He started giving his first tentative steps (had to be touching something before he moved one foot, takes after his Ma there) about 13mo. He’s now 18mo and starting to… hm… rather than run, skip. According to Mom, “he changes speeds more than a driver trying to go fast through a string of red traffic lights.” Run two steps, stop, look for his adult, walk a few steps, skip a bit, look for his adult… His parents have finally realized they have to stop coddling him so much, otherwise he’s going to be even more insecure than his Ma.
Alejandro: two weeks older than Marcos and a case out of the books for walking, but he was late for teething. He skipped babytalk completely; he’s got a very limited vocabulary but that’s perfectly clear words. When other women fussed over his lateness teething, his mother (kindergarten teacher and 6 times aunt) would say “oh excuse me, it’s not like he’ll never get teeth! I might be worried about other things, but teeth? How many cases have you heard of of people whose teeth never came out?” She thought they were being terribly funny.
I’m less familiar with the life and developmental wonders of the other kids in the gang. But one thing that’s important to keep in mind is that “if they’re busy with one step, they stop others and may even go back a bit, that’s ok.” For example, Marcos is missing his last tooth only (the last tooth is the upper left fang, which explains why so many people have it out of place I guess). It’s coming out and driving him and his cache of adults crazy. He’s pretty much stopped most of the stuff he was learning… only “explores” when the damn fang isn’t working its way out.
Your kid is probably ahead of his age group in other things, or perhaps “simply” bigger. Growing up takes a lot of energy, you know.