8 Month Old Awake So Early

Is it okay to wake up a 7 month old infant to change her diaper?

Former pediatric nurse (night shift) and self-professed “Queen of diaper changing” here to put in my 2 cents.Before putting your baby down for a nap or for the night, the last thing that should be done is a diaper change, with a nice layer of diaper ointment all over the perineal and anal areas to protect the skin all night.If your baby has a bowel movement while sleeping (which occurs frequently when the baby is on antibiotics and has loose stools) you should change the diaper as soon as it is discovered, even if baby is sleeping.With stealthy, smooth movements (and a flashlight at night), you should be able to accomplish this without waking the baby. I used to grab a few baby wipes and warm them up in the microwave oven, then arrange everything within easy reach. Warm baby wipes is key to not waking the sleeping baby.Quietly and slowly, I would lower the railing of the crib, then unsnap the baby’s pajama bottom open, gently pull the feet out of the bottoms and undo the dirty diaper. I would slide a chux under the baby’s butt and quickly clean with the warm wipes, dry with a cloth , pat on some ointment and fasten a new diaper on.If it was time to take the baby’s temperature, that was done at this time, also (in the hospital we took rectal temperatures for accuracy), in addition to listening to baby’s heart rate and breath sounds with my stethoscope.After putting the baby’s pajama bottom back in place, the crib rails would be slowly lifted back up and secured. I would grab my flashlight and tiptoe out of the room.Update: Several Quorans have informed me that cribs with drop sides are no longer being made (for about 8 years now) — I am sure for safety reasons. So it is no longer possible to change a baby’s diaper without lifting the baby out of the crib. In this case, I would only change the diaper during the night if baby pooped and use heavy duty “night time” diapers.

How do I prevent a 7 months old kid from waking at night?

Do NOT. Repeat DO NOT let him sleep at night. Do everything you can to keep him awake. Make him sleep during the day. If you do not allow him to sleep at night, then he cannot wake at night. Poke him, prod him, throw a bucket of ice water on him…whatever it takes. Problem solved.Actually the trick to having undisturbed nights is to start prevention at 2 months of age. Any pediatrician worth their salt will tell you this at the 2 month check. It is supposed to be a routine talking point (called anticipatory guidance). The important thing is to ALWAYS put your baby to bed AWAKE. It is based on the fact that everyone awakens several times a night but you have NO memory of it because you just go right back to sleep almost immediately. However, If a child is fed to sleep, then every time they wake up, they scream and cry until someone comes to provide that service. They have learned that they can expect to be fed to sleep. These kids are called trained night feeders. The other problem is kids being rocked or held to sleep. Again when they awaken, they cry until someone comes to provide that services because they have been trained that they can expect to be rocked to sleep. These kids are called trained night criers. Collectively, these problems are called sleep associations. There are other harmful sleep associations as well such as listening to music to sleep, TV to sleep and the like.Once they are 7 months of age, the only cure is that these sleep rituals need to stop cold turkey. Since your child is used to these rituals they will scream, cry and fuss until they learn self-comforting. The longer you wait, the worse it will be and the longer it will take when you try to break them of their sleep association.If your pediatrician did not discuss this issue routinely at the 2 month well check, they are not doing their job (or the parent did not come in for that routine app’t). You either need to find a REAL pediatrician OR follow their advice OR keep your normal app’ts.