BF 7 month old still not sleeping through......

[dawny85]

Hi, my 7 month boy is still not sleeping through the night. He is waking once sometimes twice for a feed. I started weaning approx 2 months ago and he eats really well through the day as well as having several feeds. I thought he would be sleeping through by now but isn't. Any suggestions. Thanks.

[Howtocatchastar]

Wow! It took my eldest until 2.5 years to sleep through. 7 months is still so young and bf will be a comfort when he wakes.

I totally get how much you'd love him to sleep through, but personally I think you just need to go with it. He's probably not waking for hunger if you're feeding him food and breast feeding throughout the day, so don't be hard on yourself and don't compare to others. Some sleep through, more don't...

[Ratbagcatbag]

My dd was ff, she didn't sleep through until 22 months, at 3yo she still doesn't reliably sleep through (think maybe twice per week).

[GertrudeBadger]

mine slept through at 10 months (DC1) and 8 months (DC2) - coincidentally that's when I dropped the night feed. The nusery nurse attached to my HV advised dropping the night feed and offering water on waking, DDs lost interest after that. The night waking was a problem for me as I was back at work ft and exhausted so needed the night wakings to end.

[TeaBelle]

Sorry op, I'm agreeing with the other posters. Dd slept through a few times at 15 months but still doesn't reliably sleep through the night. I don't think it's something you can train/teach

[Purpleboa]

Once or twice a night?? That's what we call a brilliant night in our house! Sounds perfectly normal to me. I'd love to drop night feeds but we are nowhere near that. Maybe formula before bed if your baby accepts a bottle? Mine doesn't though.

[5minutestobed]

Mine was ff and still doesn't sleep through at age 3. Just go with it and try not to stress about when they should be doing things.

[daisydalrymple]

Lots of 7 month old babies will sleep through by that age, but loads more wont. (I got three in the second group ). There's lots of sleep 'training' techniques you can try, from very gentle to more structured, it depends what your approach is really?

What are the wakings like? Are they just for a feed and resettles ok, or more prolonged?

[ProfessorPickles]

I second trying to just offer water during the night if it isn't hunger that is waking your baby. Give as little fuss as possible, low lighting, no talking.
DS stopped waking through the night a week or so after starting a strict routine, very low lighting and no attention during the night time so as not to over stimulate him and to allow him to differentiate between night and day. He had a dummy and learnt to self settle at a very young age.

I hope you find something that works for you OP, other posters have pointed out their DCs didn't sleep through until 2 or 3. But that isn't the way for everyone and sometimes there things you can try that will help so don't feel you have to accept it as how it has to be. Unless you try out different things and there's no change after a few weeks, of course.

[ProfessorPickles]

I should add that the strict routine (getting him bathed and to bed at the exact same time each night) was relaxed as he got older and less prone to getting over tired and wound up!

[GeoffreysGoat]

My 7mo needs the comfort of breastfeeding as much as the actual milk, he's just started crawling and needs extra reassurance. Bf isn't all about food

[underrugsswept]

Patience. My DS didn't sleep through consistently until he was well over 12mo. Don't expect too much.

[NerrSnerr]

At 7 months my daughter was up three or four times a night. She's now 18 months and was up twice last night.

[MrsNuckyT]

My bf baby eventually slept through at around 9 months. This is very very normal!!

Are you doing a dream feed?

[Didiusfalco]

My bf 10 month old was up 4 times last night, which is the norm at the moment. I would be thrilled with twice!

[cathpip]

He will sleep through eventually. Dc1 slept through at 10 weeks old, dc2 slept through at 17 weeks, dc3 slept through at 11 months and dc4, well he's 7 months and still up twice for food. Routine has been the same for all 4!

[GiveMyHeadPeaceffs]

All kids are different and once or twice a night at 7 months isn't bad! My ds is a good night time sleeper; from 6pm to 7am at 9 months but he is awake just about all day. The only advice I have is that I found a good bedtime routine worked for us and I put a scoop of crushed rusk into his bedtime bottle for a while when I started weaning him.

[daisydalrymple]

dawn I have already replied up thread, but I see you've had many replies saying how other posters babies are still waking at an older age to yours. It's hopefully reassuring to know you're not the only one, but if you've started this thread gearing up to returning to work or another reason for needing more sleep, then it might not be the response you were hoping for, and you might find it more helpful to do a search, or browse the sleep thread for tips that might suit you to try.

There's a loooooong thread called something like 'this worked for us', which is full of people's experiences of more gentle sleep training techniques. You might find it helpful to dip in and out of that.

What I would say is if your LO is waking just for a feed and settling quickly and well after, you might not want to change too much, as many babies do genuinely wake for a feed still at this age, and it might be easier to ride it out. However, I'm still feeding dc3 when he wakes in the night, and I really wish I'd managed to resolve this earlier!

[Igottastartthinkingbee]

7 months is not unusual to not be sleeping through. It's one of the great myths of parenthood - that babies sleep!!! Mine were at least nine months till they first slept through but DS was nearly 2 before he was a regular 12hr a night guy. DD is still about 50/50 whether she sleeps through or not, she's 18 months. Btw we didn't stop her night time bottle till 13 months, I couldn't be bothered with the fight before then. It wasn't that hard to drop actually and it did make a big difference to her sleep. But I didn't even consider dropping it at 7 months. Too soon for me.

[dakin1]

My DD was the same, switching to formula at 9 months was like magic and she went from having a 1-3 night feeds to sleeping through from 7pm -6am. Depends how much you want to continue breastfeeding?

[GertrudeBadger]

I would try a few things - my HV and the attached nursery nurse certainly didn't think it was ridiculous for me to want to stop feeding DD at 8 months when she was waking at 1 or 4am every morning and it did work. I feel sorry for every single tired parent out there and I'm glad mine now mostly sleep through as life is better with more uninterrupted sleep!

[dawny85]

Thank you everyone for your responses.
I generally don't worry that he doesn't sleep through its just when you go to playgroups etc and everyone seems to talk about their babies sleeping habits and everyone asks how they are sleeping for you. I assumed that it was pretty normal but just wanted to make sure that I'm not missing a trick or doing something wrong as I am new to this!! :D

[tiredybear]

bloody playgroups! I was tortured by that too! Have since heard some very good advice. Next time someone asks how your LO is sleeping, just smile and say 'like a baby'.

If your baby is happy and healthy and you are not going completely insane from lack of sleep then you're doing an AMAZING job. xx

[CornishDoll82]

Sleeping through is normal, waking once or twice is normal. I think the stat is that about 20% are still not sleeping through at 6 months. There are things to try and encourage it though if you wish to do so. We did some of those things (no CC or CIO) and she slept through 7-6 from about 4-5 months. Good luck