7 month old sleep schedule help!

[duds16]

I'm currently in a rut with sleep for my 7.5 month old son. Can't figure out how to start changing things and hoping you lovely people may have some suggestions. Here's a quick rundown of our day/night.

Wakes up between 4.30-5am 90% of the time. Will resettle with a quick feed but takes up to an hour to go back to sleep (not crying, just rolling and chatting). Then falls back to sleep for 45 mins. So day starts anywhere between 6-7am. He does this regardless of whether he goes to bed at 5pm or 7pm!

Naps. Have been doing 2 naps for a while as would never sleep for a 3rd but they are really inconsistent in length. Nap 1 after 2.20mins of awake time - usually for 1.20 max. Nap 2 after 2.40 of awake time. It's 50/50 whether he'll do 30mins or 1.20 again.

Bedtime. Go by 3.15-3.30 of AT before bedtime so can be as early as 5pm if the 2nd nap was crap. He goes down easily for bed based on night time routine though.

During the night he is erratic with his waking but am trying to only feed 1 x (usually around 2-3am). He often wakes and rolls around moaning for a while but tends to go back to sleep on his own.

How do I start making the day a bit more predictable for him? I'm sure the different bedtimes is contributing to the night wakings and early rising but no idea how to change things up to get a bit more consistency.

[KP86]

Hello!

I would look into some gentle sleep training to try to get both day sleeps 1.5-2hr each, which should help with overnights as well (because chances are your baby is overtired). Then continue the sleep training overnight.

My DS had two day sleeps until about 16-17 months, of 90 mins each. But he had started to fight the morning sleep a bit, so I changed his routine to be one nap after lunch which he has for 2-2.5hr (his choice) and immediately he started sleeping through the night, whereas before he was still waking for milk once.

Sleep training requires a lot of effort and patience (which is a struggle for me!) but absolutely worth it. Not CIO-style, but more reassurance.

Good luck. I'm sure others will have useful advice as well.