To ask why wont my 7 month old baby sleep through the Night?

[Mobydick100]

I have a 7 month old baby. He goes to bed at 7pm. He has his 'last' feed just bed. He wakes up at 10- 11pm- crying. I then give him another feed (My thinking is that I'd rather feed him at 10 than later in night). Each night I hope that he will manage from 10 till morning without a feed. He usually wakes at 5ish for another feed. I'm currently weaning him. He has breakfast- rest of feeds are milk. Feeds every 4 hours (7oz) in day so I think he's getting enough milk in day to get him through night.

Current day feeding looks like this:
7am- porridge and pureed fruit.
11am- 7oz milk.
3pm- 7oz milk
7pm- 7oz

I am desperate for him to sleep for longer. What can I do?
I was thinking of giving him milk at 10pm then refuse to give him another feed till 7am. Then in 2 weeks...stop feeding him after 7pm. Next week I'm swapping his 3pm feed for vegetables (so he will have food twice a day).
If I refuse to feed him after 10/11pm will he eventually stop waking up in early hours?
What should I do when he wakes and I don't want to feed him? Dummy? Cuddles? Bring into bed with me for a bit?....or leave him to cry for a bit (how long?!) and hope he falls back to sleep.
Massively grateful for any tips on how to try and get him to sleep through. I'm aware he might not sleep through despite my best efforts but think I'm probably not helping him sleep through right now.
Thanks!

Honestly? Your expectations are too high.

My DS has just started through age 2, something I believe is very usual. Before 2/3am wake ups very the norm with the day starting at 5:30. Then one night he slept 7:30-6:30 and had done ever since. I truly believe they will sleep when they are ready.

Pretty standard for a 7 month old I’m afraid. My daughter slept through from 15 months but my son didn’t until past 5 and even now at 7 is hot and miss 😫

It’s because he’s a baby.

My first slept 7-7 from about 8 months. My second still doesn’t at 12m.

I agree with others that you should keep up the milk but offer him solids 3 times a day.

I think that he is hungry still. My 3.5 month old has a similar amount of milk to your 7 month old.

Remember food before 1 is classed as play not nutrution therefore should not ever replace milk unless the child decides themselves to drop a feed. Babies not feeds through the night. Your 7 month old is sleeping fabby. Many children wont sleep for those long stretches before 16+ months. Many at 7 months still feed every 2-3h a night. I think you need to catch up with your health visitor and run your concerns past them before making changes.

Nowhere near enough food or milk poor kids probably starving

Thanks so much everyone. That's so helpful. He has allergies and was prem hence why we were advised to take weaning very slowly. I think I'll get my hv to come out. Are people suggesting I should give him brekkie and milk?
'Refuse was probably the wrong word. I just meant support him not to need it. I didn't know if he would have slept through if I didn't keep offering food. I thought may be eating at night is just becoming a habit rather than something he needs.
Clearly he needs it though so that's fine.
I just felt everyone around me are people whose babies have been sleeping through for a long time so thought I must be doing something wrong. Thanks for sorting out my expectations a bit. :'

At 7 months I think my 11 month old was waking roughly every 90 minutes all night.

I would introduce more solids personally unless there is a reason you aren’t and try to roll with the punches a bit. Baby is doing fine I think.

Remember food before 1 is classed as play not nutrution
Sorry but this is nonsense, whoever told you that?
Babies need nutrition from solid food from 6 months.

Some babies sleep through earlier than others, so don't listen to what other babies are doing and assume yours should be doing the same.

He's still very young, he still needs his milk and his night feeds. What do you expect him to do if you stop his night feed, you'll have a hungry, screaming baby on your hands. He won't just turn over and go back to sleep.

Oh sorry - cross post.

I wish my 7month old slept that much! She's waking up every 2-3 hours at the moment!
Food wise we are about the same, she will have some finger food for breakfast and then milk feeds on demand and she'll have some vegetable finger food at tea time :)

That's normal or at least it was for me. My lo woke the same times at the same age and then a couple of months later dropped a feed and then slept through consistently from around 11 months.

You are doing great, op! If hes having milk at 5 then breakfast and water at 7 is fine. Try and offer milk every 4 hours and food at meal times, ideally an hour or so after milk. At 14 months, we swapped milk at night for water. Dd was well established on food and dropped her milk feeds of her own accord. She is starting to sleep througg now at 16 months. Sometimes wakes once for water and thats it.

Agree with others...your baby is hungry! And ferment, 'Food before 1, is just for fun'...so you shouldn't be dropping ANY milk feeds!! And he should be eating more than one solid meal a day now to learn about food and textures. Just porridge isn't anywhere near enough for a 7 month old! Speak to your health visitor for weaning advice or look online at baby-led weaning, for ideas on what finger foods you could be giving at lunch and tea time. Perhaps start with something like sliced banana or other soft fruit...strawberries or slices of mango.

Look on here to start: www.babycentre.co.uk/a1007100/baby-led-weaning

Another saying that that is not bad going but yes, at 7mo i'd be giving food morning and evening. Give the milk before the food as the milk is more calorific. At that age i was only doing finger food at lunch time and wasn't stressing if not much actually got eaten, whereas breakfast and dinner were mostly spoon fed.

The sleep sounds normal to me. Research baby led weaning - you can offer loadsmore solid food than you are - doesn’t mean baby will eat it but I definitely would offer three times a day. Back when I weaned a prem baby (6 years ago), the age or rate of weaning wasn’t delayed due to prematurity.

You could try to resettle him for 10 minutes and if that doesn't work offer him milk. My DS is 10 months, I try shush pat if he wakes and feed him if he won't settle back down.

Offer food an hour after milk. DS has just started to refuse bf first thing in favour of breakfast.

That's pretty good, my youngest was up and down all night at that age. He still wakes once a night now and he's 2 1/2

@MollyDaydream the phrase 'Food before 1 is just for fun' isn't meant to mean that solid food is not important. Of course it is! What it means, is that a baby STILL gets most of its nutrition from milk, and that they will be learning to taste and eat new food through exploring it in a sensory way. It is to encourage mums to not give up milk feeds too soon (as you can see here is still happening!) and to encourage them to allow their babies to explore solid food whilst still having milk feeds.

(I have no idea why my phone changed the word 'remember' to 'ferment' 😳)

All my DC were on 3 meals a day by 7 months, and you should be thinking about introducing lumpy food too, if you leave it too late they can reject it.

www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/infant-and-young-child-feeding

Well my kids never slept like that at that age! Your a lucky lady getting 7 hours of straight sleep! I don't get that now and my youngest is nearly 2!

Just giving an alternative view on the weaning, my son was baby lead weaned as he refused anything off a spoon and preferred to feed himself, this meant that he was really just exploring and hardly ate anything, it was mainly just fruit and veg too. He got ALL his nutrition from his milk, gained weight perfectly and is a healthy, happy boy. I was also told food is fun until they're 1.