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!

10pm-5am is amazing, count yourself very lucky! I think you are expecting too much too soon. Why are you offering only one meal per day?

Sounds like your struggling OP but honestly that's brilliant for 7months old! My son was up every 2 hours until 12 months and even now he wakes up twice a night and he's two next month!

Oh and I also offered my son water at night because he'd fill up on milk in the night and then be fussy feeding in the day, turned out he was just a little thirsty and then he stopped waking for that night feed, or if he did wake he just wanted settling back to sleep

Also, at 7 months old my baby was on three meals a day plus milk in between.

Because they’re 7 months old. And I hate to break it to you, but sleeping 10pm-5am IS sleeping through the night. My twins are 20 months and still wake once or twice each. It sucks but you get used to it!

I would say he’s very hungry on that amount of food, although increasing won’t necessarily make him sleep any better!

My ds 8 Months currently has

7am 8oz milk
8:30am porridge and fruit purée
11am 8oz milk
12:30pm lunch
3pm 8oz milk
5:30pm dinner
7pm 8oz milk

He wakes once most nights, sometimes twice and I feed him every time he wakes. Once or twice a week he may sleep through until 5am. He finishes most of his bottles but I think he’s getting ready to drop the mid morning one

Food isn’t just for fun before one. At six months old stores of iron and zinc start to deplete. Provided they haven’t cut their milk down too much it should be okay, but ideally a child should have solids daily well before 12 months.

And you shouldn’t give a baby under 12 months water in the night - they need the nutrition of milk, and they shouldn’t be having much water outside of mealtimes.

That's amazing for a 7 month old. Sleeping through the night is considered 5-6 hour blocks at that age I think.

My almost 8 month old doesn’t sleep through....dc3 didn’t until 10 months when she started crawling...my other 2 did a bit earlier but ds then regressed at 15 months!

But I don’t actually feed my baby during the night just go to get when she wakes - her feeds are as follows...

6.30am - 180ml milk
8.30am - fruit & oats
12pm - meat & veg purée & full fat yoghurt with fruit
3pm - 180ml milk
5pm - meat & veg purée & fruit (some finger foods offered too)
7pm - 180ml milk

Definitely feed your baby more!

My 7 month old does 6pm all the way through to 7am. (I know I know) (and I’m not lying he really does. Sometimes wakes at 5am for milk but will sleep until 7 after).

His day is
7- wake up (breastfeed)
7.30 - wheatabix and fruit
9 - NAP (90 ish minutes) (formula milk)
12 - banana, maybe other mashed fruit, usually go for finger food so eggy bread or something, I mix it up
2 - nap (another 90 minutes) (formula milk)
5 - pasta/cous cous/baked potato with beans and cheese
5.30 - bath and pjs (breastfeed)
6 ish - bedtime! (8 ounces of formula)

Don’t rigidly stick to this and go with the flow most days. If he doesn’t have good naps he sleeps really badly.

He's 7 months and clearly hungry after a reasonably short time. He needs a meal before bed if you have any hope of extending the night by an hour or so. Try giving him a porridge/banana meal at supper time. Just breakfast isn't really enough for anything to change. But I think you should know that 10-5 is really good! NHS say sleeping through is 6 hours 😬

Where does "food before one is for fun" come from? Not from the NHS or World Health Organisation?
Around the age of 6 months, an infant’s need for energy and nutrients starts to exceed what is provided by breast milk, and complementary foods are necessary to meet those needs. An infant of this age is also developmentally ready for other foods. If complementary foods are not introduced around the age of 6 months, or if they are given inappropriately, an infant’s growth may falter.

I think I did some thing like

7am milk
8am breakfast
9am nap

10.30 wake up
11 milk
1 lunch
1.30 nap

3 wake up & milk
5.30 dinner - something filling like porridge is good
6.30 pjs, milk, brush teeth, book and bed for 7

I’d give a bottle before 11pm but then not afterwards until 7am because usually it messes the rest of the day up a little bit.

I also think that lots of parents would call it sleeping through and the he’s going well for 7 months

They do it when they do it.

One of mine slept through from 5 months, the other 2.5. The one that didn't sleep ate considerably more than the other that did sleep.

Remember food before 1 is classed as play not nutrution
Of course it's for nutrition, even before one! What that misleading phrase is supposed to mean is that milk is still a big part of a baby's diet, that's all.

I'm another one who would class this as sleeping through. My two used to both still wake up around 4-5 for a feed around this age.

I weaned mine early and they were both having almost 3 meals a day by 7 months as well as milk. I'd introduce more food and let him adjust milk intake himself.

How and why is baby led weaning a thing if they need so much from food? Baby led weaning means babies barely swallow anything that they are exploring. Health visitors advocate this.

A 7 month old has only been weaning for a month! They're still learning a very new skill, there's no rush for 3 meals a day, all children develop that skill at different rates

Some health visitors advocate baby led weaning, I don't know what the evidence base is for it. Most parents globally feed their young babies.
Also at 6-7 months mine were swallowing a lot of finger foods, they weren't just playing with it.

Try give porridge at 645--715pm then half a milk feed then bath then rest of milk. Fills our baby up for sleeps.

I actually thought that milk (I read about breast milk but I assume formula is the same) is actually more calorie dense than solid food - so I don't think more solid food is actually likely to help. I also thought on demand feeding was important for brain development in young kids. If he wakes up hungry he should be fed.

I'm jealous my two year still doesn't sleep for longer than 6 hours in one stretch. (Not because of hunger clearly - she just wants cuddles)

Are people suggesting I should give him brekkie and milk?

YES!!

I know all babies are different but my 7 month old, sleeps 7-7 but he has done from 11 weeks so nothing to do with solids, just luck! He has 5 x 8oz bottles of formula and 3 small meals a day. I seriously think your baby is hungry!

You shouldn't have swapped a milk feed for solids by this age. You should still offer all milk feeds, food is extra to this when weaning. As baby takes more food he will drop milk feeds himself.

He sleeps 10-5? Bloody hell it took us 4 years to get anywhere near 7 hours unbroken sleep

Mine started properly sleeping through at 6 months and she was exceptionally early compare to friends. Your baby is doing fine!

I have a 7 month old too OP and ages only just in the last couple of weeks started sleeping through. I think from what you describe he's not doing too badly.