Getting DS to sleep 7-7

[LittleMilla]

I feel that I am posting quite a bit on here at the moment, so apologies in advance - I just find MN advice SO much better than RL.

My DS is 7 months old - healthy weight and eating 3 good meals a day. No teething ishoos at the moment and is generally very happy. With a small amount of CC, we've got him sleeping 7-5 (ish) for the past month or so now, which is brilliant. However, how can we get him through to the magic 7am? I BF him at 5 and more often than not he'll go back to sleep. However, the closer to 6am it is, the harder it is.

I really struggle to go back to sleep after the 5am feed and so constantly feel knackered. I know that compared to the early days and others it's fine, but I NEED my sleep. DH and I have spoken about doing CC to get him through. But it goes against my instinct and I always feel very proud that he's done 10 hours! However, I worry that by always feeding him at 5am it's just reinforcing a habit.

We dropped the dreamfeed about a month ago and have tried to offer water. But he wants boob!

Any thoughts?

I think he's doing well to sleep through 7-5 to be honest although that's not very helpful to you I know

My ds is 3.5 and rarely sleeps more than ten hours a night, never has. Some kids don't but some sleep longer than twelve.

I'm afraid 5am is when many 7 month olds want their first feed. Both mine used to wake around 5.30 for a feed at that age and started to not go back to sleep.

The eldest naturally woke up later around 8 months and it was magic 7am by 1 year. The youngest still woke up at 6-6.30 but was doing 7am by maybe 17/18 months? The eldest I did nothing, the youngest by about 1 year I tried varying combinations of blackout blinds etc.

I would accept it for a few more months then see how he goes when he's eating a fair old amount of solids and see if you can get him to sleep later.

It's normal for 7 month olds to wake at 5 for their first feed. You are doing well to get him to sleep 10 hours.

Your 7 month old is sleeping for 10 hours- and you'r complaining?????????

Why don't you go to bed a bit earlier yourself then start your day ith him?

He's also probably really hungry by then- 10 hours is a long time for anyone of any qe to go without food!

Another one who can't believe you are complaining about this?!! There is nothing you can do, babies are like this! Sorry not helpful. I can understand being woken up by 5am and not goign back to sleep. For me that's worse than 2/3 waking ups at night and sleeping till 7am...which is what my 15 month old does. I don't like interupted sleep but, early wakings are even worse!

just go to bed earlier.

God, I know that I am very lucky that he's doing this well and am really happy! It's just the age-old thing of having a few friends whose LOs go right through, so I am never sure what's 'normal'.

DH often gets home late, which means I don't tend to get to bed until about 10/11. Otherwise I'd go to bed much earlier and whenever he IS back earlier, I do go to bed.

Thanks for replies.

Can you put him to bed at 8 - DS1 went through a loooooong phase as a baby/toddler of only sleeping 10 hours at night, but 8-6 somehow seemed more manageable than 7-5.

Why can't you go to bed before your dp gets home?

My dd wakes at 5 ish and has done since she was born. Her natural waking time is 4.45 am and despite lots of different bed times, routines, bribes she always wakes bright and ready to start the day around 5. I was thrilled yesterday when she slept in until 6.12 am the latest she's ever slept in. However, she's now 4 and a half. Apparently it does change when their teenagers!!

The ones that are claiming they sleep through are probably telling lies....I have a friend that raves about their lo doing all kinds of things and then when you delve a little deeper you find that they did it once or twice which is hardly all the time
My lo is coming upto 7months and won't settle until 9:30-10:30 and sleeps until anywhere between 2:30 and 5ish we have had 9:30-8:15 two or three times so hats off to you on ugly our achievement!!

I think the 7-7 thing is yet another of those myths that are bandied around to make us feel inadequate when most our babies don't do it. My dc3 rarely sleeps past 5am and he's almost 5yo. Unfortunately for me, that's just the way he's made.

My bf when I had dc1 had a baby who slept for 12 hours straight, no matter what time she was put to bed so if they fancied a lie in at the weekend they just put her to bed at 10pm and could guarantee she'd sleep until 10am . I have never met another child who did that though!

The most helpful thing I can suggest is to resign yourself to the early starts - ime, it's easier to get up at the crack of dawn if you aren't constantly thinking how much easier and nicer it would be to have another 2 hours sleep.

Sleep patterns change so much through the first couple of years - you may well find he sleeps longer of his own accord, you may also go through a phase where he starts waking again. That's babies for you .

Lotkinsgonecurly, I can not wait for the teenage years when it is impossible to turf them out of bed before lunchtime.

I intend to spend several months of his teenage-dom bursting into his room at 5am, prodding his face, climbing on his head and asking random questions in a Very Loud Voice .

My DS1 went through the 5.30am phase, it's a killer isn't it OP? Can't remember how long it lasted - a few months I think. Sorry no magic solutions from me!

A few things you could try for a week or so to see if it would make any difference,

Pre-emptive feeding: wake him before he does and feed which will hopefully mean that he will go back to sleep. Once this is settled, move the time forward and hopefully he will wait till you wake him.

Try also adjusting bed time forward or backwards and experimenting with day time naps could help. Some babies need more sleep to sleep for longer and some need less overall.

If at 7 months he is sleeping through from 7 till 5, the rest will follow in time!!

Not all babies sleep 12 hours at a time, they just don't. My DS sleeps about 10.5 hours a night, so he goes to bed at 8pm not 7pm.

If your baby sleeps 10 hours a night then you can get 8 hours no problem, and still get a couple of hours to yourself.

I also see little to complain about, sorry OP. I have a 6 month old who is EBF and is off to a very slow start weaning-wise, part laziness from me (2nd child) and reluctance from him (turns his face up at everything offered so far!).

We co-sleep (secretly love this as I'm far less sleep deprived than first time round and love the snuggling, don't tell DH), doesnt have a set bedtime and dreamfeeds often in the night (though I don't notice as I'm half asleep, couldn't really tell you what time he feeds or how often as I don't get up!). He 'wakes' though about 7/8ish.

I agree 7-7 is a bit of an urban myth, loads of babies will be waking at 5am cos they're hungry and want feeding, they've only got tiny stomachs!

I think your DC is doing very well. 10 hours is amazing and I don't mean to be unkind but others would give their right arm for 10 solid hours and might like you to stop dissecting/over-thinking it. Hope it sorts itself out soon a s I know how you feel.

Thanks all for replies.

He is bloody brilliant in every way and I didn't want my post to appear ungrateful. I was just wondering if the 7-7 is an urban myth, or if we could/should try and eeek him out. I didn't want to piss anyone off, which is actually why I posted in here and not sleep. I think I would've (understandably) have been annihilated there !

Incidently, he pulled out an 11 hour-er last night. He had a slightly thicker sleeping bag on, so when he first stirred at 4:45am, he went back for another hour. What a hero. I also showed DH everyone's replies and I think he now realises how brilliant our DS is, so will also stop worrying about the extra hour too.

We'll just continue taking it in turns to get up with him, and go to bed earlier!!

Thanks again

Just to suggest that you gradually change his bedtime and meals by 10 mins a day so that he pushes nearer the 7.30 bedtime - 6.30 am start. I think 5am is too early to start the day, and he is probably sleeping longer somewhere else in the day to compensate.

At that age all my three dcs woke once in the night about 2-3 to bf and then settled back to sleep till 7 or in dd's case 8am . So I know they couldn't stretch foodwise, but it did suit me better to have a middle of night feed than to start the day so early. If it really doesn't suit you, and the 5am starts continue for months on end, you could consider a bedtime snack (a little cereal?) just before 7pm. They did stop waking in the night from I year. I certainly can't remember it being an issue except with ds2. And only once in the night.

So yes, it is an urban myth that ALL children sleep through 7-7 at that age. The majority may at 1year, but even when my children consistently slept through I never doubted they would wake me "occasionally" "quite often"

My DD is nine months and goes 7.30-3.30ish, feed and back to sleep (sometimes after half an hour 'chatting) until 6/6.30.
I was over the moon when she slept until 5am the other day. I think it must have been a growth spurt though as she was having masses and masses of milk on top of loads of solids.
Last night it was 3.45am again. Eating has gone back to normal too.
So just count yourself lucky OP. I too have friends with babies who allegedly go 7-7 but they all have their moments with teeth, a cold, upset tummy.
I go to bed at 9 and DH gives a bottle of expressed milk one night a week so I can sleep straight through or he takes her in the morning and I can go back to sleep for a couple of hours.
The way I see it is, that it won't last forever and you just get through it like you get through everything else they throw at you...

I think it is due to fresh air.

Mine have all slept minimum 7 to 7 virtually every night from as soon as I stopped breast feeding at night but they all get at least 4 miles of walking in fresh air every day (obviously at 7 months in a sling not walking themselves)! This is in snow rain etc and has also kept them healthy but obviously some people still need less sleep than others so all it will do is make them sleep to their potential which we are lucky is over 12 hours for our kids. Works well for me too!

My 2 year old is amazingly happy and still sleeps 13 hours every night and a further 2 in the day but perhaps not surprising walking over 4 miles a day!

Blummin heck - 4 miles a day!! I think I'd need more sleep if that were me! We usually spend the afternoon outdoors and this week he's really got the hang of crawling and is EVERYWHERE - also trying to pull himself up to stand/walk the whole time.

I am a sleeper, always have been. My mum still had to collect me from school at lunchtime for a nap when I was supposed to be there full-time. And I'd regularly sleep 13 hours+ a night. Before I was pregnant I'd sleep 9 hours a night and still have a nap before going out at the weekend.

It seems that I warmer sleeping bag really IS helping DS - slept until 6:30am today. I am also giving him one bottle of formula as I start to wean him off my boobies!

I must check out now as I know I risk pissing off a lot of people. Thanks for advice and bothering to read.

does your heating click on at that time? or milkman deliver/supermarket gates clank? that kind of thing?

my other thought would be to pull back bedtime to say 8pm then bring forward again to get a longer stretch of sleep

NB Xmas WILL bugger up routines so be prepared for it all to go outta the window temporarily