7 month old sleep

[plo608]

Hoping for some advice. Our 7 month old is currently waking after every sleep cycle throughout the night. I have put her in her cot awake since 3 months with a dummy, holding her hand, sleeping 6/7hr stretches and waking for 2 feeds. This seemed to suddenly change.

Naps for 30 minutes in cot and therefore we just contact nap. Most days this means two 1.5/2 hr naps and a power nap but sometimes will only nap on me for 30 minutes.

I’ve done lots of reading and had some brief advice from sleep consultants, some saying that the dummy is the issue (does every baby with a dummy wake every 45 minutes?), that she is not getting into a deep enough sleep therefore waking after each cycle, that she isn’t able to self settle, that’s she’s overtired, it’s habit or just a light sleeper. I know that she is able to settle both with and without the dummy during the night but tends to want it at the beginning of the night and most nights I’m resettling her in her cot every 45 minutes. If I pick her up or put her on the bed she’ll fall asleep instantly for hours.

I’m managing 3-4 hours of broken sleep most nights. I feel like I’m struggling to function throughout the day and be a good Mum. What do I need to accept or do differently?

Mine did this from 6-8 months. I'm convinced it was teething pain that started to wake him, then my attempts to get him back to sleep that kept him awake as he needed feeding to drift off. All that extra milk kept him wanting more.

Does he still have milk overnight? When we night weaned at 8 months the wakeups dramatically decreased and he went back to sleeping through very quickly. Other than that, it's probably just a phase and will cone to an end eventually.

I'd also be tempted to get rid of the dummy to see if it does make a difference

@ToddleToddleToddle
Thank you for the reply. She does have a few teeth coming through at the moment. Is there anything that helped at 8 months or did things just settle down?

She has 2 feeds in the night, that hasn’t changed but I’ve tried to keep it to 2 as much as possible as had fears of having to feed every 45 minutes. She’s been down for 90 minutes and already woken 4 times.

I did decide I was going to try without the dummy last week, but after 30 minutes of sobbing, I couldn’t do it. Happy to try again going in a little more prepared this time. Did your little one use a dummy?

Sounds like a sleep regression, the dummy isn’t the issue! it’ll pass, as frustrating as that sounds 😞

Could very easily be teething pain then! I night weaned at the same time as his teeth finished coming through, so I've no way of knowing what it was that fixed it. He hasn't had such a bad time with molars or canines though, only incisors.