Help! 7month old keeps waking up multiple times every night

[autumn202123]

Hello!

looking for some advice or peoples own experiences!

My 7 month old baby has been waking up every couple of hours for the past 4 weeks at least. In fact, if I recall his nighttime sleep has been pretty rubbish since around 5.5 months!

He goes down okay and will sleep well for the first few hours but from 12/1am he will then wake up every 2 hours and needs comforting back to sleep.

our average routine is -

6am - wake up and bottle
7.30 - solid breakfast
8.30 - morning nap which is normally 1/1.5 hrs
10am - bottle and play
12.30pm - afternoon nap for around 1hour
1.30pm - bottle and play
4pm - tired so I give a quick 10-15 minute cat nap in my arms to tie him over
4.30pm - bottle and some solids
6pm - bath and sleepsuit on
6.30pm - put down for nighttime sleep
9.30/10pm - we dream feed baby and then put straight back down

and then begins the rubbish night sleep. Is there anything wrong in this schedule for a now 7 month old? I know over tiredness and under tiredness can cause fragmented sleep but I feel his wake windows and sleep is appropriate currently for his age?

is this just a regression that’s lasting too long? Or a sleep association?

He is still in his next to me crib (can’t risk moving him while his sleep is so bad) and when he wakes I will try and ignore and leave him but this normally escalates into crying and I can’t let my 4yo get woken up by this so I will either, pat and shush, stroke his face, let him hold my hand or worst case pick him up and cuddle him back to sleep and then put him back down.

I am getting drained by this, my firstborn slept through pretty well with maybe one small wake for his dummy back in the night so this has shocked me.

Thanks 🥴

Teething? What happens if you give calpol? My DS took teething very very badly and his sleep went downhill at that age.

Also, I moved my DS into his room at 5 months. It was worth it as at least I wasn't woken up when he was just stirring. I also put him in a big crib at 5 months, I can't imagine a next 2 me is still comfortable at this age?

Sometimes it helps to let it go and realise that it's not in your control. Meant kindly. You're doing great and it's probably one of those things. I had one great sleeper one awful sleeper

Too many naps imho.
Cut out the morning nap even if it means a 2hr afternoon nap.
Have getting up moved to 7am and putting down to 7pm
No naps at 4pm!

Also rubbish sleep at night is still pretty normal for many babies.
Only the lucky get the babies that sleep 8hrs straight from 3mos on.

Too many naps and too much sleep in the day overall. Go to 2 naps of 1 hour each. You'll have to stretch out between each one whilst he adjusts. The gap before his bedtime currently is far too short, he is not tired enough for the night. I wouldn't dream feed either, you will be waking him when he is in the middle of a sleep cycle probably. Cap the night at 11 hours, 12 hours overnight is unrealistic for majority of babies. Your first was very unusual, and this one sounds very average so I think you've just been spoilt the first time! Mine didn't sleep through til 18 months.

Unfortunately this is normal night time sleep for some babies. It is hard to cope with though!

I have a 9 month old and I think the 4pm short nap then a 6.30pm bedtime wouldn't have worked for us. 2 months ago my daughter needed at least 3 hours from waking from last nap to bed time. Now she needs 4+ hours.

He cut his first two bottom teeth at 5.5 months which coincided with the downhill of his sleep to be fair. He drools massive amounts constantly since so this could be a factor! 🤔

I thought about moving him but dread the thought of having to get out of bed every 2 hours and I feel it would disturb my 4yo more too. So he still fits is next to me currently, he is a 25th centile baby, so on the more petite size, however he definitely does not have much longer left in it so I may have no choice soon!

I think you’re most probably right! I guess having the ‘good sleeper’ first has made it feel harder as I was used to getting 7/8hr stretches at this age ( minus a few short lived regressions) 😅

Yeah I do agree he should be having 3 hours minimum before bed. My issue is he wakes early which means the two naps he has are on the earlier side ( he gets quite ratty at 2.5hours awake and shows tired cues) which means by the time his up from his afternoon nap it’ll be more like 4.5hours awake which he is definitely too young for and couldn’t handle! I wish I could get him to sleep longer in the morning and try and shift eveything along in the day, as I completely agree with you!

or maybe I just have to ignore the rattiness and tired cues and keep him awake and deal with over tiredness for a few days until I adjust the routine later myself!

I see what your saying!

and yes, I was one of the lucky ones with my firstborn lol, I’m now getting a taste of the ‘norm’ with my 2nd, and how did anyone survive 😅

I was thinking now he is 7 months I should drop his little bridge nap around 4pm… I guess I’m going to have to stretch his wake window in the afternoon to 3 hours.. which I tried last week once but gave up as felt it made no difference, maybe I should have continued?

your right.. I was definitely spoilt by my first! Even now he is a great toddler so chilled and patient and understands everything( has his moments of course) but I’ve been super lucky with him! Guess I was due a taste of reality! 😅

Normally you have to make changes for a few weeks to see a difference. And likely it won't be a straight swap to 2 naps, you might still need some 3 nap days. But try for 2 naps as it;ll help build up his sleep pressure before bed.

Sorry you're struggling. Baby sleep can be crazy but I think your DS can be a good sleeper too. At 7mos, if he is eating plenty of solids and of a good size, he should be able to go through the night and not need a dream feed. Looking at your schedule, I'd go for more solid food and fewer naps, aiming towards 3 solid meals a day plus bottle/snacks.

Also, if you can, I'd plan to move baby into a room on his own at night. That way he learns to drift back to sleep. Hearing anyone in the room will distract him from falling back asleep and he'll wake up to feed/play.

When my DDs were that age, they were capable of sleeping through but if they woke and heard me and DH in the room, they'd fuss and then feeding was the only way to soothe them back to sleep. Equally, they couldn't share a room b/c one would wake the other and then they'd both start playing!

Possible timetable
After a milk feed and solid breakfast, I'd keep him awake and playing as long as possible - until 9:30? - then milk feed and nap.
Wake at 11:30-12 if not awake sooner and feed solid lunch followed by play until 3pm ish and then bottle & nap until 5:30ish.
5:30 - 6ish - bottle & bath followed by solid dinner and play until tired. Can he sit in a highchair at the table whilst you and your other DC eat dinner? He could play with some breadsticks/cucumber slices and a sippy cup of milk? Or some bits of dinner?
7:30/8pm - Final bottle and (story time with 4yr old?) put to bed on his own.

That should have worked. Baby is starting each day feeding early and you're not having them sleep too late in the day. You're not making any rookie mistakes. You're getting the calories in during the day and your nap times are sensible. You've had a baby who hasn't read the manual and for that you have my deepest sympathy. Unless it's something simple like he's waking himself up moving/sore tummy, I'm out of ideas.

Maybe have an awake period before midnight? What is the longest block of sleep they are getting and when is it?

I would try the 2,34 schedule so the first nap is 2 hours after waking and cap it at an hour, the second nap comes 3 hours after waking and bed 4 hours after that. So if they’re up at 7am nap 1 would be 9-10 and nap 2 at 1pm and bed somewhere between 6 and 7 depending on how long they sleep for at the second nap.

Also, how does he get to sleep? For some babies they really need to fall asleep how they’re going to stay asleep so if the goal is sleeping on their own in the cot they need to go into the cot awake.

I’d also try his own room in case you’re inadvertently disturbing him. I didn’t think the next to me was supposed to be used beyond 6 months regardless of their length percentile as they’re not safe if baby is sitting up or pulling to stand although ignore that if you have the forever. I’d also stop the dreamfeed as it could be disturbing sleep further and it doesn’t sound like it’s achieving anything anyway.

And if any signs of teething give nurofen as it’s longer lasting than calpol so more effective overnight.

Not a clue! Mine went from waking every 3 hours to reading hourly at this age - and it lasted until she was 18m. I don't know how I didn't die of exhaustion!

I’d put him to bed much later. Ours did sleep through but bedtime was nearer 8. I preferred that to waking up and early mornings. Morning nap at 8.30 am never happened either as DD1 was off to nursery. So yes, too early waking up, too many naps and too early to bed. I’m assuming this is before the 4 year old. I’d move baby bedtime to later and try and adjust the day. Mine did a bigger sleep in the afternoon and definitely when collecting 4 year old from school. No later naps.

The sleep regression at 4 months isn’t really a regression as a permanent shift where they go from being a really sleepy newborn to having sleep cycles where they go in and out of deep sleep. They have to learn how to connect the cycles and put themselves back to sleep independently (or you have to help them). I suspect that is what you’re dealing with and that it kicked in at around 5 months.

Based on my experience, 7 months was the age we had to cut down to two naps and really pushwe for a longer wake window before bed to get a decent stretch at night.

Our routine was:
7am wake
10am - 11.30am nap
3.30pm-4pm nap
8pm bed

We spoke with a sleep consultant and the nights went from hourly wakes to 7 hour stretches just her suggestion of this routine. At first we couldn’t keep him up much passed 7.30pm but as the weeks went by he comfortably made 8pm.

Going absolutely against the grain here but I’d say not enough sleep, needs earlier bedtime or longer afternoon nap. We spoke with a sleep consultant at that age and she stressed if they’re overtired when going down the body releases cortisol which causes early morning wake ups and/or frequent wake ups. We had both! We were still on 3 naps a day at that age, first nap was around 8.30-9 am as he was waking at 5. Second was just after lunch and 3rd was around 3.30pm. Bedtime was 6.30. When we dropped to 2 naps bedtime was brought forward to 6pm but I’d follow his sleep cues and we even had one day when he’d had a full on day at preschool where he was so tired I put him to bed at 5pm and he slept right through until 7am!
the cortisol thing made a lot of sense to me from my own experience when I’ve felt so tired at work that I could barely stay awake but you obviously have to but then that night I couldn’t get to sleep!

Have a chat with your health visitor for some advice and try supper before bed (a Weetabix worked well here). After doing both these things, mine went from waking 7 times during the night to once. Some parents have no issue with their baby waking during the night, others are aware that they can't function without sleep, have another child to care for and potentially are due back at work before too much longer. Best of luck.

@Becs51 You are describing a very sleepy child! My DDs never needed that much sleep and we didn’t want them awake at 5 am! We felt seeing their dad and playing in the evening mattered. Not every child is super sleepy.