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 🥴

7 month olds are meant to wake during the night. Support your child back to sleep if they need it.

it can be hard, but babies need closeness.

I agree, the overtired thing is just what ‘sleep consultants’ claim is always the issue. Most baby sleep schedules are built for very high sleep needs babies.

Give them a bottle at 12? Probably thirsty and might stretch the wakeups. All normal though, might grow out of it by 3

The only thing wrong I would say is bathing every day, might give them skin conditions in later life as strips away good bacteria. Otherwise you were just lucky with your first, cosleeping helps

Yeah I’ve seen a lot of articles on this and it does make more sense! It’s so difficult to work out overtiredness vs undertiredness as they look super similar, but the fact that when his waking his normally whining and unhappy makes me lean towards over tiredness ( maybe teething thrown in the mix too)

what ages did your baby drop the 3rd nap do you recall?

To be fair, I’ve been ridiculously tired the last few days but when I lay down to sleep when baby is napping my mind just can’t shut off and sleep, don’t know if this is similar to babies/children too…

We are the same just lately after our little one had been going 7-7. He has been ill - but this is since he moved into his own room (also got some teeth and did try the calpol trick)! However, recently I’ve been more strict with the wake windows - 2:45/3 - leaving more time between milk - 3:45/4hrs & 7/8oz - and 3 small meal. He’s not a great napper so I aim for 2-2.5 hours a day. Just two naps too! One morning and one afternoon! We’re seeing little improvements so far so trying to be consistent. Last night he slept 7-5 which was way better as some nights it had been hourly. But just want to let you know you’re not on your own and it’s tough! Hopefully just a phase! Wishing you so much luck and lots of sleep.

You are aiming for over 14 hours of sleep a day which is the highest end of average sleep needs for this age. Most babies don't do 12 hours overnight - 10/11 is standard. You need to build sleep pressure to tire them out, so reducing/capping naps or pushing back bedtime. But, even so, it's biologically normal for babies to be wakeful at this age.

My daughter had 3 as at that age and went to bed between 8/9.

But it’s really normal for babies to wake during the night. My daughter is now 3 1/2 and sometimes still wakes from a drink. She only really started “sleeping through” from about 3.