Anyone fancy comparing 6/7 month old routines?

[MyShortTrousers]

As the title says really, I'm nosey as to what other 6/7 months old are doing we are having some sleep issues (mainly early waking) so not sure if there is something I am doing wrong

So if you own a 6/7 month old would you mind sharing sleep times, waking, naps and length etc? Also mealtimes/milk and how much they eat?

Thanks!

Hi short trousers,

My DD is 7 months on Monday, we kind of follow the 234 routine (wake up, first 90min nap after two hours, wake up and second 90min nap after three hours, wake up and then bed four hours later). She tends to sleep 6.30-6.30, but with a lot of comfort nursing through the night, it doesn't bother me too much as we are cosleeping and she doesn't really wake up, just 'attaches' herself to me😐

We have been doing BLW since 6 months, we aim for 3 meals a day but to be honest some days she's interrsted and other days she isn't. Dunno how much milk she has coz she is breastfed, but it feels like A LOT!!!

BUT...... This obviously all goes to s**t when she is poorly/teething/wonder-weeks, at which point she goes off solids and nurses constantly, bitterly fights all naps and bedtime, naps shorten to 30 minutes so needs to have an extra nap and an earlier bedtime, has multiple distressed night wakings, and is generally a complete nightmare! And I reckon proportionally a lot of her time is spent teething/colds/leaps so it's not a very consistent routine!

Although she has only recently dropped to two naps so I'm hoping it will get a bit more consistent, coz when it happens everything feels like clockwork and she is so much happier!

What is your routine? I'm nosy too :)

DD is just 6 months. She's a really good sleeper, my DS is 2 and til he was 1 he was a crap sleeper.

She has 2 purée meals and 1 finger food meal a day. Doesn't eat much, maybe 1 small square of toast and purée wise she has 5 spoonfuls. She has 4 or 5 6oz bottles of milk during the day. Never been a big eater but she's lovely and chubby even though she's small. She just naps when she wants, normally 4 naps a day around 30mins a time. At night she sleeps 11hr, rarely wakes in the night.

When DS was 6 months he was having 3 meals, 5 9oz bottles during the day and 2-3 2hr naps a day. Slept 11hrs at night, no night feeds but would wake 3-4 times and settle with his dummy.

If you're having sleep issues, you really, REALLY don't want to emulate us! However, as the owner of a 7.5 month old, I'm interested in this too so here goes.

Timings are approximate. Mine is breastfed. This would be an "at home" day for us - if we're out, I try to time it so he falls asleep in the pushchair.

0615 - feed. Might fall asleep again for a bit.
0715 - up for day.
0800 - breakfast.
0915 - nap.
1115 - awake. Play time.
1215 - lunch. Followed by breastfeed but often uninterested.
1330/1400 - nap. Anything from 45 minutes to 2 hours. Try to push start time as late as possible and get him to stay down as long as possible, to reduce awake time before bedtime (he gets really grumpy if awake past 3 hours, and it makes for a miserable dinner).
1500ish - play time.
1600 - breastfeed.
1630 - play time.
1700/1730 - dinner.
1730/1800 - bath
1830/1900 - bed (story, breastfeed to sleep, transfer to cot).

Night wakings: don't get me started. It was just starting to improve when we upset the apple cart by going away for Easter. On a good night, he goes 3-4 hours between feeds. On a bad night, 1.5-2 hours. Unsurprisingly, we often end up co-sleeping.

He has a Sleepyhead, which helps, and we've just moved him into his own room this week. We're thinking of some gentle sleep training if things are unchanged in a month's time; our goal is to get him going 4 hours between feeds at night.

He's taken to solids really well, and will drink water from a cup. I think he eats quite a lot - breakfast today was half a Weetabix with milk, followed by a couple of tablespoons of fruit puree. We use the little IKEA bowls for most meals, to give you an idea of portion size.

If we're at home, or he's really tired, he breastfeeds to sleep. If we're out, it's pushchair - he doesn't really do self-settling. It means I have to time meals quite carefully as he won't feed to sleep if he's too full and doesn't eat well if too tired.

Would be interested to see how he compares to others, he's noticeably worse for sleep than most of his friends!

Thanks cobs that's interesting to read and I'm jealous of your good sleeper ihatechoosingnames!

Mine is doing:
Waking between 6am and 730am but this is after trying to wake for the day at 5am and me fighting to get her back off
Morning nap is 9/930 and can be anything from 30mins to 1.5 hours
Afternoon nap is 12.30/1pm same length as above
And then a late afternoon nap for 45mins at 4/430pm.
I aim for bed at 7pm but despite being tired she fights it until 830pm!
And then at least one feed in the night and multiple waking a for dummy.

I don't know if it's that late afternoon nap causing problems but I don't know if she would cope without it?

She has 4 milk feeds of about 7oz throughout the day and has breakfast and dinner now. She is a really good eater and won't stop when I feed her solids so don't know if I should scale it back a bit as she is a big chunk

The 234 routine really helped us, apparently once they drop to two naps which are both over an hour in duration, then a lot of babies naturally get into this pattern, I read (somewhere, while frantically trawling baby sleep forums) that it usually happens between 6/9 months. I was sceptical at first as I though the worst thing you could do was have the longest stretch of awake time before bed, but it's working for us..... (Sort of!)

Perhaps on the days you LO has 2 x 90 minute naps you could try dropping the last nap and aiming for an even earlier bedtime, and see if there is less resistance at bed time? With my DD she started really fighting the last nap so we had a bit of time where she dropped the 3rd nap and had a 5.30/6.00 bedtime, then we gradually pushed bedtime back (actually daylight savings did the hard work for us!).

DD is just seven months. We have s good night/ morning routine but the rest of the day is flexible. So...
6-6.30: awake, breakfast, play
7.30-8: BF and nap. Nap varies in length, but is better if I get her down by around 2 hours of awake time
Then BF on demand thought the day depending on what we are doing. She will often nap in the buggy - we haven't got to the stage of a consolidated second nap yet so she's more likely to have 2x 45 mins (or many shit 20 min naps)
5pm: tea
6pm: songs and play with daddy when he gets home
6.30: bath
7: BF and bed.
Then I'm usually up once to feed her and the time varies.
I can put her down sleepy but awake usually and she self settles on her tummy with a comforter and white noise. Morning nap can be a bit more tricky.
We only do 2 solid meals at the moment, planning to up to 3 next week, I expect the second nap will begin to consolidate once we do as that's what has happened with the morning nap.

My son was a crap sleeper so I feel very lucky DD sleeps well! It is all purely down to luck though, in the same way some babies walk earlier than others some kids take longer to sleep well. Your routine sounds really good OP.

Wakes at five. if we can we try to keep him quiet in bed with us till 6
Breakfast (baby oatmeal with some fruit purée) between 6-7 (dh takes him so I can sleep)
7 am - naps for half an hour
7:30 feeds
8-11 plays
11 nap - he won't stay down so I have to constantly resettle him.
12:30 feeds (more oatmeal, mushed up banana/avocado/tiny bits of egg or toast etc.)
1 onwards - varies. I try to get him to have a catnap in the afternoon if I can but he fights it.
5:30 dinner. Oatmeal, mushed up bits of whatever we have.
6:30 bath, pjs milk and bed.
7 asleep
7-5 am - wakes constantly. Last night it was fifteen times. Wakes at 5 am no matter how good or bad the night was.

The only sleep I get is 6-7am. I am very close to breaking point.

We have tried by the clock routines, pupd, cc, etc. Nothing, but nothing, will keep him asleep for longer than about 20 mins.

Am
Shocked by all these amazing babies in a routine.
We have little to routine due to DD's varied nap times. She may sleep for 90mins or she may do 35 so I can never really plan the day at all.
This is a rough idea

Wakes any time between 5.30-7

Formula Feed at 7

Sleep between 8-9 for 30-90 mins

Formula Feed between 10-11

Sleep anywhere between 10-12 depending on beginning of day. Again 30 min to 90 min. Who knows.

Formula Feed 2-3

Sleep small one at some point between 3.30-5.

Bath bed between 6.45-8. Formula feed at this time. Sometimes split before and after bath.

DFeed between 10-11

Nights are massively hit and miss. She has gone through to 5 before and then nights where she will be up every hour whinging. Exhausting and unpredictable.

Food wise we just started last week and she's not doing great. Can't hold beaker. Can't sit up in highchair v well. And getting a tummy ache. So I've scaled right back and doing a one day on one day off with food. And that's whenever it fits into the day too.

Oh and there is no way she can go more than 2 hrs without needing a sleep. She's just turned 6 months.

Our routine... I honestly. Ant call it that as its not planned, at best it's a 'pattern'! as follows -

7mo next week. Has a 2 ye old big sis. Breastfed and on food now.

6am-ish wakened by 2yr old big sis.

All up, breakfast, next be about 9ish.

Snoozes dropping her off to nursery or... If at home, cat naps.

And various patterns through the day, rinse and repeat!

Then nighttime -

7.30 feed to sleepy, put in cot and he sleeps sounds til

12 when he wakes up and 1st night time feed

Then about 2 or 3am... At this point he's in the bed.

Snack feeding til 6am ...

Wish he'd sleep through, that said goin from 7.30 til midnight is a relief in itself...

I'm holding out for him to naturally drop another night feed, any one of them, and let us stretch another sleep pocket out...

Feeding wise, he's having two meals a day, a mix of purée and blw. He loves feeding himself.

Big sis was much more routined at this stage, but she was breast and bottle and I do wonder if that regulated her sleep earlier.

I'm ashamed to admit she isn't even my first so you would think I would have some idea what I'm doing but I just don't remember this bit with the others.

Well today she said wasn't having any of her 430pm nap, so I rushed through dinner and bed and had her in the cot for half six. She was beside herself and bouncing off the walls by the end. She is still awake in there now, blowing raspberries and squirming round the cot with overtiredness. It's going to be a long night but I guess at least that answers my question about the late afternoon nap!
Thanks for sharing all these routines, it's nice to have that reassurance and get ideas

DD is 7.5m and a pretty good sleeper (crosses fingers, knocks on wood etc).

6.30-7am wake for day (sometimes I have to wake her). BF then down for breakfast around 7.30.
9-9.45/10 - nap. I'll often wake her at 10.
11 ish BF
11.30 or 12 ish lunch
12.30-2.30/3 nap
Another BF some time in PM
5.30 tea
6.30 up to bed, BF then down for the night around 7.
I dream feed at 10.30 when I go to bed
She sometimes sleeps through, sometimes wakes once for a feed.

Obviously we go with the flow if out for the day or I want to do something that doesn't fit this. She's mostly fallen in to this routine herself.

She's a really good eater so polishing off 3 meals a day as well as however much BF she wants. Routine has some fixed points as I've got an older DC so have to do school run twice a day. She's in her own room for naps and night (evicted for talking in the night around 5.5 months! ). Big thing that I've done differently this time (DS was an awful sleeper) is always making sure she goes down slightly awake - even if she's fallen asleep on me I'll wake her a bit.

Ds is 7 months next week.
Wakes 7-7.30. Has bottle (ff) of 7oz
Goes back to sleep for 30-40 mins at about 9ish
Has 7oz ff @ 10-10.30
Sleep at 12.00, sometimes for 2.5 hours, usually 1.5-2 hours
Wakes hungry, has bottle @ 2.00
Has very short eye close at 4pm, literally 5 minutes
Bottle at 5.00
Meal of finger food (blw)
Bottle at 7pm
Goes to bed
Wakes at 3.00 am, has bottle (sometimes goes back to sleep after 1oz)
I worry that he does not eat enough food, but when he was having 3 mealtimes a day he had such bad tummy aches and wind we have scaled back his meals just to try again in a week or so. He will eat a lot and take big bites doing blw, and will not take much from a spoon. He has always slept well but in recent weeks he's not slept as long in the day, coinciding with learning to roll, crawl and eat so it's probably developmental.

DS is just 6 months. We've had a couple of days where we've managed the 2-3-4 thing, but I don't think we're quite there yet as mostly he doesn't manage it. The 2-3 part works well for us, but his second nap is usually too short and/or too early to last him until bedtime. But then what sometimes happens is that he has a 30 min nap at about 5pm that seems to put him in a horrible mood for the rest of the evening.

He is BF on demand and has three meals of solids most days, but sometimes we skip one if it's not convenient as still early days. Last night he was in such bad form, he didn't want his supper (usually loves food). Usually breakfast around 7.30, lunch at 12 (with big sister) and supper at 5.30/6.

Naps are in the buggy, either out and about or in the kitchen with white noise and a shade. We tried putting him in the cot but he freaked out, despite going down fine in it at night. With a little bit of pushing and shushing at the right moment, he will sleep for at least 90 mins in the morning but I am really struggling to get him to extend the second nap beyond 45 mins.

He self settles in his cot at bedtime (c. 6.45pm: PJs on, BF, story, kiss goodnight and leave him). But it's all downhill from there as he wakes frequently at night. Sometimes it's a lot worse than others and I can't for the life of me see why. I don't feed him before midnight but then feed him back to sleep and he's usually up for the day between 6.30 and 7. But all bets are off from 5am as this is his lightest sleeping time.

Yes we're the same, lightest sleep from 5 on... it kills me!

Agreed. 5am is twitchy time. It's sheer luck if we get past that time.

manatee I feel that frustration of not knowing why one night can be so different to another when I've done nothing differently. Cannot wait for all this nap stuff to bugger. Life got so much easier with DS (now 4) when he was just on one solid afternoon nap a day. Still
Ages to go for that.

We are nowhere near to having 3 solids a day. DD is having her 'lunch' now! And breakfast was one finger of toast (most of it crumbled on table) and a smush of avocado. So not exactly filling!
I'm
Avoiding a dinner feed due to her tummy aches.

Sorry what is the 2-3-4 thing! It might have be something I know under a different name (I hope!)

Sorry what is the 2-3-4 thing! It might have be something I know under a different name (I hope!)

Hava, it's where they are awake for 2hrs then put down for a nap, awake 3hrs then nap and awake 4hrs and nap.

Dd is 7.5 months and is roughly

6-7am wakes and has bottle then breakfast about twenty minutes after.
8.30-9 nap this lasts anytime from 30-60 minutes but usually 30
11.00 bottle and nap again for about 30 minutes
1.00 lunch
2.30 bottle and nap
5.00 tea
6.30 bottle and bed

She doesn't wake for milk in the night, sometimes for us to find her dummy.

Yes, first nap starts 2 hours after wake up, second nap starts 3 hours after waking up from that, and bedtime is 4 hours after waking up from the second nap. In theory.

DS actually refused his late afternoon nap today: woke up at 1.40pm from his second nap and went right through till 6.45 bedtime. So it'll be interesting to see how/if that affects his night.

Oh I see - I think we are more 4-3-2 (the latter being a cat nap!)