7 month old split nights

[MrsB25]

Hi, wondering if anyone has any advice/experience of this. The last couple of weeks we’ve had a split night almost every night with my 7MO being awake for around an hour usually at some point between 3-5 AM.
Initially I thought it was because she had a cold but that’s gone now and it’s still happening!
She sleeps in her cot but still in our room next to my side of the bed. BF and wakes to feed usually twice a night, it tends to be after the second feed that we are now having the awake period.

She usually gets about 3 hours sleep a day (30 mins morning, 2 hours over lunch, 30 mins afternoon) bedtime is between 7.30-8.15 depending on when she woke up. Usually around 3 hours after the end of her last nap.

Not sure if she is having too much daytime sleep- she doesn’t seem ready to drop to two naps yet as she can’t stay awake long enough in between.

Any advice or experiences would be greatly appreciated!

Is lo getting enough calories in day?

Have you tried putting lo in own room to see if makes a difference? Maybe your disturbing lo? I moved on one specular bad night of her waking and generally apart from usually she hasn't been awake for hours though I probably jinxed it now though 😂 I think I was disturbing my LO.

Though sometimes I think it's developmental.... 🤔

I think so! She’s not doing too well with solids just yet but is fed on demand at least every 2 hours and I try to feed as much as possible in the run up to bedtime. She just seems really restless recently- she used to lose her dummy and still stay asleep until waking for her next feed but now she seems to really notice it not being there, but then is often spitting/pulling it out when I put it back in

I’ve not braved own room yet as I’m too lazy to get up that many times a night for resettling/feeds but you could be right maybe we are disturbing her!

If she's not into solids it's not an issue. Milk is higher calories.

Have you tried putting in about a zillion dummies in cot so she can find them? Try and do it herself? My LO pulls it in and out, and practices it 😂 she also started trying to put in our mouth 😂

😂 I was same but night waking and calling for me decreased. I think since we moved her I get up maybe 3 times..... Maybe a feed (depends on night if she wants one or not) maybe if she's decided to chuck all her dummies out the cot 😂 and another maybe if she's woken up and needs comfort. nights in our room she used to wake for 2 to 3 hours a night ( at least half the nights in the week) 60 million times for dummy. It has got much better. You can only but try 🤷🏼‍♀️ I was scared and lazy too 😂 but actually since she moved. I sleep better. She sleeps better. Though walking 20 steps down the hall is very exhausting 😂 and very chilly

How do you get her to sleep?

Because I suspect that having night breastfeeds is part of the problem and night weaning may well form part of your solution.

The way you tackle this though depends on if those night feeds are needed for the calories, or if feeding is baby's comfort mechanisms and the night feeds are mire to do with comfort than calories.

Essentially, the way to avoid these long periods awake in the early hours is by avoiding baby waking up at all, rather than trying to find ways to resettle baby faster.

@Pickle2021 thank you I think I might have to bite the bullet and try moving her if things don’t improve soon. Yes the cot is a dummy graveyard as DH calls it 🤣 she is fine putting it in herself during the day but seems to struggle still at night when she’s half asleep and has her eyes closed. I’ve just ordered a ‘sleepytot’ dummy holder teddy so hoping that helps.

@FATEdestiny she goes into her cot fully awake after feed, stories and cuddle and she has her dummy to settle to sleep. I lie on the bed and do some shushing but don’t touch her or do anything else to get her to sleep. She also doesn’t feed to sleep (she stopped this of her own accord a few months ago) so goes back down awake with her dummy and gets back to sleep herself after night feeds.

I do wonder if it’s calories as she is a very efficient feeder during the day and doesn’t take long feeds, she has been like this for months though and we have had good periods of sleep in that time too 🤷🏻‍♀️. I don’t mind doing a couple of feeds a night at all but I agree we need to try and stop the waking so that she doesn’t end up awake for hours.