Is there anything I can do to improve 7 mo's sleep?

[SecondhandTable]

Or is it just a case of riding it out and it will improve itself? My eldest was a pretty good sleeper, without us really having to do much about it. At a loss with DC2 really who was a good sleeper a few months ago but for the last two months or so will do a 3hr stretch first thing and then wakes more frequently all night long after that, anywhere between 30 mins -2.5hrs at a time. DH and I are exhausted but we don't want baby to be distressed by leaving him to cry nor do we want to cosleep.

I bought the big Purflo one from their website last week for £99! Wonder if it was the last of their stock. There is an open box one (brand new) on eBay at the moment too.

My DD loved her sleephead so we got her the Purflo maxi for moving her into the cot. She seems to like it.

How did you know your little one wasn't hungry at all when you did this? My boy definitely is hungry at least some of the time he wakes, he will often spend a good 5 mins or so on each breast at a night feed to drain it and when he has formula he usually drinks about 180ml so a sizeable amount. Im not sure how I could do the Ferber method or how it would work if he is genuinely hungry some of the time he wakes? And how would I know when that is hah?

@SecondhandTable I wondered the same before I started. I make sure she has a good feed prior to bed time. Although prior to Ferber she was feeding in the night, I felt it could have been more for comfort and to go back to sleep rather than hunger.
I read that they don't usually need a feed through the night at DD's age (8 months now), so I thought I'd allow her to cry and do Ferber when she woke in the night, but if she woke very soon after falling asleep again then it might be hunger and I'd feed her. However this didn't happen, when she woke she went back to sleep until it was time to get up. Now she's been consistently sleeping though.

That makes sense, thanks. Unfortunately I do think DS is hungry is for two of his night wakes a night as he is on the breast decent amount of time both sides or drinks 180-200ml formula. I struggle to get a good feed in him before bed because he is breastfed on demand in the day and often has a good breastfeed say two hours before bed and so then is just very tired by bedtime but not really hungry! He was sleeping solid long stretches of 6-9 hours a night when he was 3-5 months old when he used to spend a dozy hour of breastfeeding before bed. As he stopped doing this, he stopped doing a long first stretch of sleep so I have always assumed they are related. However not sure what I can do about that really other than try a bottle of formula before bed which I am going to try soon. He's just had bronchiolitis and his chest is still slightly wheezy so going to wait til he's fully recovered before we change anything.

He is only young. But maybe you could try?

He can't re-settle in the middle of the night. But maybe Tigard because because he's not really settling himself, the way you do it, at the beginning. The way you described it sounds like lots of things needed, and quite a faff. What about trying to simplify it?

Sell it to him like it's a good thing. Ds now that you are older, a big boy, we are going to try something. This is what is going to happen, you then explain it. ...., I'm going to xxx and then he'll know what to expect.

He's a big boy so he's going to go to bed himself. This shouldn't be frightening. It's exciting because he's now a big boy. He should be tired and happy. Bath pyjamas into bed. One story, a kiss. Then you leave. He self settles.

Worth a shot?

Is he getting enough food throughout the day? Is it not enough, if he's hungry mid night? Is he having a big dinner then a big milk/ breastfeed just before bed?

I am inclined to think he is not getting enough food in the day, no. Because he was a big baby and he has now dropped down two lots of centiles over the last few months. This has coincided with him losing interest in breastfeeding and therefore feeding less in the day, and also to some extent the introduction of solid food. Although his weight gain was slowing a lot before we started weaning. He typically has two milk feeds a night. He is starting to eat some solid foods now, there have been a few occasions where he's given his evening meal a decent go, but he's never slept better on those nights and still has decent milk feeds on those nights anyway! But I appreciate a couple of days isn't really representative of how he'd sleep if he was generally getting more calories in every day.

Not sure how I can fix this anyway though, he is offered 3 meals a day but can be a bit hit and miss with the solids. I also offer the breast roughly every 3 hours usually (unless he's sleeping then obviously less often), but he refuses, he usually has milk every 4 or so hours in the day, sometimes less often if he's napping. He is now struggling with being a bit constipated too who is also impacting his sleep now poor love. I am giving him prune puree for that though which is helping, along with warm baths.

If he's crossed two centile lines you should be getting support from the HV and GP as that's often a red flag for other issues, so I'd speak to them about this ASAP.

I did, I got him weighed by the HV and she said she's not concerned despite him dropping two centiles, and they don't need to do anything and they will just weigh him again at his 12 month review. I'm not really reassured but can't see what I can do about it. Unrelated but I'm having issues with my eldest's growth and weight gain and have been seeking help from HVs and GPs for about 6 months and they're uninterested in helping with that either.

Have you looked up 8 month sleep regression?
I was just been reading about it today after day 2 of bad sleeping with ds

No, I will do. However he's been like this he was 5 months eek