7 month old routine all over the place HELP

[muchogracias]

Hello

DD has had a pretty good routine up until a couple of weeks ago. She would normally wake around 8am and sleep at 9pm with three independent naps.

However, she has recently started doing 30 min naps (or less!) unless I hold her. I don't mind doing this but I also have a 2 year old.

DD1 is in nursery 2 days a week and sometimes my mum or brother come around to help out so on those days I do contact nap with DD2. This means that her sleep routine is different everyday. She wakes at a different time in the morning and sleeps at a different time each night. It isn't within a half an hour window, it's literally 8pm one night or 9.30pm the next.

I try to get out as much as possible, so she gets lots of fresh air unless the weather is shit.

I'm also returning to work much sooner than I anticipated. We just can't afford for me to stay home as long as I originally planned, so I have a month to sort out her routine and getting her used to waking around 6.30/7 every morning.

I have noooo idea where to start so any advice is highly appreciated!

Hi, my LO is 7.5mo. We were in this boat til not long ago. I decided a set ‘bedtime’ give or take 30mins ish. I also set an alarm and got him up at the same time every day.

I won’t lie, I did sleep training for bedtime because even co sleeping he was waking every 45mins, was upset, grizzly and tired all day and just wasn’t getting any quality sleep.

Since implementing a bedtime routine - which is short - but ensuring his bedtime is around the same time every night, night time is so much better.

Naps however are a battle. I don’t mind so much because he sleeps so much better at night, but he does get very whingey towards the end of the day. It’s a struggle to get him to sleep over 2 hours during the day despite all the ‘guidance’ saying he ‘should’ be sleeping 2.5-3. Even if I get into bed with him, he doesn’t always sleep longer at nap time and if he does, I end up falling asleep and feeling like crap on waking 😂

I’ve now given up on ‘guidance’ and just let him sleep what he wants at the moment during the day as long as the nights aren’t being affected negatively.

My advice to you would be, set bedtime, a bedtime routine (ours is literally just taking him into his room at least 30mins after last feed, his bubble light on, nappy change and pyjamas, sing the same 3 songs and put him in his sleeping bag. We did try the bath but it stimulated him more so I bath him during the day now as he enjoys playing in it) and try your best to get baby up the same time every morning. It will help to set her circadian rhythm.

I’m sure people will jump on me because I’m too ‘rigid’ but like I say this works for us and our baby is much happier. Good luck x

My 7 month old is now mainly having 2 naps rather than 3 but her bed time and wake up has been the same for the last 3/4 months.

Wakes between 6.30 and 7.30
Bottle 8am 7oz
Breakfasts 9am
Nap 10am up to 1.5 hours
Lunch 12.30pm
Nap between 1.45 and 2.15 for up to 1.5 hours
Bottle 7oz 4ish
Tea 5.30pm
Bottle 7pm
Bed 7.15pm

She can barely keep her eyes open after 7pm.

@MissJam thanks for your detailed response!

Honestly I'm soo bad at waking her at the same time everyday. Some nights if she sleeps late, I'll let her have a lie in, but I need to be strong and wake her up!

How did cosleeping go? I tried it with my eldest when she was 9 months and honestly I'm so traumatised I promised I wouldn't do it with my second. I'm not fussed about night time as she sleeps through (in my bed haha), it's just nap times that are doing my head in as they're so short.

I meant sleep training, not cosleeping!