8mo only sleeps 7hrs per night... HELP!

[Ray24924]

Hello

I am really struggling at the moment with my 8mo sleep schedule. We don't seem to get any more than 7hrs sleep at night and this is all broken and im starting to worry as I thought he'd of grown out of bad sleeping habits by now (hes 9mo next week)

His current schedule is
6-7am wake up (used to he 8am but can sometimes be as early as 5am)
3hr wake window then a 1hr 30min nap
Then another 3hr wake window and a 1hr 15min nap
Then about 3.5hr wake window then bedtime routine of bath, book and bed around 7/7.30pm

He then tends to sleep solidly for 1.5hrs, then will wake and go back down easily enough (not by himself i have to intervene) then will sleep anywhere between 1.5hr to 4hrs. There are never any indications of how long this second sleep will be every single day is different. I then usually give him a feed on his next wake which is anywhere from 1-4am and then he will wake again after about 1-2.5hrs and be up for the day.

We're not getting any proper sleep as its so broken and now im worried as hes only getting around 11hrs sleep per day and only 7 ish per night which I know isn't enough. Ive tried sleep training for nearly a month now to get him to self soothe and hes still not able to do it within me being in the room and he can't put himself to sleep in the cot drowsy, hes too nosy and will stand up and try to play even if he was nearly asleep.

Any advice?! Thank you

I know it’s hard but you’re doing an amazing job! Your little one is still so young and sleep training doesn’t work for every baby.
Both my kids didn’t sleep for long stretches of night until after they were one. It’s tough going and exhausting but the both slept much better when they felt my presence.

DD woke up for at least one feed until she was around 12 months. Really, what you’re describing for an 8 month old actually sounds very normal.
She’s 2 and a half now and yes, she sleeps from about 8:30-6:30 but she will still wake and call out for me sometimes and need comforting back to sleep. It’s developmentally so, so normal. Some babies needs more emotional support than others and you are doing an excellent job meeting them.

Ah thank you for the reply! Its just so hard when everything i see says a baby needs between 11-14 hrs sleep per night and I just keep thinking where am I going wrong 🙈 hes happy enough so I've never really been worried but I've been overthinking recently lol, thanks for helping put my mind at ease a bit xx

Aw thats good to hear thank you! I honestly kinda still love the night feed to be honest haha so I'm not bothered about continuing that, it's more the only sleeping for 1.5hr stretches that's worrying me, but I do think I'm comparing his sleep to all the "perfect" sleeping babies you see all over the Internet haha 😄 thanks for the reply xx

Sounds normal to me! Sleep- and sleep needs- are so variable.

You could try fiddling around with naps times and see what impact that has, but if they work for you, I wouldn't bother.

One thing worth mentioing: if they will be going to nursery or childcare, it's worth trying to transition them.to whatever schedule they will be following there nearer the time. (P.s. a lot of people find that going to nursery wears them out and is the start of better sleep...some don't, though. Variable by child, obvs.)

Sounds normal to me 🤷🏻‍♀️

Ah thank you, yeah I'm gonna try and extend his wake windows by 15 starting today to see if it makes a difference lol.

And no luckily when I go back to work in September he is with my mum so luckily it doesn't have to be too strict of a schedule thank goodness 🙈🤣 xx