Waking time and bed time all gone pear shaped for 7 month old!

[ilovespagbol]

I am at my wits end with my nearly 7 month old. She has always been breastfed to sleep. She may sleep through, may not, no pattern to any wakings, time of night or number. Mornings, she used to wake 5.30-6.30am, chatter to herself and once she got grumpy, I would take her into our bed for a feed. We would then both sleep until 8.00-8.30am. Evenings were bath, and final feed, aim to have her to sleep by 8.00-8.30pm. This worked OK ish, most of the time. This has all changed. She now wakes at the same time in the morning for a chatter etc but wants to be up when finished feeding so we get up about 7.00-7.30am. Evenings she is very difficult to settle, may wake three times before finally settling down. The thing is, even with the earlier wake time, she will not settle to sleep any earlier, even if I try and may not settle till 8.30, 9.00 or later. We are trying baby led weaning. I do not think she is taking much in, plays with food more so solids are not helping her settle but I am happy with our approach. No sign of teeth or teething. We think we want to try sleep training as on top of all this, she will only nap for 40 mins once a day in the pushchair or if I lie down with her and breastfeed her to sleep, or in the car. She may snooze on the breast in the morning for 10 minutes. When do I start her bedtime routine now, is she supposed to be awake for 12 hours? Is this from her waking or us getting up, ie after her feed? What naps do I try for? As I am writing this, it all seems such as mess and I feel like I should know what to do. I am exhausted. Since she was born, I have had no real break as we have no help, its just me and her Dad (who is fantastic) and I am still breastfeeding fully as she will not take a bottle (I am trying to get her used to water from a cup but that is a separate battle). She is a lovely, happy smiley baby otherwise, was alert from day one but she does get tired and must be over-tired but fights sleep and I am out of ideas. Any thoughts please, anybody, before I really go loop the loop?

hi there, sorry I dont really have any advice as I'm much the same as you are with my nearly 5 month old. Just wanted to say you're not alone! My DD has started waking pretty much hourly from around 2am and that's driving me nuts. I hope someone with more experience of these things comes along and offers you some advice.

Not sure I can really help, just can offer my support and my "routine". I have a dd, 5, a ds 3 and a dd 11months, they have all followed the same sort of pattern. Awake about 7/30 to 8, awake for just under 2 hours, then a 45 min nap, then awake til after lunch, again around the 2 hour mark, then asleep for about 2 hours, sometime nearly 3 at your age, then awake til feed and bed etc about 8. The 2 hour pattern in the morning worked really well, as did getting them to bed if you catch them yawning 2 or 3 times! I tried not to be feeding to sleep at this stage, obviously it happens sometimes but as you discovered I always found they had a very quick nap of 10 mins, not the sleep cycle of 45 that they need. As for water, try the Nuk cups with a soft tip, and 2 handles.