7 month old waking every 1, 2 or 3 hours

[MrsBee2013]

Hi everyone,

My 7 month old little boy had always been a good sleeper up until the last week or so. Now, he is waking 4 or 5 times a night, sometimes after one hour but he usually does one stretch of 3 hours at least each night.

He is a textbook baby, very chilled and content all day with no crying. For the last week he has got himself into such a state a soon as I lay him in his cot. He seems to know I am going to leave him?!

This is our normal routine:

6:30 wake up and breastfeed
8:00 fruit and porridge
9:00 Nap (length seems to depend on NW, usually 1.5 hours but sometimes only 45 mins)
11:00 breastfeed
12:00 lunch
2:00 Nap (same as morning nap, if long nap in AM then short nap PM)
3:30 breastfeed
5:00 Dinner
6:00 Bath
6:30 Breastfeed
7:00 Bed. Usually doesn't go to sleep until 7:30 - 8:00.

He usually wakes 1 to 2 hours after he first falls asleep.

I know it's not a perfect EASY routime timings wise so do you think there is anything I can tweak which might help? He isn't the best at self settling. I do breastfeed until drowsy but his eyes are open when I put him down, could this be the issue? He does also use a dummy and a lovey, and I can leave him when he is wide awake. I'm just not sure what to do...everyone keeps telling me to leave him to cry but I just can't do it :-(

Thanks in advance :-)

[becj86]

2:00 Nap (same as morning nap, if long nap in AM then short nap PM)
3:30 breastfeed
5:00 Dinner
6:00 Bath
6:30 Breastfeed
7:00 Bed. Usually doesn't go to sleep until 7:30 - 8:00.

This here is probably why he's waking early in the night... really overtired from such a long A time to bed, especially if he short naps at 2.

I think if you gradually push that first A time up to about 3hr (in 10min increments every few days to give his body time to adjust), that will help him take a good restorative nap consistently in the morning. Stick then with the next nap at about 2:30/3 and bedtime at 7. Once you have your A times a little more balanced, you should see the wakings just after BT and in the early morning start to reduce.

Are you doing any feeds at night?

You probably are having some issues with the BF til drowsy and if not yet, you likely will soon. You can reduce that gradually if you prefer and put him down a little more awake each day and settle him in his cot with shush/pat or similar. You may find he gets a lot better at self-settling when he's on a routine that is more appropriate for his age - hard to go to sleep when not tired and also hard to get to sleep when really overtired.

[MrsBee2013]

Thank you so much for your reply becj86.

It seems so obvious now you have pointed it out! I can't believe I never noticed that before.

 I will give that a go today 

[becj86]

Sweet keep us posted.

[MrsBee2013]

Hi Bec,

The night before last I put my little boy to bed awake and used shush pat. He cried a little but was asleep within 20 mins. Last night, I put him down and he turned his head away and closed his eyes without any fuss at all! I can't believe it was so easy.

So he was asleep just after 7pm. His first wake up was at 10.30pm, I breastfed him as he hasn't taken much before he went to sleep. I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do though? He woke again at 12.45am and I fed him again. I wish I hadn't but I think I was on autopilot! He woke again at 2.30am but I just did shush pat and he was asleep within a few mins. The next thing I know, it's 7.45am!!

What an amazing improvement, thank you so much.

I'm just confused about when I should feed him really and when I should just shush pat. Should I be shush patting first and feeding if that doesn't work?

Thanks again, very happy and well rested mummy 

[becj86]

Basically, LO should be able to go at least as long as night as he does in the day between feeds, so if he's 4hr between feeds in the day, you resettle if its been less than 4hr since his last feed and feed if it been 4hr+, that way he's not taking extra calories in the night and you're not trying to resettle a genuine hunger waking. Best to decide feed or resettle before you go in and follow through - don't want to teach him that if he cries long enough he'll get fed, so resettle if you so choose and if the 4hr mark comes around during that resettling, make sure he goes to sleep, even if only for 5min before you feed him.

[MrsBee2013]

Great, I will stick to that tonight then!

Thanks so much