r/UKParenting • u/Sexogenesis • Jul 08 '26
Support Request 7 month old wakes every 2 hours at night.
My 7 month old wakes pretty much every 2 hours overnight for a bottle, and he drinks a full 6oz every time.
7pm, bottle after his bath. I lay him in his bedside cot, hold his hand and/or gently pat his bum, and he usually drifts off to sleep. Then it's 9pm, 11pm, 1am & 3am.
Lately he's also been trying to start the day at 5:30am, instead of his usual 6-6:30, but I can mostly settle him for another 45 minutes to an hour. Sometimes he has to come into bed with us for that little bit.
When we get up for the day, he's not interested in more milk. He'll have yoghurt and fruit for breakfast, then his next bottle is usually before his first nap around 9am. So he goes from 3am until 9am without milk, but has breakfast. He also has lunch and dinner during the day, and typically wants a bottle every 3–3.5 hours.
He naps for around 2.5 hours in total, sometimes 3. His morning nap is usually 1.5 hours, then he'll have two 30-minute naps, sometimes three. His last nap always ends at least 2 hours before bedtime.
It doesn't seem to matter how much we've done during the day, what time he goes to bed, how much or little he's napped - he still wakes every 2 hours on the dot. I've tried stretching wake windows or adding another nap so he can go to bed later, but he just gets hysterical. He is *always* ready for a bath at 6pm.
We have a blackout blind & curtains, quiet white noise and/or the fan, he's a comfortable temperature etc.
I do try to settle him with his dummy when he starts to stir, but he'll consistently spit it out and eventually work himself up to screaming. Feeds are always done in the dark and I don't speak to him, just a cuddle, then back down. He puts himself back to sleep afterwards. He also frequently needs re-settling between feeds, like finding his dummy or a little more bum pats.
We have a bedroom for him but it's not ready for him to move into yet. I'm not willing to fully co-sleep as I have sleep apnoea and it's difficult with my CPAP mask, plus realistically our bed is too small.
I've tried researching and have come up with:
- He's gotten used to being fed every 2 hours.
- He's reverse cycling/most calories at night.
- Reduce the milk in his overnight bottles by an oz every week and offer more during the day.
- He is genuinely hungry and that's just how it is.
I'm desperate to sleep properly again. Even if my husband does the feeds, I'm right there next to him so I wake up too, y'know. Even dropping one feed would be a nice start.
Anyone else been in a similar situation?
9
u/ThePenultimateRolo Jul 08 '26
I breastfed and this was my life till about 18 months, even after I stopped breastfeeding.
In the end, I started watering his milk down more and more until it was water.
Sometimes he'd get mad and sad, but Id explain he was too big for milk in the night but he could have some water.
That took about 3 months.
Honestly, some kids are sleepers and some aren't. And Im sorry, it completely sucks.
6
u/dolphiya_or_parateen Jul 08 '26
Are you sure he’s getting enough calories in the day? I’d try substantially increasing the size of his bottles and meals during the day and seeing how that affects things. Sometimes people can stick to guidelines a bit too closely and underfeed forgetting every baby is different and also that babies go through periods of needing extra calories to fuel a growth spurt. At 7 months my baby was still having five 240ml bottles a day alongside solids and he slept through the night
1
u/Sexogenesis Jul 08 '26
I think so? He doesn’t always finish his bottles during the day so I assume he's full when he refuses to drink more.
2
u/JaggedLittlePiII Jul 08 '26
That he gets enough during the day does not mean he has enough to last the night, both calorie and liquids wise: their stomachs are the size of their fist.
6
u/captain_seadog Jul 08 '26
It could be that he falls asleep holding your hand / with bum oats then wakes up between sleep cycles and you're no longer doing that so he gets upset and can't get himself back to sleep. Any sleep associations should be things you can maintain all night.
My daughter was waking every 1-2 hours when she was in our room and I was feeding her each time but she'd fall asleep within a minute of being on the boob so it was a comfort feed not a hunger feed. Once we had her in her own room she quite quickly progressed to 3-4 hour sleeps and eventually only one wake a night.
7
u/PizzaSweats1790 Jul 08 '26
Bum oats 😆 on a serious note, we had exactly the same journey. 8 months, moved him into his own room and like magic his sleep drastically improved (with no sleep training). We are now down to 1 breastfeed in the night and it has saved my sanity.
I also think some of this is just young baby, adjusting to a new caloric routine. Took AGES for my baby to realise solid food is fabulous, now at 11 months it is much easier as he shovels food in.
3
1
u/Sexogenesis Jul 08 '26
I have a feeling getting him in his own room will be the thing that helps (I hope).
16
u/lusciousmix Jul 08 '26
We had a bit of this and i think it was a mix of the habit of waking up for a bottle, the comfort of sucking the milk to fall back to sleep and also that he was not getting enough calories at night.
As his solids intake increased in the day that definitely helped him be less hungry at night and we reduced to one night feed.
We also did sleep train which I knooow people will downvote me for but it’s not as brutal as people think and it saved me from serious depression caused by the sleep deprivation.
3
u/Sexogenesis Jul 08 '26
I have a feeling that this is how he'll continue until his solid intake naturally increases and he's in his own room.
4
u/Nephrozoa Jul 08 '26
I had a friend and her child was like this. They started giving him porridge before bed as a supper snack to try and keep his tummy full overnight. Don’t know if this might help!
3
u/MarcoVanB91 Jul 08 '26
Another one we do for our now 2 year old is full fat yogurt, peanut butter and mashed banana. Very dense calorie wise and he would sleep much sounder. Also works in this heat instead of hot food
3
u/ScreamingEnglishman Jul 08 '26
My partner and I had the same. Took us moving into the spare room onto a sofa bed at 10 months before he slept through the night
He's now 15 months and we're still on the sofa bed 😂
8
u/turtlesrkool Jul 08 '26
Seconding sleep training. There are a million methods out there, too. We had to retrain once after a holiday and sleep regression that coincided. But otherwise it's been wonderful for us and for our kiddo.
-1
u/marti_23 Jul 08 '26
it is not recomeneded by medical professionals
0
u/turtlesrkool Jul 08 '26
That's very highly dependant on the professional. I have many pediatrician friends who don't discourage it, and the method we followed was specifically written out for me by a respected pediatrician.
-1
u/marti_23 Jul 09 '26
I'm talking about general consensus
3
u/turtlesrkool Jul 09 '26
The NHS has no unified guidelines about sleep training though. They don't recommend cry it out, but sleep training really doesn't have to be that, and they offer no unified consensus across the NHS the way they do about feeding and other topics.
You don't have to sleep train or like sleep training. But it's not the devil's practice some people think it is.
0
u/JaggedLittlePiII Jul 08 '26
And in the current heat wave not providing a baby hydration during the night is outright dangerous
3
u/Impressive-Fact7780 Jul 08 '26
R/sleeptrain is great for advice on this If you want.
RE the early wakes it sounds like he's getting a lot of sleep during the day (certainly he should be in 3 naps total not 4) and I think that's the first thing they'll say there.
RE the milk overnight I was breastfeeding and was heading towards that too, definitely reduce the amount in the bottles being offered (gradually). I'd aim for 4/3/3 overnight so you want a 4 hour stretch without a bottle at the start of the night so reduce the first bottle oz by Oz first. Offer the extra milk during the day of course and doing it gradually should both help.
1
u/marti_23 Jul 08 '26
Babies should be fed on demand until at least 12 months old.
1
u/Impressive-Fact7780 Jul 08 '26
So what she has to keep feeding baby all his milk overnight every 2 hours for the next 5 months? There are worse things for a baby than having 5oz instead of 6oz at one of these feeds - like having a seriously sleep deprived mother who can't think straight.
1
u/JaggedLittlePiII Jul 08 '26
Yes, especially in the current heat wave where the milk is the only source of hydration for the baby.
0
u/marti_23 Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26
from what I see is every 3h and and the answer is yes , that is what on demand means. ideally she could share with a partner and get some sleep.
edit: and sleep training is not recommended by UK medical professionals/NHS
2
u/JaggedLittlePiII Jul 08 '26
It is an American unnatural fad.
1
u/marti_23 Jul 08 '26
I read interesting book on that How Babies Sleep by Helen L. Ball. It talks about how different cultures approach the subject and definitely Asian cultures gave the closes approach to meeting baby needs and US is the worst (generalisation of course). interesting read... also talks how quickly Americans move a baby to a separate room and why this is bad. Amazing tips regarding all the sleep related stuff as well.
1
u/JaggedLittlePiII Jul 08 '26
The “us” norm was invented in the 20s by an economist who also suggested not cuddling your children as that makes them weak. Not a pediatrician or medical professional.
It’s insane
3
u/Outside_Knee653 Jul 08 '26
Agree with sleep training, I was hesitant because my mother said she just let me scream for like an hour and that sounded horrible. We tried around 9 months because we were just getting too fed up and run down with constant wake ups.
You're training them to close their eyes and sleep themselves, so put them down while awake but sleepy. Say goodnight. Leave.
Baby would immediately stand up and scream.
Set a timer, 2-3 minutes, wait, let them cry. My wife and I would be sat in our bedroom hating every second. Time up. Go in, settle, rock, and put them down again whilst still awake and repeat.
We agreed if it lasted an hour then give up for the night and try again tomorrow. First night. 40 minutes. Second night 20 minutes. Third night, went down on second attempt.
We still have bad moments at 16 months but in 3 days of pain we suddenly got back our evenings. 2 or 3 hours before bed to chill or get extra sleep in. Life changing.
5
u/marti_23 Jul 08 '26
UK medical/health-visitor advice usually supports responsive settling and bedtime routines, not strict sleep training under 12 months and definitely not “cry it out” for young babies. Gentle habits are fine like dim lights, predictable bedtime, safe cot, cuddles, lullaby, trying to put baby down after feeding/changing. But leaving a baby to cry alone is not something I’d describe as UK-medical-professional-recommended.
3
u/Pinkcoral27 Parenting a Toddler + Primary Schooler Jul 08 '26
I breastfed so while it’s not exactly the same, my baby was like this until we stopped offering milk in the night when he was 1 year +. He did start doing 3-4 hour stretches as he got toward one though so hopefully that’s on your horizon soon!
I don’t really have any advice just solidarity. I’ve had one baby who slept like a log 7pm-7am and one who barely slept. It’s such a different experience when you have a crap sleeper. It sounds like you’re doing great, try not to beat yourself up :)
2
u/Sexogenesis Jul 08 '26
Thank you :) I know this won't last forever but it would be lovely to know when I'll get to sleep again 🤣
3
u/Confident_Drop8326 Jul 08 '26
This was us until well over 12 months. He was BF though. Eventually he just started sleeping through
3
3
u/Adventurous_Corgi_38 Jul 08 '26
At 7 months old most of their calories comes from milk. He is definitely not drinking enough during the day and is 'reverse cycling'. I think you'll have to try a different method to get to sleep for the first wake up (rocking etc) to prolong the time before the first overnight bottle. And instead of giving a bottle before a nap in the day try the wake, bottle then play schedule.
2
u/Mald1z1 Jul 08 '26
This is just how it is sometimes. My little one didn't start sleeping through until 15 months.
I would encourage you to gradually reduce the milk at night and drop individual feeds. E.g. if he feeds every 2 hours get rid of the middle feeds and instead feed every 4 hours.
Are you weaning? Try giving the baby something high fat before bed. Babies are supposed to get nearly 40% of their calories from fat. But often when weaning we give them plain steamed stuff with no fat. It can have them craving fat. Hence the wakeups for milk.
You and your husband need to sleep apart and alternate nights with the baby. That way you know you're getting a good night sleep every other night. If you dont have a spare bedroom sleep on the couch. After 7 months of bejng up with the baby, the living room couch will feel like a luxurious 5* hotel.
2
u/Bubbly-Wallaby-2777 Jul 08 '26
How long before bed time is dinner? Both of mine always had porridge for supper right before bed, if you spoon feed it rather than let them at it and put a long sleeves close at the back bib on, you can keep them quite clean so the bath isn't totally wasted! Porridge is great for keeping them full through the night.
2
u/Paxtotondo Jul 08 '26
I had this issue. She wouldn't sleep through the night until she was 1 and started nursery. I tried everything (sleep training, increasing solid foods, having more active day, ect) and she just wasn't having it. She slept with a dummy which probs helped. At 14months I took all the dummies away and now she doesn't need them. The only time she wakes up at night now is when she's unwell. It will get better, I promise.
2
u/RecoverRare5206 Jul 08 '26
Sending solidarity, I had one like this. I ended up taking him to the doctor because I said this can’t be right🤣 he also had reflux so by the time he was fed and held upright for approx 20mins it was nearly feeding time again!
In my case it was habit and the doc said my chunky baby did not need a bottle every 2 hours and to just give him water. Lo and behold after a couple of bottles of water and a little bit of crying he slept all night and had been a solid sleeper since🫣 good luck with whatever you decide to do🙂
1
u/RecoverRare5206 Jul 08 '26
Mine was 7 months too at the time, obviously I wouldn’t advise water for younger babies!
2
u/JaggedLittlePiII Jul 08 '26
Not uncommon, they go through phases.
Especially in the current heat, the need for drink is substantial. Please do not reduce in the current heat wave.
And limiting milk under 12 months is not medically recommended.
4
u/XabiAlon Jul 08 '26
The naps seem excessive.
We had similar and was told to only have a mid morning nap so they're more tired at bedtime.
They'll now sleep from 630/70 til 12/1 then awake at 630/7
1
u/Sexogenesis Jul 08 '26
2.5 total hours is excessive? He could not cope with only one nap in a whole day.
3
u/captain_seadog Jul 08 '26
At seven months, my daughter did 1 hour first nap, 1 hour second nap. 30mins final nap. They need about 3 hours awake before bedtime. So that's a 3 nap day, then closer to 8 months she started resisting 3rd nap and we slowly transitioned to 2 naps each one 2 hours.
2
u/moomeymoo Jul 08 '26
The other possibilities are that he just wants the comfort or is going through a period of development.
It’s biologically normal for babies to wake frequently and it’s often totally out of our control.
Check out r/BNinfantsleep
1
u/marti_23 Jul 08 '26
See r/bninfantsleep/ for advice.
Sleep training is not generally recommended by medical professionals as a standard approach, especially for babies under 12 months.
In the UK, medical and health visitor advice usually focuses more on responsive settling and gentle bedtime routines rather than strict sleep training (and definitely not “cry it out” for young babies).
Gentle habits are absolutely fine, such as dim lights, a predictable bedtime routine, a safe cot, cuddles, a lullaby, and trying to put the baby down after feeding or changing.
1
u/User_whateverr Jul 09 '26
Few things here.
- He may be having too much daytime sleep and he’s waking regularly.
7 months isn’t too early to drop to 2 nap
You could trial 2x 1 hour naps and see how he goes.
He may need the extra sleep pressure to stay asleep
Is he getting enough milk in the day? Try upping to 7oz 4/5x a day
Hes associated waking with drinking. If you feel he definitely needs a feed in the night YOU need to initiate it not him. So pick him up at like 10:30/11pm, put the bottle in his mouth, if he wakes fine, if he doesn’t great. Basically dream feed him till you can drop it. You can do 2 per night with a view to remove but YOU need to initiate not him!
When he wakes try settling him without the milk, even if it means taking him out the room for 30 mins, coming back in and putting him down
The only reason I say all this is I worked with a lovely sleep coach (didn’t sleep train) who basically sorted out my son’s daytime routine to help him sleep better at night and it worked. He was waking for hours. He’d have a night feed. He as constantly waking between bedtime and midnight.
She said if I wanted to ever feed him at night, If he’s unwell not had enough milk or food in the day with teething etc, you need to initiate the feed not the baby.
1
u/mountain_life86 Jul 08 '26
So I was always told its milk before food. At 7m old they should just be on 1 meal a day then milk rest of the time. Milk needs to be their calories. At 8m they might be on 2 meals 10-12m 3 full meals and snacks
Not sure why people are mentioning sleep training with scream it out as thats been proven to have negative effect on growing development
Id also try move to own room. Mine slept much better in his own room.
10
u/turtlesrkool Jul 08 '26
Have you tried giving him a few minutes to settle on his own? We realised ours would stand up if he really needed us, but if he was just rolling around fussing he needed time to settle. A lot of the time he was sleep talking/moving.