How is everyone’s 6-7 month old sleeping? Want to make sure we aren’t on an island with LO

[banlawya]

Hi! How are your 6-7 month olds sleeping? This is my second baby and I forget how my first was at this age so need a gut check to not feel like we are on an island or we are doing something wrong with his sleep.

My LO is 6.5 months, spends the first few hrs of the night in his bed but then makes his way onto ours for the remainder of the night. I don’t mind that he does but prefers he sleeps in his own space next to me. He wakes up every ~3hrs when we bedshare and usually can be nursed back to sleep quickly. I find it easier to bed share vs trying to put him back in bed and he wake up ( he also tends to wake more frequently if I am able to put him back in his bed).

I keep hearing stories of babies at this age sleeping super long stretches so don’t know if I should be trying something else.

He usually has a long nap in the morning and then one shorter one later in the afternoon. Some days it’s 2 naps, some days it’s 3. Are people still doing wake windows or have they moved to schedule based napping?

I know a lot of changes are going on at this age so it could still be impacting things but would love to hear how your LOs are doing.

Edit: thank you for your experiences! We aren’t all on an island and those unicorn babies are just that, unicorns. I guess we shall keep chugging along with what we are doing until it stops working or they decide to change again. In solidarity with all of us sleep deprived parents

 

[mom3222]

@banlawya Lol my 6.5 month old won’t sleep in her sidecar crib at all anymore and wakes every 1-2 hours crying. I’m losing my mind

 

[banlawya]

@mom3222 Oh my, every 1-2 hours! I’m sending you all the best wishes. That’s rough. I hope it improves soon!

 

[caleb77]

@banlawya Mom of 7.5 month old here. She starts the night in her crib but ends up in bed with us after she wakes up for the first time. She never stays asleep if we try to put her back in the crib in the night. She’s usually up every 2-3 hours or so, sometimes for a bottle, sometimes just for a snuggle and some comfort. She usually naps 3 times a day, including 2 longer ones and a mini nap near the end of the day. This last one doesn’t always happen depending on how long and when the first two naps were. We don’t actively follow strict nap times, but they have sort of fallen into a regular schedule just organically. Her wake windows are typically around 2.5 to 3 hours but I just follow her tired cues.

Honestly sometimes I feel like I’m doing things all wrong because we bed share, feed to sleep, and don’t follow a strict regimen of specific nap times. But then other times I feel good about what we’re doing because she’s happy, healthy, and I’m trusting her to tell me what she needs.

 

[banlawya]

@caleb77 Your LO sounds just like mine and I feel the same way as you. Feeling like I’m doing all the things wrong but that’s what currently works for us. I told myself he is my last baby so I will try to not stress as much as I did with my first and that usually works but I just don’t remember how my first slept at this age.

Sending you all the best vibes.

 

[mysticalpsalmist]

@caleb77 This is exactly how my girl is!! And I feel the same way but honestly I used to be so hard on myself about doing what was “right” until I started doing what felt right instead. That was bedsharing & cuddles, nursing to sleep and providing that comfort, just being there for her based on what worked for her and felt right to me. Now I’m a lot less stressed about all of it. I let her lead and go with the flow.

 

[keithparagon]

@banlawya 7mo doing 2-3 hour stretches at night. Starts in side cot then with me for rest of night. Normally 2 feeds in the night. We are on 2 or 3 naps a day, rarely over 30m each

 

[banlawya]

@keithparagon Oof, 30 min naps are rough! Hopefully your naps lengthen soon. That’s the thing keeping me sane.

 

[gwammy]

@banlawya 6M baby here… his sleep has been all over the place since he turned 4m, on average he wakes every 2-3 hours at night, sometimes more and randomly he will only wake 2-3x. We start him in his crib right next to our bed but he always ends up in bed with us, he won’t sleep in his crib after 5am even on the best nights. For naps he is still doing 3, and his wake windows can be pushed to 3 hours, he does 2 contact naps and 1 on a stroller walk, occasionally I can successfully crib transfer him but it’s rare it works so I barely try!

 

[xxxemmabubblepopxxx]

@gwammy Wow my baby is exactly the same with the contact naps and 1 stroller nap glad I'm not alone..

 

[gwammy]

@xxxemmabubblepopxxx I feel lucky I can do the contact naps! Haven’t been forced to make him sleep elsewhere. I’ll miss it someday

 

[banlawya]

@gwammy The 4m regression changed everything for us too! He was a great newborn sleeper until then, which is why Im struggling to accept that this may be the way things are for a while. Sending you the best vibes and lots more sleep.

Once I started bedsharing, the anxiety of the transfer went away and I could tell my mood improved

 

[xxxemmabubblepopxxx]

@banlawya Didn't knew how much I needed someone to ask thus question and hear that other people go through the same struggles as me. Solidarity to all of you

 

[banlawya]

@xxxemmabubblepopxxx Same!! I thought for sure it just must have been our LO that was up every 2-3 hours, it makes me feel better to know I’m not alone.

 

[klsmo3]

@banlawya My dude is 6.5 months and sounds exactly like yours. He actually just transitioned to 3 naps in the last 2 days and he still struggles with extending some of those wake windows (he’s on just about 2hrs, 2hr 15, 2hr 30, 3ish - give or take depending on the day). He’s a very active guy crawling around, rolling, etc so I think he wears himself out quickly. He typically takes a long morning nap, a decent afternoon nap and then an early evening cat nap. Since switching to 3 naps he’s been having false starts which he hasn’t had in awhile. He’ll typically sleep anywhere between 7:45-11:30 (we’ve been having to resettle him around 8:30), will feed then sleep again until about 3:00 give or take feed again and then he’s been rousing awake around 5:30 so I’ll do a quick snooze feed and then let him sleep on me (I stay awake) until around 6:30/6:45. Often in the night the second we put him in the crib he wakes up and we’re doing it up to 4 times before he finally stays down. So max we’re getting is a 4 hour stretch if we happen to dodge the false start. I’m in a group of people with babies born around the same age/month and almost ALL of them are having sleep “issues” with their baby - constant night wakings, split nights, etc - so to answer your question in short (lol), you’re not alone and doing nothing wrong. Baby sleep is weird and temperament/development has a lot to do with it. Hang in there! We’ll get through it.

 

[banlawya]

@klsmo3 We will get through it! Thank you for the reminder! My guy went through a period of split nights AND false starts and it would send me into a rage bc once I resettled him and tried to put him in his own bed, it reset. Now we bedshare for half the night and the split nights stopped and false starts are lessening.

 

[klsmo3]

@banlawya We were out of the false start phase all the way up until we dropped to 3 naps I’m hoping he’s just adjusting to the new “schedule”. (In quotes because is that even possible with a baby? )

 

[joshuaamosley]

@banlawya Minę is 6.5 months old too! He moves to us at around midnight, we are lucky if we get one 3-4 hour stretch and the rest are 30min-2 hours we are on one long nap and 2 short ones though the last nap of the day can take quite a bit of effort at times

 

[chicacristiana]

@banlawya My little dude is 7.5 months and starts off in his crib then wakes up screaming for me after an hour and I end up co sleeping because he won’t settle for dad anymore! This started like a month ago. When we bed share he is waking so much and wants to nurse whereas before when he would sleep in his crib all night he would wake a few times and only eat once. I really want him to go back to sleeping in his crib but he has been in consolable lately and literally won’t settle for anyone but me. Ugh not sure what to do because I just can’t do CIO

 

[banlawya]

@chicacristiana I’m with you on the CIO. It’s heartbreaking. Hopefully this phase won’t last too long.