@Jessica – Thank you for reading and for sharing! Early waking and “too late” bedtimes are super common issues we help parents with, so you’re not alone t here. As he starts sleeping better with his sleep coaching, it should get easier for you to start working on shifting his bedtime earlier. Check out this e-book we have designed just for Shifting Your Child’s Schedule once they are sleeping independently – https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-waking-too-early/ It sounds like just what you need! Hang in there, Jessica!

@Rebecca – Thank you for reading and for sharing! Great news to hear that your little guy is sleeping so well overall! 🙂 It’s definitely common for a baby his age to take 2-4 naps for a TOTAL of 2-3 hours per day regardless of when they happen. Check out our 6-month old sample schedule here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/schedules/6-month-old-baby-schedule/ Hang in there, Rebecca!

So while he’s not sleeping the whole night, I am quite happy with this schedule as he’s now in a full size cot in his own room, so I am only getting up and out of bed once in the night.

Just one question about naps: baby always has a long nap over lunch; typically 2 hours 11.30am-1.30pm or 12-2pm either in his cot (if at home) or in his pushchair (seat laid back & sleepshade on) if we’re out. But it can often be difficult to get him to have another nap later. I usually try to get him to nap from 4.30/5pm for 45 mins – 1 hour.

If he won’t nap and it gets to 6pm, I give him his dinner & put him to bed earlier. Would it be better to be stricter re the 2nd nap and if so, any tips? For at home naps, he is in his cot in a sleeping bag with curtains drawn, white noise app on & he has a sleep toy to cuddle as he falls asleep. NB: absence of 2nd nap doesn’t seem to affect his night sleep if I put him to bed earlier.

cheers,

Rebecca

@ Heather – awesome question 🙂 Generally, we advise that people sleep train when conditions are “optimal” – that is, when your baby is feeling healthy, when you have a few weeks of schedule normalcy, etc. However, we also fully recognize that it can be rare to find two or three “normal”, healthy weeks in which to sleep train when your baby is this age! So, that said, if YOU feel ready, then there’s no reason you can’t start laying the groundwork now.

We suggest doing a few things before you start sleep training; you can read those recommendations here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/sleep-training/5-things-to-do-before-sleep-training/ You can start doing those thing snow.

Additionally, we usually recommend that you spend a few days, or up to a week, doing the following:

• Strengthening your bedtime routine
• Creating a “sleep-friendly” nursery (w/ blackout blinds, a noise machine, etc.)
• Introducing a lovey
• Making necessary schedule changes (you can see sample schedules here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-feeding-schedules/)

A great way to spend the next week would be to tackle the items above; by the time you’re done, your little guy may be feeling much better, and you will have laid the necessary groundwork for successful sleep coaching!

Best of luck to you and to your family, Heather 🙂

@ Desiree Sturdevant – Is your 8 month old normally a good sleeper? Are the problems you’re currently facing pretty out of the ordinary? If so, then you may be dealing with the sleep regression that happens around 8/9/10 months. You can read more about it here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-patterns/8-9-10-month-old-baby-sleep-regression/

However, if she’s never slept well and this is normal for her, then you’re right – the problem may be that she’s just deeply into the “groove” of waking up twice per night, and when you try to skip one of those feedings, she protests. This is very normal – but it’s definitely exhausting, I know!!

Have you downloaded our free guide yet? It offers 5 tips you can use to help gently teach your baby to sleep through then night. That may be a great next step for you. You can find the free guide here: https://www.babysleepsite.com/baby-sleep-through-night-free-ebook/

Hope this helps, Desiree! Thanks 🙂

Thanks again, Cee, for taking the time to comment and to encourage other moms. 🙂

@ Karen — good question! This is tricky to answer, honestly. I can say that the *average* 9 month old baby is able to make it 10-12 hours without eating at night, but that represents an average – may not represent your baby! There are babies who really do need to eat once during the night up to about 12 months of age. We generally encourage parents to attempt to night wean around 9 months, to see how it goes.

We have an article on signs it’s time to night wean which may be helpful to you: https://www.babysleepsite.com/sleep-training/baby-night-wean-3-signs/ Give that a read when you have time.

Thanks for commenting, Karen, and best of luck to you! 🙂

My son is 9 months next week and still doesn’t seem to be able to manage more then 7 hours before a feed. He was breastfed until 6 months but is
now formula fed. He falls asleep independently at both nighttime and naps and doesn’t have any sleep associations that I’m aware of.
How do I know if he is still waking out of habit or because he is hungry?
I’ve tried to not feed him at night but he just crys and crys until he has a bottle and will generally happily go back to sleep for 3-4 hours.
Am I expecting too much or is he just a really hungry baby ( he eats a lot of solids during the day)?
Do the hungry baby or nighttime milks help in this area?