Did your little bundle of joy just turn 7 months old? Congratulations! 7 months is a wonderful milestone for babies because at this point, they may already be crawling or laughing a lot, grabbing their own food, or have even said their first word! There are lots of achievements worth celebrating at 7 months but unfortunately, an inevitable downside comes along with it.
If your baby has become fussier than before, has difficulty falling asleep, or wakes up a lot at night, your baby is currently experiencing the dreaded 7 month sleep regression. Because he has been too busy trying on his newly learned skills, his little brain is still trying to process it all at the same time. Because of this, he can have trouble falling asleep or may wake up randomly several times at night.
If you’re a parent, this may sound awful, but it’s only temporary. Any parent can survive this adjustment period with the right approach to help their babies sleep well. There are a lot of ways on how you can teach your baby to sleep and wake up at the same time everyday, and these methods are known as sleep training. Keep reading, and find out more about what sleep training methods you can try to make the 7 month sleep regression more bearable for you and your baby.
Tips on how to sleep train your baby
#1: Find out how much sleep they need in a day.
In total, your baby should have 13-15 hours of sleep. Allow them to take naps in the morning, but only for 2-3 hours tops. Oversleeping in the morning means they’ll have a lot of energy left in the evening before they can fall asleep.
#2: Wake them up at the same time everyday.
“Never wake a sleeping baby” is only a myth! It’s actually a good thing to wake them up at the same time everyday, so their bodies are trained to wake up on their own on schedule.
#3: Follow awake times.
“Awake occasions” are only the intervals of time your infant is awake throughout the day. (by The period of time that your little one is awake in a day is called “awake times”. It’s highly recommended to keep their awake time at 2-3 hours. Too short means they will not be tired enough at night to fall asleep, and too long means they may become overstimulated and may cause fatigue. Once they show signs of sleepiness in the morning like rubbing their eyes a lot, let them take a rest.
#4: Feed them more often.
As mentioned, they are experiencing a lot of developmental milestones at 7 months, and that means they’ll need all the nutrients that they can get to grow stronger. Make sure to do this in the morning though, you don’t want to give them more energy at night!
#5: Make sure to have a sleep-inducing environment.
They are too young to be afraid of the dark, so keep the lights at a minimum. You can use blackout curtains as well, to prevent them from waking up once the sun hits the room. Make sure there are no disruptive noises as well!
This video contains tips on how to get your 7 to 9 month old baby to sleep quickly and safely:
Your baby may go through sleep regressions in the future as well. The 9-month and the 11-month sleep regression can be just as difficult to deal with, so make sure you prepare ahead of time and look into resolving the issue if it does occur.
The bottom line
7-month sleep regression certainly isn’t a pleasant phase, but it’s definitely not here to stay. These sleep training methods will help you and your baby to adjust during this dreaded period, so they always get the right amount of sleep every day, and you can avoid an unpredictable sleeping schedule for your baby.
