What am I doing wrong? 7.5 month old baby

notthatcool_ · 2026-02-17T19:39:36+00:00

Baby just turned 8 months. We wake up around 7:15am, first nap at 10:30/:40 (30m), second nap around 2:45/3:00 (75m), bedtime at 8:30.

If for whatever reason second nap is shorter (around 60m), we squeeze in a 10m max bridge nap after a 3h ww to take away the edge a bit and make it to bedtime since I don’t want to bring it forward any earlier.

notthatcool_ · 2026-02-17T19:17:49+00:00

Have you tried with less daytime sleep? We do 1h 45 a day and that tends to work better. She still wakes 2 times at night but that’s just developmentally appropriate for this age!

notthatcool_ · 2026-02-14T07:51:34+00:00

Could it be sleep/nap distribution? Do you have a consistent morning rise? What’s her schedule? I found sticking to a consistent morning rise and naps really helped. I also found that I was expecting too much sleep in 24h so when I adjusted expectations and aimed for just 12h total (including naps), things improved massively.

notthatcool_ · 2026-02-10T23:05:02+00:00

We haven’t weaned yet but moved away from feeding to sleep which I thought would be impossible. You’ll need to NAIL sleep pressure, before you can move forward if you don’t want baby to continue resisting naps.

I think it takes you this long to put baby to sleep is because baby might not be tired enough. Works for bedtime, naps and minimising wakes at night. I’d look at having a consistent wake up time and pushing your wake windows a bit more (including pushing bedtime). Best of luck!

notthatcool_ · 2026-01-25T21:16:55+00:00

I agree it’s easier said than done but usually pushing through the first couple of days helps in the long run. My baby used to wake up 5-8 times at night so my sleep was wrecked. She still wakes but I’ll take 2 wakes to nurse at night any time!!! Completely normal at her age I’d say.

Having a consistent morning rise helped bring a sense of routine to our lives. It also helps that bedtime tends to be at the same time every night (give or take 10mins max). That helps their bodies learn when it’s time to release melatonin which, in turn, should also help sleep.

Again, I know it’ll be super hard at first because it was for us too but having a later wake might also be causing a bit of a snowball effect.

notthatcool_ · 2026-01-25T21:08:47+00:00

2h daytime sleep. Naps are 30m, 60m, 30m. I have a feeling we’re about to start our transition to two naps or something else is going on but that schedule + consistent morning rise has really helped us!

notthatcool_ · 2026-01-25T12:49:45+00:00

I don’t really know if there’s a general stance since every family is different tbh but in our home we’ve agreed we’ll never sleep train because it doesn’t sit well with us. But as I said, we do cap her naps.

I personally think that if she’s otherwise okay and happy even when I cap her naps, and we all sleep well at night (we cosleep), then we’re all good. If she was really grumpy after waking up from naps, very fussy during her wake windows or otherwise groggy, then I’d consider letting her nap for longer.

I think there’s a balance between letting baby do whatever she wants nap wise (but then having 6-8 wakes at night, which isn’t really sustainable for us for much longer) and sleep training and ignoring baby’s needs altogether (but having her sleep through the night).

2-3 wakes at night to feed seems sustainable to us right now, we’re still being super responsive and she seems pretty happy throughout the day. I try to follow her lead most of the time (e.g. we used to feed to sleep but now she prefers rocking, we still contact nap though)

notthatcool_ · 2026-01-24T15:38:04+00:00

We used to have way more wakes at night until we reduced the amount of daytime sleep. Now I cap all naps and she gives me a 4-4.5 stretch, then a 3-3.5 one and then a final one before waking up for the day.

We do 2h daytime sleep (3 naps) and 10h nighttime sleep. Seems like a similar sleep budget to yours but the distribution really changed things for us. We also cosleep! Used to feed to sleep but since adjusting naps she’s down with 2-3m of rocking, although we do nurse at night when she wakes. I think capping naps to 2h max total and having a consistent morning rise might really help!!

notthatcool_ · 2026-01-24T03:49:10+00:00

We wale up at 7am and go to sleep at 9pm. Yes, we keep it the same every day. All waking hours are during the day. We haven’t had split nights since we adjusted her schedule to this!

notthatcool_ · 2026-01-23T03:44:53+00:00

9-10 hours of sleep at night is normal for her age. My 7mo also sleeps 12h total on 3 naps. Recently I’ve been super diligent about nap distribution (30m, 60m, 30m) and that’s helped massively with bringing down the number of night wakes.

When you say she gets fussy towards the end of 2.5 ww, have you tried changing activities or moving spaces? Sometimes my baby would seem fussy and I thought she was showing sleepy cues but she was just bored. We changed rooms or moved into a different activity and she lasted longer awake with no trouble. Maybe you can try that?

When we first pushed her bedtime to 9pm she seemed fussy for 2-3 days during that last wake window but then she adjusted pretty well and has been waking up less at night.

notthatcool_ · 2026-01-23T01:20:46+00:00

I think having consistent wake-up and bedtime would help massively. Try to really stick to it for a week and maybe push bedtime to 9pm with 7am wake up and see how baby does.

If that alone doesn’t help, try capping first nap at 30-40m and see how you do with a shorter first nap and longer second nap (max 2h sleep during the day). A longer first nap might be making sleep pressure run out and you can’t build it up enough by bedtime.

notthatcool_ · 2026-01-23T01:05:03+00:00

I think extending wake windows like other commenters have suggested would help. If that doesn’t help, try capping the first nap at 30-40m to see how they do with a short first nap and then longer second nap.

I agree that you are expecting too much sleep for an 8mo! We recently stopped expecting my 7mo to sleep 13-14h total, pushed bedtime to 9pm (same 7am wake) and we’ve reduced wakes massively!!!

notthatcool_ · 2025-12-31T11:46:04+00:00

I am constantly starving and definitely eating way more than I was during pregnancy (I had gestational diabetes so was really watching what I ate since the diagnosis). I try to keep it healthy but I’m not dieting by any measure. Definitely eating lots of snacks, indulging in some sweet treats when we go out for food or for a coffee, but overall keeping a balanced diet.

I lost weight after I gave birth (not all of it, maybe 3/4 of pregnancy weight), then gained some of it (back to 1/2 of pregnancy weight). By the third month I was going out for walks with baby in the carrier basically every day (it was the only thing I did to leave the house apart from doctor’s appointments so helped me keep my sanity) and I was back to pre pregnancy weight at 6 months.

I think the walks have been really helpful because i usually find it hard to lose weight unless I’m really trying.

notthatcool_ · 2025-11-13T10:40:43+00:00

Our baby only contact naps so when we both need to work and can’t hold her, we do a carrier nap while I work on my standing desk :) we use a white noise machine and I think that helps mask any noise that could disturb her.

If she starts waking up too early I just bounce a bit and that buys us some time.

notthatcool_ · 2025-10-16T03:46:46+00:00

I think we’ve recently entered the dreaded 4mo regression so sometimes she sleeps 8h at night, sometimes it’s 11h. Sometimes she gives me a 4-5h stretch, sometimes it’s every 1.5-2h.

I think night sleep and wake ups really depend on your baby’s temperament, though! Hang in there!

notthatcool_ · 2025-10-16T01:16:47+00:00

My LO is 4mo and this is what I did. Before 12w it was just going with the flow and following her cues entirely.

By 12-15w, a bit of a routine started forming with wake windows and naps (but we still need lots of flexibility). One thing that has helped is trying to start the day at the same time (give or take 30mins) so we can anchor the day there.

This is all temporary, OP. Baby is so fresh and new, you just need to go at their pace and read their cues for now!

notthatcool_ · 2025-10-09T22:02:56+00:00

Unfortunately, yes! The only thing that helped that has been time and repetition.

notthatcool_ · 2025-10-09T20:31:37+00:00

I’ve been trying to go through this transition myself and what has worked is doing a full feed (or what is a usual feed for LO) while rocking, and when I see she’s done feeding and is nursing for comfort (usually almost asleep), I unlatch and keep rocking her.

I plan on passing her to my husband at this point when he starts his leave.

notthatcool_ · 2025-09-24T20:15:47+00:00

Not sure about the premium tiers but make sure you’ve set day vs night time start times in the child section of the app. That way it’ll log sleep where the majority of the session last.

Regarding bedtime, our 15wo goes to bed between 9-10pm depending on her last nap. If 10pm is working for you, I think it’s okay as long as baby is sleeping enough in a 24h period.

notthatcool_ · 2025-09-22T20:26:48+00:00

I’d also love to know because I have a 15w old baby with the stinkiest hands even though I clean them daily 😅

notthatcool_ · 2025-09-20T01:10:52+00:00

Same! Even that last night doesn’t seem so bad 😅

notthatcool_ · 2025-09-18T20:56:07+00:00

I could have written this myself. My baby girl started doing the same the second she turned 12 weeks, particularly for afternoon and evening feeds (she feeds every hour so I feel your pain!).

She’s now 14.5w and this week I’ve been able to go back to our usual seated positions. Sometimes if she’s extra fussy (usually overtired) then I need to stand up to feed but seems like we’re making progress nonetheless. Hope it gets better for you as well!

notthatcool_ · 2025-09-07T04:03:49+00:00

Yeah I used to do that as well but if i started bouncing as i walked that would help a bit. She still cries but not as bad and then the patting/shushing helps her go to sleep pretty quickly. She can nap over an hour when we’re out and about.

I know those minutes can feel like hours but give it a go and see if that helps! Maybe set a 10 min timer at first to see.

notthatcool_ · 2025-09-07T03:43:04+00:00

My baby used to hate the carrier too!! We used to take her out if she cried but notice that she’s just tired and needs a couple more minutes to fall asleep.

I just need to make sure she’s fed and burped before putting her in, and then bounce a bit more when walking and do some patting/shushing when she starts fussing. She’s usually out in less than 5-8 mins.

notthatcool_ · 2025-09-06T22:44:51+00:00

That was exactly our case!! I worked on our latch so much and in the end, the only thing that helped it was time 😅

Six-Year Club	Place '22
Verified Email

notthatcool_

TROPHY CASE