7-Month-Old Baby Sleep Schedules Explained
Being a parent can be exhausting; if you are a new parent without experience, things get even more out of control. As the baby precedes its first birth year, you will notice changes in its sleep habits as it will develop a more consistent sleep schedule. Hence, they may start to sleep through the night, and a baby needs to sleep precisely according to their timings.
However, being a new parent, it is tough to create a sleep schedule for your babies without any knowledge or experience. In this blog, a few will explore things related to a 7-month-old sleep schedule. Moreover, you can look at the sample sleep schedule, which may give you ideas about creating a routine for the baby.
Understand Why a 7-Month-Old Baby Must Have a Sleep Schedule
A baby of 7 months typically needs 12 to 14 hours of sleep throughout the day, including naps and nighttime sleep. Hence, as a parent, you shall understand why your 7-month-old must have a sleep schedule. As you know, every child is unique, and this makes it easier to comprehend that their sleep schedule may vary from child to child.
Therefore, you should observe your baby and create schedule samples to adjust their sleep. Afterward, you distinguish the sleep pattern of your 7-month-old and prepare some essential things that will help them to have a sound sleep.
Essential Things that Your Baby Needs to Have a Sound Sleep
Bedtime for a 7-month-old baby can be amusing and enjoyable to the parents. However, if your baby isn’t having a good time sleeping, then you can establish essential things that will make it easier for them to sleep. In this blog, you can understand what are the vital steps you should take care to create a 7-month-old sleep schedule.
1. Determine What Time Suits Best 7-Month-Old Sleep Schedule
You should choose the correct bedtime for your 7-month-old babies, and it is essential to aim for a consistent time for them. Furthermore, it will allow the baby to have a decent amount of time to sleep and grow properly. Most babies like to sleep around 12-14 hours of sleep. Hence, this way, you can determine what time suits best for a 7-month-old sleep schedule.
2. Create a Consistent Environment
If you are willing to optimize and create a consistent environment for the baby to sleep. Hence, ensure a serene and calm environment for the baby to sleep comfortably. Therefore, to certify the space is suitable for the child to sleep, you can keep the room dimly lit.
Moreover, you can manipulate the temperature according to what your baby may feel comfortable with. Hence, create a cozy, calm ambiance like playing music or white noise for your child to fall asleep naturally.
3. Establish a Soothing Bedtime Routine
When you establish a bedtime routine for your 7-month-old baby, their body prepares to sleep and wind down automatically. Incorporate your baby with activities like a gentle massage, singing a lullaby, or a warm bath. Moreover, you can also try swinging your child for them to swing across and feel relaxed enough to sleep. Hence, this can make your baby feel relaxed and promote better sleep quality.
Samples for a 7-Month-Old Sleep Schedule
These are some samples you can use to create your routine with the idea of the samples. Parents should pay extra attention to their feedings and hunger cues as they monitor their sleep and create a routine.
Sleep Sample-1
| 7:00 A.M.- Wake up the baby gently. |
| 9:00 A.M.- Give them their first nap for an hour. |
| 12:00 P.M.- Give them a second nap for an hour. |
| 4:00 P.M.- Give them a third nap for half an hour. |
| 7:30 P.M.- Ready them for the night. |
Sleep Sample-2
| Wake up at 6 A.M. |
| Feed them at 6.10 A.M. |
| First Nap at 8.30 A.M. |
| Feed at 9.25 A.M. |
| Second Nap at 12.00 P.M. |
| Feed them at 1.30 P.M. |
| Bedtime at 7:00 P.M. |
Challenges that You May Face While Creating a 7-Month-Old Sleep Schedule
If you have a baby and they are 7 months old, your little angel may scoot all over your home, backward or in circles. These creatures are always independent and confident while chatting delightfully with their language. Therefore, while balancing your baby’s movement and energy, you have to ensure that they get enough sleep.
Hence, this may be challenging and makes you feel like giving up but giving your child a sleep schedule will make them grow better. However, there may be many challenges that will make you freak out as a new parent. Therefore, here are the things that may cause your baby problems with their sleep schedules.
1. Waking up Throughout the Night
If you have a 7-month-old baby, it is very casual for them to wake up during the night, and most parents don’t seem to take it easy. However, you need to teach your baby how they can fall back asleep independently.
Hence, being gentle and gradually stimulating their night feedings will teach the baby to settle down by themselves. Therefore, you can also gently your babies and help them to self-soothe while learning to fall asleep on their own.
2. Manage Your 7-Month-Old Sleep Regression
If your baby was once a solid sleeper but now is a completely “wake-up at night, battling for naps” baby, it might be going through a sleep regression. And If you are a new parent, it may be a challenge for your parenting to deal with their sleep regression. However, you should know sleep regression is effortlessly normal and temporary. It is simply a phase where the baby struggles to sleep and gets frustrated over it.
Sleep regression is a problem that can occur at any age and time, from 4-12 months. As they hit the milestones of 7 months, they start to learn new tricks such as sitting, crawling, and choosing their toys. Hence, you can maintain consistency in their sleep timing and schedule while providing extra comfort in their troubled times.
3. Transition Them from Sleep Swaddling
You might have already heard about how a baby longs for a mother’s womb for the first few months. Hence, babies feel the same security and comfort that they want. However, you cannot forever swaddle your baby, and you should transition them to something else, or it can cause trouble for you.
Although, there aren’t any universal timings or age for a baby to go through the transition period from swaddling to something else.Therefore, you can train them at any point to transition from swaddling. Therefore, the period when a baby turns 7-8 months seems to be a prime time to shift their swaddling habit to something else.
How to Promote Healthy Sleeping for Your Child
Promoting healthy sleep is vital for everyone, whether for adults or babies. Healthy sleep makes you feel energetic to grow throughout the day. Hence, to promote healthy sleep, you can carry on a 7-month-old-sleep schedule to make them grow properly and stay active. For the first few months, your child may disrupt your priceless sleep after a restless day at work. However, you can always train your child to become a good sleeper soon with tips.
1. Get Your Child a Calming Bedtime Routine
We recommend the parents develop a nighttime routine for the baby to feel calm and soothe before going to bed. Hence, you can set a nighttime routine to make your baby feel stimulated and interested by your presence. Therefore, you shall limit the playing time before sleeping and keep a low voice to make them feel calm and sleepy.
2. Let Your Baby Have Some Time to Settle Down
It is quite possible that your baby makes a first and cries the first few minutes before falling into a deep slumber. Hence, let your baby have a short time off for comfort while trying to make them sleep. Some babies are fast asleep when they are swaddled in a blanket. Ensure to offer your baby comfort and make sure the blanket isn’t too tight. Moreover, stop swaddling once your baby starts rolling over.
3. Put Your Baby to Bed Drowsy but Awake
Whenever you see that your baby is showing signs of drowsiness and tiredness, you can put them to sleep.Putting your baby to sleep while they are feeling drowsy helps them to link with the process of falling asleep and also to feel comfortable to sleep on their own.Therefore, provide your baby with some gentle pats and strokes over their delicate body to make them feel comfort and security. Remember to place your kids on their backs to sleep unless the doctor has advised otherwise. Moreover, clean your bed and remove all the toys and hard things before laying your baby.
4. Consider Using a Pacifier
If your baby finds it tough to fall asleep or has trouble settling down, a pacifier can do the trick for you. Research also says that pacifiers can help with reducing the risk of SIDS. Moreover, if you are breastfeeding your child, it may take some time for them to adjust to it.
Conclusion
Creating a 7-month-old sleep schedule is essential for babies to promote consistent and healthy sleep. In this comprehensive guide, you learn about how to create a soothing bedtime routine for your 7-month-old. Here you were able to address problems like sleep regression, night wakings, and transition from swaddling to something else.
You also understand how unique every baby is and how you could adjust things to make them feel comfortable around. Therefore, you can find a few samples of 7-month-old sleep schedules to get an idea of how to make your own.
