How should you manage your 7 month old baby sleep schedule and changing sleep routine? Let’s find out
7 Month Baby’s Sleep Routine
By 7 months of age, your baby’s schedule is becoming more consistent with 3 naps per day. At this age your baby needs 2-3 hours of daytime nap hours total and 11-12 hours of overnight sleep.
I don’t love sharing “sample schedules” because I feel they can set a gal up to fail when things don’t follow the schedule exactly. In my private consultations and online classes I teach a “flexible schedule” using age appropriate awake times to guide you through the day.
Fixed schedules where 9 am means nap time everyday can set you up to fail because they make the assumption that you can control how long your baby naps for. In many cases you cannot. What do you do when your baby wakes up mid nap because she pooped herself awake? Do you keep your tired baby up until the next set nap time or do you put her down early? When you learn to implement a flexible schedule, you learn parenting skills that help you manage when things don’t go smoothly.
7 months can be a particularly challenging time for some parents as your child may start to show signs of the readiness to drop down to 2 naps. You can read more about the specific transition on this blog – the 3-2 nap transition. That blog is my most viewed post, indicating that many people struggle with it.
The challenge that exists with a 7 month old nap schedule at this age, is that it may vary significantly from day to day. Some days your baby may take 3 naps and some days she may take 2 naps. Children often take 1-2 weeks to fully transition to 2 naps.
Signs of nap drop readiness include:
- Being able to comfortably stay awake for longer stretches of time approaching 3 hours.
- Taking longer naps and spreading the 2-3 hours over 2 naps instead of 3 naps.
Sample Sleep Schedule
6:30 am Wake Up and Feed
7:30 am – Breakfast – Solid #1
9:00 am – Nap 1 – 45 minutes to 1 hour
9:45 am – Wake up from 45 minute nap
10:30 am – Feed
11:30 am – Lunch – Solid #2
12:30 pm – Nap 2 – 1 to 1.5 hours
1:30 pm – Wake up – 1 hour nap
2:30 pm – Feed
4:15 pm – Nap 3 – cat nap
4:45 pm – Wake Up
6:30 pm – Feed
7:00 pm – Top up Feed before bedtime routine
7:20 pm – Begin bedtime routine
7:30 pm – Put down in crib
7:45 pm – Asleep
Overnight EBF generally 0-1 night feed between 1 and 4 am.
Formula fed kids getting 25-30 oz during the day, 0 night feeds.
This 7 month old nap sample schedule could change if your baby takes a longer 1st or 2nd nap, squeezing out room in the day for a 3rd nap. You can see an 8 month old schedule here.
One common problem that pops up at this age is early morning wake ups, around 5 am. The most common cause of this is not moving bedtime earlier when the 3rd nap is dropped. Another common cause is that it's too bright in the room. I use Sleepoutcurtains to block out distracting light. This is also helpful at naptime. You can use my code helpingbabiessleep for 10% off.
Sleep begets sleep, the more well rested your baby is, the easier it is to fall and stay asleep. I often see this happening with parents who are adopting a “2-3-4” schedule at this age.
Using 2 hours before 1st nap, 3 hours before 2nd nap and 4 hours before last nap. If these early wake ups are happening to you, try decreasing the time interval before bed to not exceed 3 hours and see how that can help.
What is your 7 month old baby sleep schedule? Share in the comments section below, I would love to respond.
Ever wonder how much sleep your baby needs and when? Worried you're not getting nap hours in? Download my free sleep timing and quantity chart and see how much sleep they should be getting for their age.
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Read Next:
- When Can My Baby Sleep Through The Night?
- The 3 – 2 nap transition: 7 – 10 months of age
- The One Thing Your Baby Needs to Sleep Through the Night
