7 Month Old Baby Sleeping Habits

Because the time frame for cognitive, motor and emotional development is not exactly the same for all seven month babies there will be variations in their sleeping patterns. Most pediatricians including Dr. Karen Sadler, instructor of pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine agree that by age seven months, most babies sleep an average of 14 hours per day. While they may still not sleep through the night, they do usually sleep for longer periods of time. They may sleep as much as four or five consecutive hours at night with two naps during the day. Your baby may require a little more or less sleep. Generally, babies get the amount of sleep their body demands.

  1. Good Sleeping Habits

    • If your seven month old has developed the habit of waking up every night, it's time to implement a sleep training plan. Waking up during the night places a terrific strain on everyone involved. When your baby awakes every night making loud demands, it is because this has become a habit. Now is the time to establish meaningful activities to help minimize the nighttime wakens and eventually eliminate them. Good sleeping habits can be established by implementing a bedtime routine that works for parent and child. A nightly routine introduces strategies that will help your baby to become drowsy, go to sleep easier and sleep soundly through the night.

    Consider Baby's Temperament

    • Child development specialist Claire Lerner suggests that parents should keep in mind that any routine or schedule should always take their child's individual needs and temperament into consideration. According to Jodi Mindell Ph.D., associate director of the Sleep Disorders Center of Philadelphia, one such routine is to give your baby a warm bath. Warm water is very soothing and relaxing to both adults and babies. Many of us can attest to this at the end of a long exhausting day.

    Soothing Touch

    • After the bath, smoothing on lotion with gentle strokes can serve as an additional means of possibly calming your baby. The number of pediatricians advocating gentle massage as a sleep aid is steadily growing. There are studies that have shown massage to have a positive affect on both the nervous and the immune system. Gentle massage also offers additional bonding time between parent and baby. The Touch Research Institute, a Team of distinguished researchers at the University of Miami have reported that. "infants who receive massage therapy before bedtime by a parent experienced less difficulty falling asleep and better sleep patterns."

    Napping Habits

    • Parents should be aware that either not enough napping or too much napping in the daytime can adversely affect baby's sleep at night. It might be necessary to experiment with baby's day schedule. Some seven month old babies may take longer to finally adjust to a regular sleep schedule. Putting your baby to sleep around the same time day and night will help the baby become used to those times and help him to eventually fall asleep on his own. According to pediatrician Dr. Bill Sears, if your baby wakes up when you put him down it usually means he was still in the light sleep cycle. It takes about 20 minutes for him to enter into a deeper sleep cycle.

    Affection Makes A Difference

    • Whatever strategy is used, it's always important to end the nightly routine with a show of affection. Hugging, kissing and cuddling your baby is a great way to end the bedtime routine before, hopefully, your little darling is visited by the sandman.

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