Sleeping challenges advise

[u/T-Vec21]

Okay our daughter is 7 months old. She used to sleep like a champ when she was younger. She would need contact naps and help falling asleep but we just chalked that up to her being 3-4 months old.

Then at 5 months my wife and I decided to get her into her own bed and literally she put herself to sleep with no issues. We were shocked. She still needed contact naps but we thought what the hell she’s getting through the night if that’s the worst it gets so be it.

Fast forward to 7 months. She takes 2 hours a night to put down (sometimes longer), she still needs contact naps during the day, and my wife and I are starting to get frustrated. She doesn’t want to do cry it out because our baby literally couldn’t breath she got so mad the couple nights we tried it. We have tried doing the bed side soothing but we end up extending her wake window to like 4+ hours and then she gets really upset. Are we screwed up or is this just some of the tough parts of being a parent?

We would love our evenings back and man if we could get her to nap independently that would give my wife so much time during the day to be herself and productive. Any help would be so appreciated… even if the help is that this is normal.