7 1/2 Month Old Not Sleeping All Night

I have a 9 1/2 month old boy that does the same thing. He will
sometimes wake up around 4-5 am. When he wont lay back down I put him in bed with my husband & myself. Usually he goes right back to sleep. I know this probably isnt a good idea but we get more sleep this way. Sometimes you do what you have to to get a little more sleep, especially when you work a full time job.

We just had this battle with our 9 mo. old daughter. 3 am to the minute she would wake screaming and want to eat/play. It was the hardest thing to do, but once we made sure she was Ok (safe, clean diaper etc.) we let her cry herself back to sleep, without a feeding or lots of attention. My Baby 911 book said it would take 3 nights of the crying to stop the waking behavior and overnight feeding requests...and it was right! We have not been up overnight for 2 weeks! Good luck!

S.- I have a 2yr old son and a 3yr old son and I remember going through that w/my first. I'm with Trisha...the magic combo/remedy for us was 1-2 tbsp of rice cereal in warm formula/milk. I would keep a bottle ready in the fridge, cereal already mixed in, to pop in the microwave/stir. I shortened nap time, during the day, to 2hrs max. Believe it or not...it worked and it was practically overnight! My second son was a little bit more difficultat times in terms of not wanting to go back to sleep but I followed the same routine and again, it worked more times than not. When their bellies are full, they sleep solid. Some white noise (they sell clock radios w/this) or a small humidifier- with or without water in it, works wonders too!

If he just wants to play, then going into him may just be motivating him to continue this pattern. It's hard, but the best thing to do may be to leave him alone and let him cry until he falls back to sleep. I have a friend who couldn't handle letting her son cry, so she had her sister spend a few nights at the house while she slept at her sister's. Her sister was able to let the baby cry back to sleep. It took 3 hours the first night, 2 the second, 1 the third, etc. After 5 nights he slept all the way through without a problem! I recommend "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. Weissbluth. It's great and the advice is right-on.

I havent hit the 8 month old stage yet with my son. But it may be that ur son is just growing and his body is chageing and everything. His sleep patteren may of just changed. sorry i dont have any sugustions to help but i thought that it may easy you a little.
C.

S., Both my girls did the same thing at that age. If you can rule out teething or sickness, it's probably just a phase. I read a book called Baby Wise by Gary Ezzo. (Love it!) Some folks say he is controversial but I found most of his advice to be pretty accurate. If I am not mistaken, we would just go to them, not turn on the light, not feed them, and not pick them up. We would tell them it was night, night time and that everything was ok. Perhaps even give them a lovey or soft book to play with and then leave. Sure, they may cry for a time but they would ultimately always go back to sleep. This way they learn to emotionally calm themselves down on their own. Its defineltly a process and does not happen in just one night. Its hard but it does work. Good luck.

S.,

My daughter has been going through the same exact problem. When I asked the pediatrician about sleeping dilemas, she remarked that at about 8-9 months of age a child begins seperation anxiety. She told me to go into my daughter's room and make sure that she was not ill, teething, or wet. She said that after ruling those things out, just comfort them and reasure the child that everything is ok and that it is time to sleep. My ped stated that at this age, the child will wake up and since he/she can't see you, they feel as if you are gone and not coming back. Therefore, the reasurance is the number one way you too will get some sleep. Also, my ped stated that allowing a child to cry, even though it is tough for the parent to listen to their child in distress, is ok. I read a book by Dr. Ferber that explained this too. By allowing a child to cry and learn to self soothe does really work. His concept is to go in a reasure the child every 5 minutes - 10 minutes the first night and then increase the time between your visits to the child's room. This is what my husband and I did and after about 4-5 nights, my daughter was sleeping through the night. I hope this helps.

I can totally understand where you are coming from. My husband and I have a 8 1/2 month old daughter who is doing the same thing. However, this has been going on for about 8 weeks now. She got a double ear infection and since then we think she got use to us getting up with her when she was crying and in pain while sick. Has your little one been sick at all? We talked to the Doctor about it, and he suggested giving the baby warm cereal and bottle before bed. Try not to lay the baby down for bed too early or put the baby down for late evening naps. The last couple of weeks we have been keeping our daughter up longer giving her a warm bath, cereal and bottle before bed. She use to go to bed @ 7pm and sleep until 7am. Now we are finally getting back to her sleeping, so we can sleep. She goes to bed about 8 and gets up about 6 takes a bottle and goes back to bed until 8am. We were also told to let her cry for a while, which is hard! But if you know they aren't hungry or have a dirty diaper then they are just working you. I hated to let my daughter cry, but I think it is finally breaking her of getting up and expecting to be rocked or fed during the wee hours of the night. Good luck. I know interrupted sleep is horrible. It will get better.

Just so you know this is completely normal and not the first phase he will go through that will keep you up in the night. It's definitely not any fun to be up at that hour but all my kids have gone through it too. Keep reminding yourself it is a phase and he will outgrow it. As far as advice we will all try anything at least once so we can get some sleep. My daughter always woke from her teeth so check to see if he's teething...you can always try oragel, or a little motrin...this worked for her but my son hated oragel. Does he have any toys in his crib? Music box? For both of mine i would turn on the fisher price aquarium because it plays for several minutes and has the low lights in it too. If he isn't super fussy I would simply try that and try to go back to sleep instead of feeding him but if he is fussy it may also be a growth spurt and he may be genuinely hungry. Don't turn on any bright lights and try not to talk too much so both you and he don't fully awake and he gets the idea. The other thing that tends to wake babies is when they learn a new skill...rolling, pulling up, etc...they tend to wake up and start practicing, then of course they want mom to see what they can do. This is an excellent age for him to be learning the skill of putting himself back to sleep...so feed him if he needs it, turn on a little music, hang a busy box or a mirror on his crib, and try to put a pillow over your head. Good luck...this will pass all too soon and you will truly miss these days when they are gone...my kids tease me for my motto--"god grant me the strength to deal with my blessings."