8 Month Old Who Doesn't Sleep.

Have you talked to your pediatrician about it? Does she sleep in a crib? My son could not sleep in the crib...so I became the attached parent and allowed him to sleep in my bed and all was well. Most parents these days though are completely against that..but it is what comforted him to sleep through the night and thus I got sleep.

When my now 5 yr old was born, I thought he would sleep through the night once he hit 3 months like his older brother did, not the case.

Up until he was 16 months old, he woke up every 3 hours for milk, as if he was a newborn.

What I did to ween him off was to go in their every 3 hours, sing him a song and give him some water in his bottle instead of milk. Then I'd say goodnight and go back to bed. Eventually he learned that Mommy isn't bringing me anymore milk, I might aswell stay asleep and he did.

Now this may not be the case for you as far as feeding goes but the remedy works the same. Go in their, sing her a song, tell her it's night night time and lay her down. If she wakes but isn't crying, DON'T GO IN THEIR. What for? She'll go back to sleep.

Also, it won't hurt her to let her cry. I know it's hard to hear your baby cry and cry and cry but let her cry a bit and when she stops, listen in to make sure she's ok and take a peek. I bet she'll cry herself to sleep. And contrary to what some people think, babies do need to learn to sooth themselves to sleep.

Important: Do you have a routine? Dinner, bath, story, milk, bed.....because a routine will help establish a good sleep pattern but it will take time.

Good Luck.

Hi L.,
I would suggest that you start putting her to bed at a much earlier bedtime. Start a routine with her (bath, reading, kisses. etc) and then lay her down for the night around 7:30 or so. I learned this my reading Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. The author states that a late bedtime like 9 or 10 p.m. causes the baby to be overtired, and that is why they wake up more throughout the night. It is so true... After I read this book and became more aware of how sleep patterns work for babies, I felt way more in control of the sleeping situation. Once we started the earlier bedtime, my son was sleeping around 12 hours a night 7:30-7 (and even longer on the weekends). There may be a little crying involved at first as she adjusts, but you will be surprised at the results if you stick with it. Good luck!

Have you started feeding her cereal. Maybe try giving her some before she goes to bed so she doesn't get hungry at night. Then give her a warm bath and put her down. Maybe that will work.

Also try not letting her take a nap late in the afternoon. Hang in there you will figure out what works.

I ran into the same problem with my 7 month old. I noticed that she was starting to go through that seperation anxiety stage. I ended up putting her to bed in her crib and when she got up I would bring her in the bed with me. She did great and would not wake up till about 7am. If you are not willing to let your child sleep in the bed with you then this may not work, but I was so exhausted all the time it was not worth it. Hopefully this helps.

L., you sound exhausted! I am wondering if your baby is coming up on some developmental milestone-like crawling or pulling up or even walking? Sometimes when a baby is "working" so hard during the awake hours to master a new skill, she will not sleep well at night. Once the milestone is reached, things get much better! Something else that might be going on is teething-which is really painful for some babies. There is a great book you might like THE NO CRY SLEEP SOLUTION. Many moms have found it to be helpful because it has lots of ideas to try to make night-time parenting easier. My mantra was always "this too will pass" and guess what? It did.

My son did the same thing but he was 13 months. What I did was probably not the best - I let him sleep in our bed and guess what - he's 32 months and still there. It worked with the sleep, he cuddled and slept through the night from then on but now I don't know how I am going to move him out of our room! I've had to buy a bigger bed to accommodate all three.

The best thing that was ever given to me to help prepare me for baby is the book "Babywise" - I can't remember who writes it, but looking on Amazon, you'll find it easily. It is all about setting a flexible schedule throughout the day that gets your baby sleeping through the night. It can be hard to actually do the stuff the book says and my only caveat is if you are a perfectionist type like me, don't take everything in it TOO seriously or you'll freak out, BUT that said, it is the BEST about getting baby sleeping and it has worked like a charm for everyone I know who does it. I gave it to a friend when her 9 month old was doing what your baby is doing now and she thanked me up and down. Good luck... you need some rest!

ME TOO!! My son is 10 months old and a monster at night. He has only slept all nght long about 4 times in his little life. I have tried it all...let him nap longer/ let him nap less. We just put tubes in his ear last week and that has reduced some of the crying but he still wakes. I do put him in bed with me many nights so I can get some rest so don't feel bad about that! 8 months is a long time with no sleep!! My theory is that he'll sleep one day or at least he'll get married and be some other woman's problem!!!

Believe me, I know what you are going through. I have a 13 month old little girl. I haven't slept in 13 months. She has been sleeping with me for 3 months now. My husband and I have been sleeping in separate beds so we can all get some sleep. I finally bit the bullet this weekend (after months of putting it off) and decided I would let her cry it out. The first night she cried 10 minutes and slept from 8:00 to 7:30. The second night she cried 15 minutes and slept from 8:00 to 7:30. Last night she whined for about 2 minutes and again slept all night. This has been absolutely wonderful for all of us. It went much better than I ever expected. I know it doesn't work for everyone, and I think I have been very lucky. I know most kids cry longer, but it may be worth a shot. If I hadn't tried it, we still wouldn't be getting any sleep. Good luck to you! I hope you find something that works.

L.,

I went thru this with my son. I know it is very difficult. One thing I found that helped (wish I could say it worked like a charm but in all honesty I just got him to start sleeping thru the night consistently in the last few months and he is 3!!) was to put him to develop and stick to a bedtime routine and also to leave a cd playing to block any outside noise. I also started feeding him cereal and fruit just before I began the bedtiem routine - does she want to eat when she wakes up? If so this will help tremendously. It cut out the 3am bottle he wanted (I was overjoyed if I could just get 4 hours at a time lol. My son was a very difficult sleeper his whole life - when he was a newborn he ate every 45 minutes or so. Morgan would often stay awake an hour - 3 hours at time - not fun lol. The additional feeding seemed to help this some since when he was hungry and had to wait for a bottle in the night he tended to get more worked up than when he just needed me, lol.

When he could walk I started taking him out for walks in the evening just after supper (this was when he was around 10 mos and I still do it anytiem the weather permits in winter and all summer.) When he was real young we just walked around the yard but by the time he was around 15 mos we walked a coupel blocks and by 20 mos he walked about a mile a day most days with me - Unless you want to packa tired child a half mile or so bring a strolelr along just incase!! You could try this now when the weather is good and just let her ride in her stroller - just beign out in the fresh air and all may help some.

Good Luck! And just hang in there it does pass eventually. In the mean time maybe you can get DH or someone to watch her for a while of the day so you can nap or on weekends. I did this alot! I would make my husband watch our son on Sat. and Sun. mornings so I could sleep a bit.

I also liked the advice in Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child that reccomended a bedtime between 6:30 and 8, and establishing a routein that allows the baby to fall asleep at the ealier time. I also found the research that showed sleep begets sleep very helpful, and found the suggested nap schedule helpful in getting my baby to sleep well at night. It seems counterintuitive to think if you let your baby sleep well during the day, it will sleep better at night. This book has been helpful, but be careful not to get obsessive about it!

Good luck!

There are some really good books out there that taught me a lot about a baby's sleep habits. "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" (by Marc Weisbluth) and "Good Night, Sleep Tight" (by K. West). I know all babies are different and some definitely sleep better than others, but I also believe they do much better with a regular schedule, which includes regular naps. Consult your physician to make sure nothing is serious, and I highly recommend getting one of these books and following through. The first 3 to 4 days of 'sleep training' are the hardest, but well worth it. And you don't have to let them 'cry it out'. I followed the books advice, and though my son gets up once early (between 4 and 5 am), he really sleeps like a charm, naps and all. It is worth a try and the books convinced me it is in the best interest of your child to teach good sleep habits.
Good luck!

Hey L.,

My 10.5 month old does the same thing. He has never slept well. People have said, ole just let him cry it out, he will eventually stop. HA! He just works himself up til he throws up all over his crib, then I have to get up and change him and the whole crib. Then, guess what, hes hungry after all of that! Not fun at midnight!

Anyways, not to ramble, but I feel your pain. Last night I put him down at 9:30 PM. (People told me to start putting him to bed earlier, so I tried this too. He used to not go to bed until 10:30 to 11PM.) My son was up at 12, 2, 4 and 7. Which is good for him. Sometimes its a time or two more per night.

Have you checked for ear infections? My son has had chronic ear infections for going on 2.5 months now. We are getting tubes on Friday, so I hope and pray this is going to help with the night pain and waking. And hes teething on top of it.

My suggestions would be to feed him dinner late, like 30 to 45 mins before bed. Do a good warm bath with the night time baby wash and lotion. Do PJs then nurse or a bottle. Give baby a dose of Tylenol or Mortin (if you suspect pain) then rock to sleep (or however you do it).

Also, use a sound machine or a fan. We bought a sound machine at Walmart for like $20. It does all kinds, but my son likes the waterfall and the rainstorm. Also, we have started limiting my son to one bottle of milk per night. He gets one before bed, but only one small one at night. And lots of times I water that bottle down. Otherwise, he just gets plain water in his bottle if he wakes up more than that.

My only other suggestion is put your baby in bed with you. At 3AM when he has done been up 4 times, I just put him beside of me. Funny how he doesn't wake up again til morning! Its much easier because I sense him waking up and can immediately pat him back to sleep versus getting to his crib before he has stood up and started screaming. By then, he has done woken himself up.

I hope any of this helps. I know I rambled quite a bit! But, I didn't get much sleep last night either! Ha,Ha!