8.5 Month Old Waking Every 3 Hrs

My 2 sons would do that whenever they were teething, maybe some orajel or tylenol would help for a couple nights, look in the mouth and feel around and see if you spot any teeth that maybe trying to come thru or see if the orajel and tylenol help and that could be it

Hi K.,

It sounds like he could possibly be teething. He's at the right age. My son did the same thing. He was finally sleeping through the night and then started teething and all bets were off. You might try giving him some Motrin (I found Motrin worked way better than Tylenol because it's an anti-imflammatory) before bed and see if that helps. Good luck!

I had a similar situation with my third child, my boy. This may sound crazy to some, but I took him to my chiropractor. My little boy showed immediate improvement after the first adjustment and the waking up crying stopped altogether after three visits. Birth can be a hard experience for babies and sometimes their spinal columns become misaligned during the birthing process.

good Luck to you.

Kudos to you for not resorting to the "cry it out" method, if you want to call it that. Babies go through periods like this, even when you think they are on a certain schedule. And as you've seen, letting him cry will only make him more upset and won't teach him anything. My oldest also woke up all the time (every 45 minutes for a year!!) and relied heavily on nursing to get back to sleep. Since your son doesn't always want to nurse, consider that a good sign. He may have gone through a growth spurt which required more nightly feedings and then got into the habit of waking up. I would continue to go to him at night, he's too young to understand that you still exist when you leave the room and still needs to have his needs met right away. Do you put him in bed awake? Is he used to falling asleep on his own? If not, I would start gradually putting him in bed more awake, and pick him up when he cries then put him back down when he stops. This may take time when putting him to bed, but give it a chance. (see Elizabeth Pantley's No Cry Sleep Solution - it's wonderful!) If he already goes to bed awake, then maybe this is just a phase and he'll get over it. Is there a song that you sing that's comforting to him? Try singing or rubbing his back in bed and see if that calms him. Babies have sleep cycles that are very different from an adults and they go through the cycles quicker, so it's not unusual for a baby to wake up every 1-2 hours, just as we do as adults. The difference is that we know how to fall back asleep and your baby wakes up and wants mommy. So, gently and slowly teaching him to fall asleep on his own may help him when he wakes up at night. I know how frustrating it can be and how exhausted you must feel, and I hope this helps!

time to wean! Maybe his eating/nap should change.

put a sound machine in his room and play it softly. Make sure it's a gentle nature sound like rain, running water. birds chirping. Or you could just put him in bed with you and get some sleep then you'll have to break him of sleeping with you when he's older. Or you could give him a bath w/ lavender scent before bedtime.

Maybe he's teething, ear ache, just going through a growth spurt.

You mentioned that your sons diet hasn't really changed at all but how about yours? If you are nursing then, of course he is getting whatever you eat. My son did this waking up thing for a while. He wasn't nursing anymore by that time and was a bit older. I decided to keep a food log of what he was eating. I found that this only happened on the nights that he would eat chocolate! I talked to the doc about it and she said that this is very common. Kids have reactions most often to chocolate, milk, and something else that I can't remember. Anyway, we cut out the chocolate and he was fine. He is now 2 yrs old and does just fine with it. The doc said that they sometimes have a hard time digesting certain foods for a time. Not sure that this is your problem, but worth looking into. Keep a log of what you eat for a bit and see if you can find a common link on the nights he wakes up. Good luck to you! T. M.
PS. I wouldn't let him cry it out until confirming that there isn't anything wrong. Follow your instincts! M. knows best!

My daughter did this too....it is sooo tiring. I feel for you, just when you think everything is good...then they start waking...one night I counted 7 times and my husband was on midnights @ the time....not fun :(

The first thing I would do is make sure I didn't pick her up unless I needed to give her a bottle...the more i picked her up the more she expected it and that prolonged the process. I learned that the majority of the times she cried she just wanted reassured I was still there, one time I walked in and she smiled and said "hi":)

And crying it out did the same thing to her, it made it worse...we got the rainforest thing you hang on the crib that plays music or moves,etc..so when she did cry I went in comforted her, put the music on patted her back a minute and back to bed I went...she learned soon how to turn it on herself and now if she does cry it is only about once (which to some is bad but when you are in there every hour...once a night is good! haha) and usually I hear her put it on and goes back to sleep:)

Good luck, I know it is frustrating...:)
Happy New Year and Sleep to you and your family!

Are you feeding him baby cereal yet? If not, give him rice cereal at his feeding times, he's probably not getting enough, alot of Doctors won't tell you to do this until they're a year old. I put my babies on cereal at the age of 2 weeks, and my grandchildren also, my kids are now healthy grown adults, and the grand kids are good and healthy, they would sleep all night.And so would Mommy. Hope this works for ya.

I would suggest try giving him a bath before bed and use lotion that has a lavender scent to it. Lavender is a soothing scent. I used it on my 5 year old and myself as well. Also is there a possibility that he may be teething?

Try giving him some baby food rice cereal before bed and then maybe nurse a bit. It should comfort him more.

My baby girl who is now 13 months did the same thing and it ended up she was teething and about the same time she had a couple ear infections and sinus infections. Luckily we are now past that, but she seems to be getting molars right now but it isn't affecting her sleeping. I too work full time and the only thing you can do is to try baby orajel if he is teething and some tylenol to help the tooth pain. This is a tough time for them since their digestive system is adjusting to solid foods, etc. It will pass soon hopefully.
Best of luck and Happy New Year!

It sounds like he is probably hungry. He is older and bigger now and maybe needs some food to supplement the nursing. I would try it and see if it helps.

Could he be teething? Even if you don't see anything doesn't mean he's not. Is he drooling alot, fussier, chewing on everything. Then your answer is teething. This is the age for it and it will definitely affect their sleeping. Ask your doc about Tylenol and dose, there's teething tablets of some kind that you put in their bottle, etc.

I would guess teething is the issue. try giving him hyland's teething tablets before bed. They are all natural so it is ok to give on a regular basis. It should help with the pain and allow for sleep. If he wakes later in the night try giving to him again. He can have them every 4 hours i believe.

Good luck. Sleep will come again and that always makes life easier.

The same thing happened to me :( He got teeth, then an ear infection, and it just kept going on. He was up every 1.5-2 hours all night. The only thing that helped was putting him in his own room at 8 months old. I still get up once or twice a night, but it's so much better than 6 times a night. I can't let my kids CIO either, I don't think it teaches them anything but that I won't be there for them if they need me.
I'd try having your husband console him for every-other waking. Rocking him, patting his back or tummy, singing to him. See if you can get the nursing sessions down and maybe he'll start to sleep longer.
Good Luck:)

Hey I know this can be trying, just hang in there and he will get it. We have let our kids cry it out beofre. With my first this was sucessful, with my second, not at all, so I know what you mean when it just doesn't work. Basiclly there are a million things to try and maybe one will work , or maybe he will out grow it (I know that isn't tremendously helpful). I noticed you got a post that suggested using lavender lotion and body wash. I wouldn't advise using that, as it can cause breast swelling (this happened to my daughter and is possible in boys as well). It is not serious but anything that has that type of effect is probably best to avoid.