My 8 Month Old Refuses to Sleep at Night.............

Hi,
I am a mom of 3 girls ages 15, 17,and 19.So it has been a while since I dealt with theses situations but one thing I did with my girls was to wear them out with activity they could handle at their age. If she still naps, leave the activity for later in the day so she will be tired at say 8:00 pm. The other thing I did was let them cry a little bit until she learns she can go to sleep on her own, the thing with this is my girls were a lot younger when I started this and I don't know how this would work with an 8 month old.
Activities you might want to try are if she crawls, go tothe end of a room and make her crawl to you holding a toy she likes, she can sit and bang on some toy like a xylophone, drum, etc.Whatever she likes to do that involves physical activity. Hope some of this works.

I would check for teeth. They were a big culprit in messing with my daughter's sleep. I would also get her checked by her doctor for an ear infection. Finally, is she working on any new skills, like crawling?

Try wearing her in a baby sling. That is what worked for us. It is a little tricky to get sleeping baby out of the sling without waking up, but with practice it is possible. Just make sure her arms are completely limp before you try.

Hi L.,

Make sure she doesn't have an ear infection.. Also, she's at the age where she could be teething.. Good luck.

L.,
My 20 month old baby has been doing this for well over a month now and I have no idea why he is waking up. He gets up crying, wants out of his crib and for 2 weeks I was taking him to the living room where I'd fall asleep on the sofa with him. If I laid him in his crib, he'd wake up crying again and back to the couch I'd go. I got tired of sleeping on the sofa, so I've resorted to staying in his room, leaving him in his crib but turning on some soft music and just rubbing his back. He'd eventually go back to sleep and I can tip-toe out of his room. Just last night he woke up at 12:30 A.M. and at first I took him out of his crib but then put him back and I rubbed his back for about and hour and a half. Talk about exhausting. I'd like to say this a frustrating phase. I never experienced this with either of my two daughters. This, too, is very new to me.

You say your baby won't sleep even with holding her. My son will fall asleep as long as I AM holding him. He wakes up when I lay him down. I don't typically let him nap past 3 P.M. Try keeping her from taking a nap past 3 P.M. and exhaust the heck out of her! Let her play in the bathtub and delay her bedtime and see if that works.

Hi L.:
You did not mention how long she sleeps after your husband gets home from work. If she is doing well throughout the day, it's a possibility that she is spoiled with daddy. Maybe when daddy is home, he doesn't let go of her and she misses that when he is not around. But on the other hand, if she cries constantly after she sleeps for one hour, you should have her checked by her pediatrician. Good luck with your new baby!

It sounds like her schedule has changed and the time you are putting her to sleep for the night, her body thinks it's only "naptime" You are going to have to make her "schedule earlier" Earlier bkfst, morning nap, earlier lunch (like 11:30am) and then immediately after lunch her afternoon nap.......then by 8pm she should be MORE than ready to go to sleep and stay asleep for the night................

Hi L.,

I would check and see if your baby has an acid reflux problem. My daughter did the same thing as your baby for 5 months. It turned out that she was suffering from severe acid reflux and the acid burning her throat would wake her while trying to sleep causing very bad pain. We took her to a gastroenterologist and they did a simple painless test and it showed the acid bouncing up and down her throat and in only 5 months she already had esophogial and stomach lining erosion. Try putting the baby to sleep in a bouncy chair or the car seat so that she is in an upright postion, this helps the acid from coming up. Or elevate the mattress at the top, put towels or blankets under it so she sleeps on an incline. Good luck to you.
R. M.

First thing to do is relax, babies sense our stress. They go through changes and developmental stages. Is she getting too much sleep during the day now? . #2 look for anything that could possibly have changed over the past week. #3 Consult your dr. and rule out medical concerns if the problem continues. #4 What are you doing when she cries? As hard as it is, Do not pick her up. When she cries the first time, go in and reassure her, soothe her, then leave. Extend the amount of time you wait before you go in. The first couple of nights will be H___, but if you don't take care of it now, you will have a real problem. She is exerting control, and this is a real problem later on. Good luck.

Sounds like she's in nap mode. I would try keeping her up a little longer at night, maybe an hour, then try putting her down. As she gets older, her sleep patterns will change. Try dinner, bath time, some play time, then bottle and bed. Good luck...