My 8 Month Old Still Wont Sleep Through the Night.

Your child sounds like my first. He NEVER napped and was a terible sleeper - he slept through the night for the first time when he was 13 months old. He was also very needy - always needing to be held. I discovered that letting him cry actually made it worse (one night he cried for 3 1/2 hours until my husband took him for a 45 minute spin in the car to calm him down!) I firmly believe that all children are different and sometimes what works with one child doesn't always work with another. For him, I started a very EARLY and consistent bedtime routine because by the end of the day I was BEAT! I fed him by 5:30, gave him a bath to relax him, read books, fed him and put him down by 6:30. What I found is that he would sleep longer the earlier that I put him down - and well that became MY TIME. I did laundry, housework, relaxed and from time to time I even went to bed early too! People thought that I was crazy, but he woke up the exact same number of times if I put him down at 6:30 or 9:30 - so I figured that I gained 3 hours! My son is 3 now and sleeps well through the night, but is still a little needy during the day - Thank goodness for Mother's Day Out! I also have an 8 month old baby who is a good sleeper, but still gets up twice in the middle of night - not needy though. I would seriously try to put him down earlier and see if you get any relief! Having two is way harder than 1! Just when you started getting lots of sleep and are rid of the expense of diapers - I feel your pain! Good luck and remember, it really does get better!

I dont have much info but we had some friends who were having the same issues with thier son and he was about the same age when tnhey decided something had to be done....

It was a week of Hell but now he sleeps wonderfully!
You need to fill him up real good at night Milk and rice ceral at least! And when he wakes up be prepared to let him cry! The first night they did it their son cried for almost 3 hours :( after that it was only about 45 min and then 20 min and now he sleeps 12 hours a night! :) So it may be painful but it works.... We did that with our son at about 3 weeks to get him to sleep in his bed... He had been sleeping there but for some reason he would be sound asleep and then when we put him down he would start crying.... So we decided to let him cry it out one night... He cried for about 2 1/2 hours the first night and then 20 min and then 5 min and now we put him down wide awake and he puts himself to sleep without crying....

With the crying during the day??? DO you work or are you a stay at home mom? If you stay home and he is with you most all of the time have you thought about putting him in a program or just even to someone to watch him a little dring the week to help with that attachment... ??? Just a thought!

Good Luck!
B. <><

Just because he isn't sleeping does not mean he is not tired. He may be overtired. I recommend the book The Baby Whisperer. It really helped me alot. (If the problem is just a "sleeping" issue.) I know this isn't much but I hope it helps.

Get the book BABYWISE. It was a God send. I am serious. Amazing amazing book. Thank God someone shared it with me. Also refer to "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" Its a book when you are serious about getting sleep schedules and getting problem fixed. I RAVE ABOUT THESE!!!

My son did the EXACT same thing until I found our solution.... a book called "The No-Cry Sleep Solution"!!! You understand already the sheer exhaustion of not getting a full night's sleep and then barely getting a break for nap time during the day. My son was waking up every 45 minutes to an hour EVERY night until he was just over 12 months. That's when I found this book!!! We went from no naps and barely any sleep at night to two full (1 to 1 1/2 hour) naps, in bed by 7pm and awake at 6:30am! Now all kids are different, so you may not get exactly the same thing, but I'm sure at this point, anything is better than what you have now. My son was EXTREMELY clingy and needy during the day as well... turns out that he was so overtired that all he wanted was comfort. He now will go off and play on his own all the time, I almost have to chase him down to play with him. Anyway, "The No-Cry Sleep Solution" was written by a mother of four, and she was tired of simply letting her child "cry it out" (which never worked for my son, either). I highly recommend reading it! If I remember her statistics correctly, 90% of the people who truely tried her methods saw some type of improvement in the first month, and major improvement in 60-90 days. I wish you the best of luck, and if you ever need to chat with "someone who's been there" just shoot me an email.... ____@____.com

A.

Mine hasn't slept through the night and she's 19 months old; I know that so isn't what you want to hear. I've never let her cry it out...just can't do it.

I did want to say, though, that maybe you should look at getting one of these http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/002-###-###-####-###... to help you during the day when he's being fussy. They are very comfortable and easy to put on by yourself. Our baby loved it and it really helped me do things around the house and still have her on me when she wanted to be.

I would look into food allergies, particularly dairy. My oldest was like your son and did not sleep well until we removed dairy from both our diets. He was breastfed and the dairy I consumed aggravated him, as well as when we added dairy to his diet. I had removed the dairy because I thought I was just lactose intolerant and figured it would be better for him too - we later learned that we have a true allergy to the casein (protein) in dairy. Per your other note that he is a high need baby and wants to be held, both my boys were like that. That is one symptom of an underlying food allergy - he likely just doesn't feel good so being close to you comforts him. Also, you might have better luck if you put his crib in your room beside your bed (or bring him into your bed when he wakes at nite). That worked very well for both my high need sons. And, don't worry about this being a bad habit. My oldest son was sleeping on his own in his own room at nite by the time he was 3 and absolutely never woke up at nite after that point. My younger son was in our room much longer, but it turns out his allergies were far more severe than his brothers, so likely he needed the extra comfort. He is still my child that needs alot more attention. But, he's also the most outwardly loving child. As the saying goes, what goes around comes around. So, you truly will be rewarded for your investment of time and energy in your son now.