Sleeping Habits - Hamburg,NY

Hi L.,
I don't know what the p/u, p/d refers to, but it's been 10 years since I last had a baby. I never did the CIO either. From what you describe - crying at bedtime and then needing to be walked down, it sounds like he is overtired. I think it would be good to try for an earlier bedtime, preceeded by about an hour of calm time, no real stimulation. But if he's made a habit of crying at bedtime, it may not occur to him to not do this anymore (I'm not an expert here, neither of my kids ever cried at bedtime). If he's less overtired when he goes down, it may eliminate him waking and staying up during the night. I don't know what his nap schedule/habits are but look at those too. A lot of sleep issues are caused by babies/toddlers being overtired.
Good luck!

Take a look at what sleep expert Dr. Marc Weissbluth has to say:
http://billiediscoverytoys.blogspot.com/2009/07/healthy-h...

My Daughter was a horrible sleeper. She would wake up 6 times a night at that age, then we read the book "Happy sleep Habits, Healthy Child" by Dr. Marc Weisbluth and when we applied the principles it made such a difference. In 2 nights she went from waking up 6-7 times to waking up once to nurse and going immediately back to sleep. it made putting her down much easier too. although I didn't agree with everything in the book, we definatly found that putting our daughter to bed early (ie 6:30 at the latest) helped her to fall asleep easier and sleep longer.
I highly recommend reading the book to see if it will work for you.

I have read all the sleep books for my 5 month old. and sometimes they say your baby may be overtired. and the adrenaline & cortisol (sp?) has kicked in and they cant sleep. So focus on good naps during the day so that he will get good sleep at night. at 8 months old babies need at least 14 hours sleep with 2-4 hours in naps. And dont put him to bed too late. Books say 7-7:30...Mine goes to sleep around 9 but thats because he naps around 5. If he doesnt nap he is in bed by 6:30! Also if you try pick up /pd stick to it and maybe it will work. Currently my baby sleeps w/ us in bed and for naps he is finally learning to sleep without me. So when I try to get him in his crib I am sure I will have my challenges.

I swear by the book Good Night Sleep Tight by Kim West. www.sleeplady.com This book helped keep me sane when sleep training my twins. They were sleeping in a few days and taking regular naps! It walsk you through all the steps and gives you schedules and examples of what their day should look like. It was amazing. It was sooo easy (even with twins) and painless for me too!! It is called the gentle approach and is a no cry method. I make all my friends read it and they all love it too!!! Good luck.