My 8 month old is sleeping horribly. He was sleeping through the night really well (after training) for a bit, but now he's up & crying hysterically every 3-4 hrs. What happened? I thought it could be teeth, but I've tried Tylenol & Motrin--neither help the crying fits. How & why did his sleep change? He was sleeping 6:00/6:30-5:00/5:30 without any problems. I'm so torn up inside about all this. He's crying much worse than when we trained. I'm out of ideas and it's not getting better...only worse. I stopped nursing at night when we trained but have gone back to nursing when he wakes at 3:00. I do think he may be hungry. He crawls and cruises so much, he must be burning calories...he nurses all day on demand and eats 1 jar of food. I can't get him to eat more than that. He fights and screams. (It took almost 4 weeks to get the 1 jar in.) How can I get him to sleep again. I'm so upset...about his poor sleeping, my poor sleeping, but mostly that the crying during training seemingly was for nothing...only made it worse. At least when he was waking every hour, he wasn't hysterical. HELP!
You can read what some experts have to say: http://billiediscoverytoys.blogspot.com/2009/07/healthy-h...
Scheduling is so important for babies and young children. Children need consistency. I know a mom who had good results having a set routine for meals, naps, television....the works...and had great results.
Good luck.
I agree with Cheryl, He definately needs more calories. Also, it may be easier said then done, but if your stressed out about it, he might be sensing that which might be creating the stress for him. I would take a deep breath and tell yourself, you'll get through it. Have you tried giving him a bottle? My son is 8 months as well and I give him a bottle with 8 oz of formula at night with 3 tablespoons of cereal mixed in it. I made the nipple hole a bit larger because it is thicker. This will usually get him through the night. I don't know how feel about giving him formula but breastmilk digests a lot quicker than formula which causes them to feel hungry in a shorter period of time. I learned this from his Pediatrician.
I also suggest giving him some fruit that will coax him to eat, like Bananas. My Pediatrician told me to start with Veggies first so they don't get use to the sweet stuff. However, in your case, I would probably try the fruit. I would also try to make meal time fun. I try to play a little game or sing a song to him while he is in his high chair, so he associates eating as fun or a pleasant experience.
Well im not an expert on these things i have my own child and he is 1 year old but maybe he is just going through a stage my lil boy did when he was 8 months im sure you did nothing wrong its just baby's go through stages and they cant tell you whats wrong so they cry and pitch fits and hope you know what they want so dont blame your self wait a few more weeks and see if anything changes with his sleeping
What are his naps like? Making sure they are consistant and as routine as possible, and more than just cat-naps might help. Sounds funny, but generally, the better babies sleep during the day, the better they sleep at night.
Hope you get some sleep soon! Good luck!!
Hi C.
sorry you are having such a hard time. I have a 9month old girl so i am talking from experience though, every baby is different. they do go through stages with the sleep but it really sounds like he is starving. my girl is thin but long and she loves/needs to eat. even as a newborn i had to supplement sometimes or she would cry and cry. Not sure why he is not eating but try this schedule; baby oatmeal with some applesauce mixed in for breakfast,then nursing as usual. sweet potato for lunch cooked and mashed up with warm water. nursing as usual then rice cereal with mashed up steamed veg for dinner(peas, carrots)one hour before bedtime. start like that. nothing gassy. foods that we eat mashed up are fine at 8months old. jar food does not taste the same. And then you won't have to nurse at night and disturb the sleep patten because he will have a full belly. I try to make eating fun by singing and using distraction and that helps her to open wide.:) i wish you luck
Dear C., I'm sure you are not doing anything wrong, something is wrong. You did mention teeth, what about ear infection? I am an older mom and know nothing about sleep training. I just went with the flow. As much as we want to think we are in charge the baby is. Sleeping habits will change but screaming is something else. I'm sure you will get ideas from other moms. This site is great and so is most of the advice. My best, Grandma Mary
We went through something similar around the same age. My son went from sleeping and eating like a champ to refusing to do either. Turns out that it was a combination of a growth spurt, cold and teeting.
Just some ideas... he doesn't need to eat on demand throughout the day and night at this age. Check with your pediatrician or the APA website, but he should really be on a somewhat regular schedule throughout the day. Not rigid, but predictable. Don't stress about the solids. My ped reminded me (sobbing mess in the office) that solids before age 1 are only for experience and texture, not nourishment so don't push it. He suggested offering some of the puffs when we sat down to eat as a family so that my son viewed meals as social opportunities not stressful times.
You may need to sleep train again- we had to do it twice and it stunk both times. Right now he knows that you will come in and feed him so he won't go back down on his own. Just a warning, our second time was worse b/c he was older!
You may also want to try avoiding naps after 4:00 and putting him down around 7:00 for the night. This really helped us b/c my son was actually tired at bedtime. Around this age is when we started a real bed time routine and that helped as well!
Good luck and make sure that you are getting a break at some point during the day for yourself!
schedule, schedule, schedule!! A schedule will give him confidence about when he will eat next and will give you back your sanity. It does sound like he is hungry. FORGET the baby food. Get a food mill and start him on fruit like banana - once milled, you can even add some expressed milk to make it more familiar. The food mill is perfect for this age as they can eat real food but the consistency of the food is an issue. Try frozen peas, scrambled eggs, yogurt. there is also a mesh bag on a stick - can't remember the name right now, but some kids really like holding the food themselves. You can put banana, avocado, strawberry, appple, etc. in the bag and not worry about him choking on too large a piece. Also, WAKE him up for a good feeding around 11 or midnight (or just before YOU go to sleep) to maximize your own sleeping time. They rarely stay away when you feed in a dark quiet room...don't talk or sing, just feed. I made "cereal" bottles for my kids at this feeding: one TBL rice cereal + one TBL baby food fruit and the rest milk. Advent makes a bottle specifically for this: it has three different "flow" options, the largest one allowing the tiny bits of cereal to get through. And don't worry about the bottle "ruining" your nursing - he will always prefer the breast at this point.
Hey C....I have 2 girls.. 2.5 year old girl and 8 month old as well.. and it seems that your daughter may be sick.
She might have an ear infection or swimmers ear..
Does she have a fever.. if so, she has ear infection..
If she doesn't have infection.. she still might have swimmers ear it happened to me.. BRING the baby to pediatrician RIGHT AWAY... That would not sit right w/ me.
he might even have a virus that you don't know about.
this happened to me.. it turned out she was sick.
so, got meds and went back to old routine.. gave bath gave last bottle of FORMULA.. one bottle of formula knocks kids out.. I was breast feeding for 4 months then stopped. I did breast feed w/ my first kid for 6 months.. and always gave one bottle around 8pm it always worked.. Good Luck..
Barb G.
i have an 8 month old as well with similar issues except i agree that 1 jar of food is not enough calories. my son eats about 3-4 jars each day with cereal 2x day plus about 25 oz breastmilk. and his nursing only is not adequate-it digests very quickly. i would speak with my pediatrician.
C.,
It could be separation anxiety. He wakes up in the middle of the night alone and doesn't understand that you are just in the next room. I would suggest comforting him, nursing is a good idea too because if he's very active during the day he could be getting hungry at night, also there may be a growth spurt, and he'd definitely be hungry if that's the case.
The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley helped me tremendously when my son was about 9 months old and going through the same thing.
Good luck,
R.
