8 Month Old Will Not Stay Asleep!!

There is nothing wrong with bottle to bed or cuddling to sleep! You would be showing her that she is loved and she is safe. She needs that. She needs you. At this point in her life, you would be teaching her that Mommy loves her and Mommy is always there for her.

At this age, their sleeping habbits change every couple of weeks. It is way too early in her life to worry about setting a bad routine. We cuddled our oldest to sleep for the first 2 to 2 1/2 years, then eased him into a new routine. He sleeps great and thinks it's funny that his younger brother doesn't fall asleep on his own.

My younger son is 22 months old, and I treasure our nighttime routine. I'm really going to miss it when he's too big and doesn't want me to help him fall asleep.

When I was trying to learn how to teach my son to sleep (yes, babies have to be taught how to sleep! They don't automatically know how) I found fantastic info in Dr. Sears Baby Sleep Book, The Baby Whisperer and The No-Cry Sleep Solution. I didn't use on exclusively but combined the info to work out a sleep routine that worked for us.

I could never, ever use CIO-ever. Why on earth would I leave my infant who doesn't know how to sleep to just cry and I'll come back in every few minutes while they are wailing. Craziness. It raises their blood pressure, floods their little systems with stress hormones and would leave me on the other side of the door counting minutes till I could provide comfort to my infant. Not the kind of peaceful, gentle good night I'd want for my baby or me.

There is *nothing* wrong with rocking baby to sleep or providing comfort/care till they are asleep. I rocked or nursed both of mine till they were out completely and into a deep sleep then would hold them very close to lay them down. Using tips and tricks in the books above I taught them how to get back to sleep if they woke in the night and they both go to sleep like a breeze now at age 6 and 2.5.

Take a deep breath and relax. I know this is hard, my daughter didn't sleep through the night until she was almost two. Yeah, I know, it sucked.

Supernanny has a new technique to the cry it out method (which some people will tell you is cruel):

Instead of just leaving her alone in the room while you're somewhere else, when she wakes up, go into her room, change her if needed, recover her if you cover her and then sit on the floor where she can see you (half way between her bed and the door) with your back to her (I'm assuming you have a small night light) ... she may cry and scream, but she'll be able to see that you are still there. Do not turn around and acknowledge her at all; the episode I saw this CIO method, the two year old kept crying, "Mama I'm dying" to try to get mom's attention, so be glad your little one can't talk. :)

When she falls asleep, go back to your bed and try to get some sleep.

Good luck! It will get better. And if you want to try something other than CIO, rub her back while she is laying in her crib, but don't pick her up.

My six month old daughter did the same thing. We just took her to the doctor two days ago and found out she had an ear infection and was teething real bad. They gave us meds for her ear and told us to get children's Tylenol not the baby Tylenol (just get the dose from your doctor) and she is doing great and sleeping all night in her bed again so maybe she is teething or something. I hope this helps.

As babies get older, they get set in habits that we have formed for them and become more demanding in what they want. So, good job in wanting to figure this all out! It sets a pattern for all the training you are going to do for the child as she grows up.

It's best for her not to fall asleep with a bottle in her mouth as the milk sugars coat her teeth and rot them over time.

Have an evening routine: bath, read a book, put her in bed. Leave her to settle herself. Check on her after 20 minutes, rub her back and soothingly say, 'it's okay' and leave. Do not pick her up. Repeat. You are teaching her that she can comfort herself, and fall asleep on her own and that you are not going to pick her up. If you pick her up after she cries for x minutes, you are teaching her that if she cries for x minutes, then you will pick her up.

I learned from some great moms that it is 'pay now or pay later'. It is a full time job raising children lovingly and patiently, but with a plan and 100% consistency. Our job is to slowly, over 18 years, train them to become young adults who care for others.

Good job so far!