8 Months Old Not Sleeping More than 4 Hours at a Time

It is absolutely normal. Welcome to motherhood, J.! It can be a real shock to your system, can't it? When #2 comes along the sleep deprivation won't seem like such a big deal. It is simply a fact of caring motherhood. Certainly you can try the "cry it out" method, but you don't want to do that to your beautiful daughter. There are several new studies that prove the cry-it-out method does long-term psychological damage to the child. And deep down, moms know that. It feels wrong to let your baby cry it out. It is counter-intuitive.

I am the mom of four. My oldest is now 26, my youngest is 8. At around 8 months of age babies are becoming more aware of their surroundings, sitting up, perhaps starting to stand, and there are many psychological factors attached to these things. Teething, of course, can also be a factor at this age. Change is the only constant when it comes to child development. Just because a baby wakes up twice a night at 4 or 6 months of age does not mean she will continue to wake up only two times a night. Be flexible. Know that her baby days will be gone before you know it, never to return. There are no do-overs in parenting. Give her the comfort, safety and security that only you can give. Not to mention the nutrition. Babies this age were designed to need at least one night feeding. Sure you can "train" them not to, but that is not how nature intended it to be. The sleep you lose now will pay off in the long run. Be there for her now and she will become a more independent, self-assured child and adult. Change your attitude. Start viewing the night feedings as a pleasure and a delight that will be gone all too soon.

you will probably not want to hear this but it is probably a phase,but you are her teacher .first try infants motrin it works far better for teething.start a consistent nap and bedtime /routine.both my girls were nite weened aby 2months if your baby eats well in the day and is gaining wieght she does'nt need to eat at nite.my 8 month goes to bed at 630 and wakes between 5-630am.I am a pacifier supporter, it may be to late if she has not already,i have rarely let my girls cry to sleep they should have good feelings about going to bed not asociate it with a place of frustration.Try putting your baby in the ergo pack and bounc/ rock her to sllep,pat her but rub her tummy.If you feel like you might want to nite ween let me know i will help you.

She's probably going through developmental changes... especially if she is approaching 9 months old. This is a common growth spurt time & developmental change. Each "growth spurt"...brings about lots of changes for a baby: they hit milestones, physiologically, cognitively, & physically. It's a lot of change for them too, to adjust too.

Here are some links for you with info.:
http://www.slumbersounds.com/baby-sleep-patterns-info.htm
http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/concerned_about_yo...

Baby sleep patterns are NOT static. They DO change. Just as we adults don't always sleep at the same time, the same length, the same way all our lives... and we too have times of difficulty sleeping or wakefulness. Same for a baby. But developmentally, they are changing much more than we do.

Your girl is normal and this happens to all babies. Mine included. From birth through toddler-hood...a Mommy/Daddy does not have consistent sleep either... baby/child wake up varying times, yes, it's tiring, but they will grow up so quickly.

It's good you have a sleep and nap routine for her... napping is important. At this age, 2 naps during the day is common... and sleep is good for brain development too.

It seems you tried a lot of things to solve her sleep waking up's. So that's good. But...with babies, sometimes we don't always "know" what the deal is and why they wake.

Main thing is to keep consistent in your pre-nap/sleep routines... keep to the same times for it and the same routine. BUT, understand that babies change and it does cause a hiccup in their sleep patterns. It's a phase.

When my kids went through little bumps in the road with their sleeping ability.. I just kept to the SAME routine and sleep times... eventually it passes, and they went back to their "regular" sleep patterns or abilities.

Sometimes too...as they attain other physical abilities...ie: sitting up, standing, rolling over etc., THIS will wake them, because they don't "know" how to put themselves back down, in a perfect prone sleeping position, and then lull themselves to sleep all by themselves. They will do these activities even in the crib when we THINK they should sleep. This is their way of practicing their skills and it's just a natural impulse. It's how they learn.

If she wants/needs to be fed during the night... (for me) I would get up and feed/nurse my kids. That is me. Some say don't and let them cry. For me, I chose to meet their needs as I am that way. It's up to you... but if the baby is going through a "growth spurt" they naturally get MORE hungry and need to feed more AND yes, more frequently. So feed her. Some babies even "cluster feed." Lots and more often.

You mentioned your baby "still wants to be fed at least once a night..." Well, this is normal. For the first year of life... a baby's PRIMARY source of nutrition is breastmilk/formula. Yes, at this age, they "still" may go through periods of hunger during the night and wake up. There is no "generic" time-line of when they stop being hungry at night or "stop" waking up... every baby is different. My son is close to 24 months old.. and he wakes once a night, still, but by this age he is pretty good about getting himself back to sleep on his own and self-soothes. My daughter on the other hand, didn't sleep through the night until she was about 2 years old. Each child is different. Then, too, even when they are older and DO sleep through the night.. .other "phases" occur and may wake them, ie: having to wake and go to the bathroom, poop in the diaper, pee accidents, night-terrors, night mares, teething, a Parent snoring and it wakes them too, etc.

It's NORMAL. Yes. ALL babies go through changes and transitions. Nothing is static with a baby and their constant changes and development. But consistency is what YOU can do... then in the future, when she gets older, it will instill in her good sleep "habits" and routines. Remember, whenever you change their sleep routine/timing/schedule... it can change them and cause disturbance. If you change her sleep routine...make sure it is something you can stick to. Long term.

If she is teething.. well, it will wake them. THey all have their own threshold about it and the discomfort. But it will pass.

I referred to the book- "Secrets of The Baby Whisperer" by Tracy Hogg. It gave me good tips, which I then used or interpreted as I saw fit. I liked this book.

If your daughter is napping well... I would not try to "take away" any naps. They need naps and it prevents them from getting "over-tired" which at night, can actually make them more difficult to fall asleep. Over tired babies/children are actually more fussy and harder to put down.

If you do give her formula at night, as Pediatrician suggested... then keep in mind that your breasts will adjust to that, and you may get engorged at night since you will not be nursing her if she wakes. Do as you see best. (sorry I don't know if you are nursing or using formula) Either way, do as you see best. Yes, some say decrease feeding them at night... and make them get used to it so they don't wake up. It's up to you. For me, I would get up and nurse my kids... they were hungry and would drink a ton. Especially during growth spurts. I just could not deny my children any feedings if they were truly hungry. That is me. If they are hungry, they are hungry. Imagine going to bed yourself, with your tummy growling and having hunger pains. I've done this myself before, and I wake up dizzy and famished the next morning. It does not make me sleep any better.

Also, they get "separation anxiety" at this age. My son got that way from 6 months old, but it passed. They still want to "see" you and know you are there, even if it is sleep time.

Well sorry for rambling. Just some ideas. Your girl is fine... it should pass.
Take care,
Susan

Well this sounds very familiar and very normal. I now have a nine and six year old. In my experience, babies usually always awaken every two to three hours, until about the age of three. Don't worry you will get through it. good luck, and enjoy the baby. R.

At this point she is waking up out of habit. Try to wean her off her night feedings an ounce by ounce each night until she has no ounces at night. But make sure you add those ounces back in during the day. And, it will take about a week of her still waking up and crying a bit but she needs to learn how to settle herself down and fall asleep. My husband and I just went through this with our 6.5 month old son. Be strong! She will be fine and so will you! **ALSO** make sure she is getting her naps in. She should be going for her first nap about 2 hrs after she wakes in the morning then the following nap or naps should be about 2.5 hours from the time she awoke from her last nap. She should be napping in her crib as babies at this age do not get great quality sleep while in a stroller or other contraption. Sleep begets sleep. If she gets over tired her body releases the stress hormone called Cortisil and that can cause adrenaline which will make for more wakefulness.

My son did this right around 8 months. I fully let him Cry it out. If you decide to do this, in 3-4 days you will have a sleeper. I decided after him waking up and sounding like her was so upset that after a week that I needed my sleep. It took 3 days and I didn't go it. He cried the first night 2 hours. I was sad but now I'm so glad. No he goes to sleep at 8 and is up at 7 every day without waking up .

Good luck.

Babies tend to change sleep/nap patterns very often. I think your daughter is probably just fine. My daughter never slept more than 45 minutes at a time at that age, and our pediatrician just said "I know it's hard, but you just gotta wait it out, it'll get better". It was Really hard, but about a month later she finally started to sleep for about 4-5 hours at a time (what a blessing!!). So I say just wait it out if you've tried everything else! (PS- One thing that helped our daughter was getting her own room... I know it's unusual, but that's what finally got her to sleep completely through the night)
Good luck to you :)

Advice from my friend that's a pediatric nurse is to give Motrin for teething insteat of Tylenol...it reduces swelling more and seems to work a lot better for my 10 month old (who's getting molars!). Oragel(sp?) works great too. We had my 10 1/2 month old doing all that waking up until he was 9 months old. We finally did the cry it out method (I looked on-line and took bits and pieces of advice the Ferber method). It took about 5 days, harder than anything I've done before but after that he slept through the night and still does! It's best for them to get all the sleep as well as you so it's worth the miserable week! Babies should be able to hold their own and sleep through the night without eating by 8 months. They do not need the extra night time feedings, they just become habbit and comfort for them (especially with teething). Good luck!

Hi J., i would try giving her cereal at night, that may help her sleep longer, she may be to warm with this heat, teeting could be an issue, I don't believe a baby should every have to cry themselves to sleep, and before some of you mom's blast me and my advice, becasue I am old school, I rocked my babies to sleep everynight, they feel asleep with me singing to them and nurturing them, and I never had a problem with them sleeping through the night from 6 weeks on. I do kow that when babies/kids wake up during the night and someone goes in, it creates a habit that is hard to break, because they will wake up automatcally if they know someone will be coming in to get them, I'm not a ped, but at 8 months I would not increase the formula, I would make sure she was having 3 meals a day, baby snacks in between and ceral before bed time. Hope this helps. J.

Dear J.,
I was wondering what time of day are her naps? Is the latter close to her bed time? You could eliminate one of the naps, also is she an active baby? My other suggestion is putting her to sleep at nine o'clock instead of eight. I have two children (both much older now) I used to make sure I took them to the park, or they used to have play dates, so I made sure they had physical activity. One other suggestion which worked with my children is, I used bathe them and give them a gentle message with (baby lotion or oil) right before bed time, and they slept all through the night not waking up once.
I wish you and your husband much luck.
Caring mother

Hi there,

Talk to your dr, but I would cut out the Midnight feeding. She doesn't need that anymore. Just increase her formula during the day, she is probably waking up more out of habit than necessity. I loved the book "Sleep Easy Solution". Basically you do a 5, 10, 15 min check, never going longer than 15 mins to check. You don't touch the baby, that's the biggest trick. You go 1/2 way in the room, don't touch the baby, and talk really happily and tell the baby, "It's night-night time, you're doing great, etc. etc. Stay only 30 secs and leave. My son had a period where he was waking up a lot out of habit. This book was a dream and he sleeps a solid 12 hours a night with no wakings.

J.,

How many total hours is she sleeping during the day? If its 3+ hours, that may be too much during the day which is why she wants to be active when you eant to sleep.

You may also want to try and give her a heavier meal in the evening before bed time right after a nice rigourous play time full of exercise...basically, tire her out and fill her up.

Some may think it's a bit unorthodox but, if she's on breastmilk only, you may want to try giving it to her in a bottle with a small amount of baby rice cereal in it; and, make certain it's not too much that she can't get it out of the nipple's opening.

And, make sure you're not taking in too much caffeine in your diet. This not only comes from coffee and soda. It's also in tea and chocolate; and, I'm sure other sources of food and drink as well.

S.

My 9 month old son gets up around 7-730 in the morning. He takes a nap around 10 for about an hour or so. After lunch I lay him down around 1 until 3 or so. Bedtime is at 8. I feed him a rice bottle before bed. I did this with my 3 yr old and it seems to work for us. Good luck.

We had a very similar story. Great sleeper as a newborn and then it went downhill.

The first thing we did, is to get her to put herself to sleep. So no falling asleep on the breast or in our arms and transferring her. I fed her and then we bathed her and read to her and sang to her. When she was sleepy but not asleep, we put her in her crib. She didn't like this. She fussed a lot. But we were there with her and, on our pediatrician's recommendation, we comforted her with our voice and gentle pats when she got really worked up. Otherwise, we just sat by her crib and read.

The second step was letting her cry through some of her wake ups. It is incredibly hard to do and, obviously, quite controversial. But, after trying every thing else under the sun, we did it. And you know what? It was almost instantly effective. We had one REALLY difficult night. A second challenging night. And then it was over. She slept 12 hours on her own.

Ultimately, I'm glad we tried everything - dream feeds, Ferber, No Cry - I knew we had done everything we could and nothing was effective. Until we let her put herself back to sleep on her own.

And now I have a happy, thriving three-year-old, who sleeps well.

Good luck. It's a really tough stretch.

Hi,

We went through this with our 14 month old from the time she was probably 5 months old. It got worse and worse. The more I went in to her when she would wake up, the more she woke up. By the time she was 12 months old, she was waking up 5 or 6 times a night. I tried everything. The cry-it-out method, which I hated, worked for a little while. However, every time she got sick, we'd be set back and have to do it again. I just couldn't stick with it. It seemed so barbaric...at least it was barbaric to my mommy feelings! Soooo...FINALLY we have a method that works!! Once I put her down for the night, I NEVER go back in (unless she's sick). Daddy goes in! He lays her back down, pats her back for a few seconds, says "night-night" and leaves the room. She started out crying for a while each time. However, each night, she woke up less and less. She just wasn't as interested in daddy, because mommy used to go in and rock her back to sleep. In ONE week, she was down to 1 nighttime waking. In 2 weeks, she was sleeping through the night.

I can't tell you how much better life is when you are not sleep deprived!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi J.,

It looks like you received lots of responses to your question and I hope some of them helped. I just wanted to mention that many babies start to experience separation anxiety around 8-9 months and wake more frequently at night as a result. I believe it is a phase and will eventually pass. Keep that in mind when people advise you to let your daughter cry it out. She may be going through a phase where she just needs to be reassured that you are there.

Best of luck to you! I have a 4 month old boy who fights sleep like crazy, so I understand how confusing/frustrating it is. Hang in there!

I just had this exact same problem. My daughter slept through the night and then all of a sudden didn't. I had stopped breastfeeding and she wasn't eating at night, but then she started getting up once a night and I would pick her up and rock her back to sleep. Then she started getting up twice, then three times, then four, and so on. I started giving her a bottle thinking she might be hungry. It got to the point where she was getting up again before I even had the chance to go back to sleep! I was going out of my mind. So, with the loving support of my wonderful hubby, we implemented the cry out. I have to say, it worked like a CHARM. She started sleeping through the night immediately. Occationally she wakes at night, but I will go in a wrap her up and stroke her head a little and she goes right back down, no picking her up, 30 seconds. The cry out is not easy, it is very difficult and no fun at all, BUT, do you want to sleep again? It is a sure-fire solution. If you have the guts, it WILL work. But you can't "sort of" do it or "not do it all the way" (like you said). It is not the solution for everyone, but you have to consider that if you don't want to do it, you may just have to get up in the night sometimes.

I will just say be patient. I have a 10 month old son who went through this same thing after sleeping through the nigh but it passed after about three weeks. I can suggest decreasing nap time during the day. Take your child to some activities that include other children that she can watch and try to imitate. This stimulates her and wears her out and she will be good and tired at bed time....HOPEFULLY. Be consistant with a nightly routine such as a relaxing bath. Never bring your baby to your bed when she wakes up because she will get used to falling asleep in your room. I always sit in a rocker in my sons room when he wakes up. This way he knows that he has to fall back asleep in his own bed. This is hard to deal with especially when you are exhausted but you will get through it...GOOD LUCK!

That's tough, I know, I have a non sleeper. This is what I have done: I just increased the time I will first pick her up. So I started with 10pm then went to eleven, twelve, and so on. It took much longer than just letting her cry it out all night long, but I just couldn't bare that. My daughter 8 months old would wake every 1 1/2 to two hours, two months ago. She is now going 7 1/2 to 8 hours, ya!
You may also want to try Motrin instead of the Tylenol. If she is in acute teething you may just have to endure it until the pain subsides. I judge it by my babies temperament through the day. If she has been fine and no fussing then I let her cry until the designated time. It's tough!! There's nothing worse than letting your little one cry, but everyone needs their sleep.
One more thing, 8 pm seems late for an eight month old. Is she showing sleepy signs prior to 8 pm? Just a thought, I've read that if they're overly tired they have a harder time sleeping.
Best of luck,
S.

My daughter did not sleep more than 3 hours - 4 hours at a time either (at the most!) until she was about 10 months old. We finally moved her into her own room, and that was all it took. She had been in a co-sleeper next to us, and the awareness that I was right next to her seemed to awaken her and she wanted to nurse. We were exhausted so we chose to put her in her own room - maybe your daughter is already there. In retrospect, I think she just wanted to be skin to skin - she is kind of a snuggler, and I miss it now that she is 2.5 years! Enjoy as much as you can :-) and drink a lot of coffee :-)

Dear J.,

Every child is different and you have a healthy baby which is what is important. My middle son was like that, except that he only took a 15 minute nap if he would lay down! He otherwise would cry until I got him and brought him out to play where his brother and I were. He was awake and active all day and still would wake up 2 times in the middle of the night to feed. I know it is hard and I thought if he had been my first I don't know if I would have wanted anymore.

She will eventually out grow it, but it may take time. I know it makes you feel sleep deprived. Since she does nap, you should take a short nap when she is down during the day. I had a 3 year old who had given up naps so I couldn't do that. The doctor wasn't much help. He said that he knows what he wants and that kind are usually smart...really a lot of help:(

That she stays up in the night after you feed her is the big problem.
1. Try putting a toy that has the heart beat sounds in the crib with her, try playing soft classical lullabies, and rub her back for a few minutes, sing some night songs, and tell her it is time to sleep, then leave. Do the same thing each time so it becomes a routine at bed.

2. I would also cut out one of the naps, moving the first one until latter and cutting out the second. She may be fussy for a bit and it may take a little while, but she may be sleeping too much during the day. Keep her awake by playing with her.

3. You can also start her on some solid foods. She is old enough for rice cereal (make it by mixing it with the formula) and maybe some fruit like mashed bananas. Finger foods are good too (cheerios, soft fruit) if she has good pincher grasp. The solid food seems to last longer than formula.

I hope these suggestions help and she starts to a least go back to sleep after the night feeding. Let us know how it goes. I wish you the best. Your next child probably will sleep through the night by 6 weeks like my oldest son did:)
H.
H.

My 6 month old at the time was waking up @ 12 and 4 am:O I was at my wits end and saw an ad for the 3 day sleep solution. I was willling to try anything especially with a money back guarantee.

I am hardly an expert but it worked for me. She is now 10 months has been consistently sleeping for 10-12 hours every night and taking 2 good naps in the day.

If you want more 411, let me know. I'd be glad to share more of my experience.

Hi there! I have a 9 month old who began doing exactly what you have described your daughter is doing at about 7 1/2 months. She just started crawling a few weeks back, and once she got that under her belt she quit with the waking every 2 hours. However, I can't get anymore than 5-6 hours of sleep now. My little girl is breastfed and they say they wake more frequently if they are breastfed. Good luck to you! I know how difficult it is, as I am going through a very similar situation.