My 8 1/2 Month Old Son Won't Sleep Through the Night......

Updated on May 23, 2007
T.W. asks from Sallisaw, OK
6 answers

When my son goes to bed for the night, usually he drinks his whole bottle and he is out from 10:30/11 to about 7. But, for the last week or so he won't drink his whole bottle, only 4 ounces and then he is out and then about 3 hours later he wakes up screaming because he is hungry. I will go get his bottle and then again he won't drink the whole thing and he will be out and then he will wake up after another 3 hours screaming because he is hungry. He has been waking up 2 or 3 times a night for the past week doing this.

Am I doing something wrong? Is it just a stage? Is there anything that I can do to get him to sleep through the whole night again?

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So What Happened?

So, we tried giving him a bath before bedtime and then feeding him cereal, giving him tylenol [for his teething pain] and then a bottle and he slept through the whole night. A couple of other times it was everything but, the bath and that didn't work so well. Thank you to everyone for your input and ideas. They were a lot of help.

More Answers

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A.R.

answers from Little Rock on

I have twins that are now 7 years old. I can relate to a child not sleeping through the night. Maybe you could feed him a fresh fruit like a mashed up banana before bed. Maybe even a small bowl of cereal. Also you could put rice baby cereal in his bottle and make the nipple a little bigger. One of my twins was waking up every hour and a half and I started putting about 1 tbsp of baby cereal in the bottle of formula. You may have to adjust the amount you put. I hope these suggestions will help you. Good Luck!

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M.R.

answers from Lafayette on

my suggestion would be - if he usually goes to bed at 10:30, around 9:30 or 10 (before he gets too sleepy) feed him some baby food, like bannanas, something easy to diget but filling, and then feed him his bottle. That way if he only drinks 3 ounces or so, he will still be pretty full. That is what I do for my 8 month old and it seems to work well!

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C.N.

answers from Baton Rouge on

If he's teething, that could explain both not finishing the bottle and waking up. Teething is painful, no two ways about it. Chances are, when the nipple starts hurting his mouth, he stops sucking the bottle. Then he wakes up hungry, but it hurts to suck. It's a catch 22 for babies.
Some babies also have ear issues when teething. My daughter got an ear infection every single time she got a new tooth.

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C.G.

answers from New Orleans on

it sounds like a normal developmental stage to me. is he teething? that would be totally normal. otherwise it's probably just sleep disturbance brought on by a growth sput. theu often sleep and eat more around these spurts, hence the sleeping suring feedings and waking up for more fuel to feed the growth. i wish there was an easy answer, but there's not without causing harm to your child through cio or other methods that could seriously harm his development. maybe moving his crib into your room and having a bottle warmer at your bedside since you are not still breastfeeding.

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J.S.

answers from Fayetteville on

It sounds like he's probably going through a growth spurt. It may make him more tired, so he falls asleep when taking the bottle. But it also makes him more hungry, so then he wakes up. I would say maybe try to keep him awake to finish the whole bottle. If it is a growth spurt, it shouldn't last too much longer. Also, he is at the age that he's probably really starting to have stronger separation anxiety. My son is almost 10 months old and right about 6 weeks ago, his sleep got a lot worse too. To them, sleep is separation from mommy. But the last week has been a lot better for my son. So either way, I would expect that you might have a few more weeks, but then it will get better. Both possibilities are completely normal and healthy. Good luck!

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H.G.

answers from Little Rock on

it sounds like teething to me...and unfortunately the only thing you can really do for it is wait it out and make him comfy with tylenol...i gave mine to my daughter at least a half and hour before i put her to bed so that it had time to take effect. good luck!

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