8 Month Old Quit Sleeping Through the Night

J. - I know when you are going through this, the last thing you want to hear is that it's a phase and she'll eventually grow out of it. But, that's probably all it is. My son will be 10 months soon and he's finally starting to sleep all night again. I think it's probably just teething. Try a warm bath also right before bed, that seems to help my son. She'll hopefully grow out of it soon like my son did. Good luck - I hated that period! S.

Hi J.,
Here are my suggestions
1) up her food intake over a 24 hour period, such as if she is on 2nd foods move to 3rd foods. If she is on 3rd foods try giving her a snack before you nurse her.

2) if it is teeth you should see her gums really swollen and puffy, if so give her some of those Hyland's teething tablets (4 of them) and a dose of mortin before bed.

3) make sure she isn't waking just for you to come in there knowing you will nurse her. So instead of picking her up try A) telling go to sleep it's still night night time B) give her a pacifier (if she has one) C) offer her a sippy cup in the middle of the night with water in it and walk back out or try all of the above, W.

Hi J.. I nurse my baby around 10pm just before I go to bed (he goes down for the night around 8pm). He may wake up once in the middle of the night before my alarm goes off and I just nurse him and he falls right back to sleep not waking when I put him down into his crib (and then I am able to get right back to sleep too in my own room). I don't mind being woken up for the night time feeding because I work during the day and that just gives me a chance to hold him more and be with him more. I almost always nurse my baby back to sleep if a rub of the back won't do it for him. I've found that we both get back to sleep sooner and easier if I just do that. Remember that babies' appetites increase as they get older and that they nurse for comfort as well as food which is fine. AND remember that this is a very short period of time when you think about it. They wean soon. If you think you'll look back on those nights when it was quiet and it was just you and your baby alone and snuggling while nursing with fond feelings then don't worry about missing a little sleep now--just enjoy being close! For more about this approach (attachement parenting) read Dr. William Sears.

It might be possible she is cutting teeth.Mine always started waking up at night for no reason and then I found out that the reason was teeth.You might be able to tell if she has swollen gums or is biting alot of things:)Hope this helps.

Well she is probably used to eating now and getting up. My 2 children would get up a couple of times to take a bottle and go back to bed and they only slept through the night every now and again. Last night i got lucky and gabby slept all night but of course i got up at the usual time and had to check on her. Just either try to let her if she just wines and moves around let her do her thing and see if she falls back to sleep or let her cry for a couple of minutes to see if she will go back to bed or not but dont let her cry tooo long because ive done that and its not easy to go back to sleep. Good luck and welcome to my world!

Hey J.,

I am a new mommy myself and not sure if I am going to be much help but my son is 2 months and 20 days. (god you can really tell I am a new mom, got it down to the day! lol) I have been breastfeeding from day one and it has done wonders. All I can say is, if your baby is waking up at night, try to keep her up during the day so she is tired at night, perhaps she is napping to much during the day maybe or maybe she is just a light sleeper....which leads to my next question, you said you worked full time, so I am assuming that you have her in childcare? or work from home? I am probably not helping you at all! However, thats what I would do if I were in your shoes, I would be sure to wear her out during the day, have a set routine like you said you had but since that one is broke start a new one. Another thing I noticed w/my baby boy is that giving him a bath at night is really nice. Get her nice and clean, nurse, wrap her up and off to bed. Try it and see if it works! I know my baby loves to be wrapped. Once in a blue moon he will wake up and want to eat 2 in the morning but that stopped and I wondered why and it was a growth spurt. So it made sense. Like I have said before I am probably not any help but I would do just that. I have another question, do you give her formula or breastmilk? If formula, she could probably have colic, gas.. I know you mentioned nursing but I didnt want to assume that you breastfeed or not. (never good to assume I have learned!)find out if she is napping during the day and that will explain why she is not tired at night. Well you take care now and I am confident things will go your way, just takes time. I am still learning myself, my son is 2 months old and love him so much! So you take care now and try to get some sleep!

~K.

Hi J.,
I completely understand what you are saying. When my son was just a little over 9 months he started waking up in the middle of night. All he wanted to do was just play and this went for a couple of hours a night for about 1 1/2 months.. I was getting exhausted fast from that because I was over 4 months preg. again. One night it just stopped. Now it is hard for me to get him out of bed to get ready for preschool.. It will get better and someday soon you will get a good night's rest..:)

Do you play any soft music for her at night? I find that the babies do really well with some dim light, soft music and just a couple of safe toys that they can't hurt themselves with. Is the room too hot or cold? And what about your babies skin? Right now a lot of the kids are getting patchy, itchy skin due to the weather changes. She can't tell you if she is itchy or uncomfortable in some other way. Is she teething? Also, has her diaper wetting changed? She's getting older and eating more. She could be feeling the wetness more at night. I love the suggestion to put something with your smell on it with her in bed with her.

She's getting bigger and could be uncomfortable in her bed. I know what they say about flat surfaces and little or no blankets etc. Myself, I liked to keep my babies in soft blankets and thin pillows under their head. I'd take a soft comforter and layer it under them. Then I put them on a thin full sized pillow and fold little blankets into rolls to have on either side of them. It's not quite swaddling, but similar. I just found that my babies sleep better when they are very comfortable.

Suzi

Are you against her sleeping with you? You might be able to put her down in her own bed and then let her come into yours when she wakes up. To me, waking up once or twice at night only to nurse IS sleeping through the night. I only say this because my boys slept with me.
I understand things are different for a mom that works full time. Still, co-sleeping can be a great way to reconnect with your baby after a day of being at work. (I work part-time, myself.)
She might be going through a growing spurt and really be hungry. More likely, it is her teeth and nursing makes her feel better. You might find that you get more sleep if you bring her into bed with you and nurse her to sleep. That way, you only have to roll over and go back to sleep yourself.
Good luck.
P.S. Please don't make her cry-it-out. If things don't get better soon, you might check out "The No Cry Sleep Solution".

My daughter just went through the same thing. She had a fever, congestion and then the time changed. To top it off, she's about to cut another tooth.
The book "Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child" is great for advice on sleeping. It says that after kids are sick they may still be overtired and if kids are overtired, they often wake during the night and/or take shorter naps. The author's suggestion is to try a really early bedtime (~5:30pm), and then don't go in until the next morning. Pair that with 2 (or 3) good naps and your daughter should be able to catch up on sleep after a few days and you can return to her normal bedtime.
I did try this with my daughter and I let her cry it out when she woke at night. After 2 nights, she stopped waking and slept for 12-13 hours straight (6:30pm-7:00am). Good Luck!

Hi J.,
Is your 8-month-old teething? This could be a possibility for waking several times in night. Try Orajel Overnight Teething Gel or Hyland's Teething Tabs (Hyland products are homeopathic). I find that when my daughter has been sick, her sleeping patterns get out of wack, even when she has gotten better and it seems like it always takes awhile to get back on track. I would suggest really trying not to feed her in order to try to get her back to sleep. Her body may become accustomed to getting that middle-of-the-night feeding and then become dependant on it. I hope your daughter gets back to sleeping through the nights soon! Good luck!

As a mother of 4, I have been through this one way too many times. My suggestion...a tough one is just like a couple of the other moms suggested....she needs to cry it out. It is very difficult to do especially with your first one. You are SO tempted to go and feed her because it is a quick fix. However, at 8 mths, she is very smart and has figured out that she can get you out of bed to spend time with her. Remind yourself like you did your message, she should not need to eat and should be able to sleep on her own. She really is fine and it is OK for her to struggle with getting back to sleep on her own. It really is best for her in the long run.

If you take my suggestion of letting her cry it out, you have to make up your mind that you are going to do it. If you are not ready, don't do it. You will make the situation worse. For example, if after 10 min you can't take it and you go in and get her, the next time you are guaranteed that she will definitely cry at least 10 min. The best is to pick a night that you AND your husband have the tolerance to hear some crying. Once she starts to cry go in and rub her back for about 30 sec. telling her it is still night time and go back to sleep. Then walk right back out. After 5 min of more crying, walk in with the same routine, rub her back for about 30 sec. tell her to go back to sleep and then walk back out. Then go 10 min of more crying, walk in, rub her back and walk back out. After a while, she will realize that you are not going to pick her and she will give up and go to sleep.

With my kids this routine lasted about 3-5 nights with each night getting a little better. So, I emphasize you have to be committed to doing this and so choose a time where you have the patience to work with her.
While these nights are miserable, you will be helping yourself as a long term solution of a great sleeping baby who can go back sleep on her own.

Good luck!
J.

Hi J.!

My first baby didn't sleep through the night until he was 3 years old! It was terrible for everyone. With my daughter, she was a better sleeper, but did the same thing you are talking about. I finally got up the nerve to do what my pediatrician suggested - let her cry and put herself back to sleep. When she woke up in the night, I went in to her room, let her know I heard her but didn't pick her up. I told her it wasn't time to get up yet, gave her back her pacifier and left the room. She cried for a little while, which hurts your heart some, but it didn't last very long and soon if she woke up at all and I had to go in her room, she didn't cry at all, just laid back down and went back to sleep without even wanting me to pick her up. It just took her figuring out that crying didn't get her out of bed.

Hope this helps...good luck!

This is very typical: she got sick, woke from being sick and uncomfortable, went through the time change, and now she has a habit of waking 2-3 times a night that you have reinforced by attending to her and even nursing her to sleep. You have to break the habit. It can be hard to do since you work and are probably too tired to stick to your guns at night when you are exhausted, but you have to decide on a sleep training plan and stick to it.

You have about 4 options: 1) let her cry it out, not checking on her at all; 2) let her cry it out, but check on her every 5-10 minutes (only when she is really wailing, a cry that sounds kind of like a choking sob that escalates in volume); 3) let her cry it out but with you in the room, speaking soothingly and maybe patting her back. Each night you move closer to the door until you are out of the room; 4) using the pick up/put down method (visit www.babywhisperer.com for more info) where you pick her up when she cries, put her down when she stops, and repeat at any wakes until she crashes from exhaustion.

You are right, she does not need to eat at night at her age, just be sure you feed her lots during the day.

At her age, any of these approaches will take at least 3 days to work, so start on a Friday night. Also, since you nurse, it may be better to let dad do it so she doesn't smell your milk. That makes it even harder on her. Lastly, if you give in at all, you have just taught her that she has to cry for 2, 3, however many hours it took to make you give in. She is willing to wait, and then it is just torture to her (and you) to start over.

Good luck!