8 Months with No Sleep...

Hello, No sleep....
Im a mom of two boys,and I think I found the solution to that problem! My eight month old was also not sleeping and I realized he was still hungry!He was not full, so he would wake up all night long. Try feeding more throught the day, and setting a bedtime ritual! I tried this and my son sleeps from 8p.m. to about 7a.m. Isnt that great!

Have you tried giving him a nice warm shower? If not, try it. Turn the lights down in his room and your room or wherever he sleeps and takes a shower. Take him in the shower with you, hold him firmly close to your chest and let the warm shower run on his back for about 5 to 10 minutes, wash him down from head to toe gently and sing softly to him as you do. This soothes him and prepares him for bed. (If your baby has never had a shower before, it may be a surprise - usually a pleasant one- that keeps him curious during the first few showers, but he'll get used to it by the third shower). Put him to bed immediately after the shower. If you must feed him after his shower, do so in a quiet room with dimmed lights and put him to bed, making sure his sheets are always clean and soft and preferably 100% cotton. It works like a charm for my baby and continues to work for my two other kids as well. If his restlessness continues and you cannot figure out why, take him to your doctor until someone tells you what is going on with your baby. GOOD LUCK and God's blessings!

K.

I say you just have to ignore. And whatever your child wants at night, bottle or sippy cup you should stop that too. The only way he will stop waking up in the night is on his own. Maybe you should trying giving him something he will comfortable with like a special blanky or something like that.

H.,

I am sure you have heard this before but can you stand to let him cry it out until he starts to soothe himself? I know that this is a really hard thing to do but it worked for my two kids and I am hoping to use it on my third child in the future. I have had friends tell me that whatever they tried did not work on some of their children who did not sleep through the night until the age of 2. I hope that isn't the case for you. Let me know if you find something that works.

D.

I was having a problem with my twenty month old getting up every few hours. My husband and i started giving him a "big" bowl of the baby rice cereal right before we put him to bed. What a difference!! He actually sleeps in now until nine o'clock without interruption. I know this works because we went on a short trip and forgot the rice cereal, and he was up a few times both nights that he did not get the rice cereal. Hope this helps!!! Good luck!

You are not alone!!! My 14 month old is not and has never been a sleeper. I cannot tell you what will work for you and your little angel, but I can tell you what worked for us. Eventually I found that what my son needed (after about 9 or 10 months with never more than 3 hours of continuous sleep) was a good nap and bedtime routine. I find that if he misses his once a day 1 1/2-2 hour nap he is overly tired and a very restless sleeper, which means no sleep for his parents. We also started putting him to bed at about the same time (in the 9 hour) every night. Last night he slept soundly from 9:30 until 3:45. And I did too! Good Luck!!

H., have you ruled out all medical possibilities? My first son did not sleep either, and onc time it turned out to be Pinworms. The other instances were frequent ear infections. Once he got tubes in his ears, he started sleeping through the night. Hang in there!

Have you had your son tested for sleep problems? He may be having a hard time breathing and so his body moves to keep beathing, or he could have a allergy that makes it hard to sleep.I had the same probleme with my son. Took him to the doctor and all is good now. Found out that he just wasn't breathing right, so we got air strips and for the most part he sleeps through the night. Sometimes we still have problemes but not as often.

H.,
Have yout tried not going in there and just letting him fuss until he sleeps? I know it sounds cruel but it worked for me when I wanted my daughter to start taking naps and sleep through the night. She is also 8 months old. If I were in your shoes, I would stop feeding him in the night (if you do) and stop going in there. If you don't want to do it altoghter, do it gradually over a week.
Nights:
1 & 2 - At first, pick him up for just a moment but stay right next to his crib. Don't talk to him. Just hold him for about 1 or 2 minutes, put him down, and leave the room. let him cry until he falls alseep.

3 -5 - Go in there, but do not pick him and and do not talk to him. Just rub his belly or his back or pat his bottom. Do this for about a minute or two. And then leave. Let him fuss then sleep.

6-7 - Just leave him to sleep and fuss if he needs to. I know letting them fuss seems cruel, but they need sleep just like you and so therefore he needs to know how to get himself back to sleep b/c you cannot always be there. Don't be afraid to turn your monitor off or down because it will hurt you more than it hurts him.

Good luck! If you decide to try this (which I strongly urge you to) let me know how it goes. You may need to extend each night routine a little longer then a day or two but try hard to do it within a week!

Blessings to you (and your sleep),
B.

Hi H.,

So sorry to hear your plea. My son also didn't sleep for a long time after he was born and I don't know what your son's symptoms are, but I discovered mine had to do with my sons diet. I don't know that he is actually allergic to anything, but he always pushed and wiggled and seemed uncomfortable at night. I ended up switching him to an all whey formula as my pediatrician said that casin protein, (found in other formulas and breast milk in different proportions) can be harder to digest. Then once he started eating solid food it started again. I accidentally discovered that it was the yogurt I was feeding him that was upsetting him again as I ran out for a few days and he miraculously started sleeping again. At 1 year we needed an alternative to regular milk as I feared the same thing would happen. Soy milk upset his tummy again, and I learned it can cause digestive problems too. So my son now drinks raw milk which can be purchased at Whole Foods or through a co-op from a dairy in Fresno. You can also make your own yogurt from it. My son still isn't the best sleeper, but at least he sleeps through the night and doesn't have the problems he once had.
So that's my story. I'd check his diet and see what you can change. nestle good start is an all whey formula that i used. Breast milk will contain casin protein unless you don't drink cows milk from what i understand. Hope this helps! FYI, it may take a couple weeks of being off casin protein to see a difference. After we did the soy thing, it took two weeks to get back to normal!

C.

First you have to find out what is wrong with him. I do not know what you have already tried or what the circumstances at your house are, however we just went through this and it has been one week since she has been sleeping through the night. I had to ask myself, Is she hungry? Is her bed comfortable? Does her tummy hurt or is it her teeth? Once her Daddy came home from being away on buisness she sleeps alot better and we started giving her the wonderful stuff by baby bliss called gripe water it is kinda a multipurpose med. Good luck and I hope one of these things will help also I noticed I have to make sure she takes a nap early like 3pm and wake her up no later then 6pm.

Hi H.,

I have two sons. My oldest slept through the night at 9 weeks! It was awesome. The second (who is now 18 months), on the other hand, didn't sleep through the night until 13 months. I was sooooooo tired. He woke up crying all the time. I didn't feed him at night, so I couldn't figure out what the deal was. I think it was because he didn't like being by himself.

Finally, I got fed up. I was so tired and couldn't take it anymore. I would go in there and say "Go night-night", but would no longer pick him up. I would sit in the room until he went back to sleep on his own. After a week of this, I would go in there, say "Go night-night", and leave. This only lasted 2 nights. Now I don't go in there at all unless he is REALLY crying, and that means something is wrong. He rarely wakes up anymore, and I feel so much better.

Bottom line: Unless he is sick, you gotta do the tough-love thing. Everyone will sleep better and be happier. You will be your old self again!! Please email me if you need more help. I've been there!

Kim
____@____.com

PS: I don't know if I would bring him into your bed. You may never get him out. I have a friend who has a three year old that still sleeps with her. No, thank you.

Hi H.,
I know you have recieved a lot of advice so far but had to respond as I am going through the same thing. My son is 2 years old and never sleeps. He rarely naps in the day time, stays up till late and gets up early. When he is asleep he will cry out in his sleep and move around constantly. My teenager and I tiptoe around the apartment when he is snoozing like a bomb might go off if we make too much noise. The only for sure thing that gets him to sleep for me in the first place is giving him a warm bath. As for the tossing and crying out the only thing I have come up with is that he takes after me. I am a light sleeper and I wake up through the night constantly...just like my son. Just wanted you to know basicaly that you are not alone and your child is totally normal lol. I live on starbucks and rockstars. I was so tired the other day I went to workout and got all the way thier before realizing I was still wearing my house slippers. I have basically given up and realized my son is just who he is. A wild, non sleeping, energetic crazy boy. I love him just the way he is. I dont let him cry for hours like other people suggest, or get paranoid. Your a mom..you just do what you have to do =) Hang in there! And remember you can triple the shots at starbucks!

Hi, It looks like you've already gotten a lot of advice but I just wanted to say I'm in a similar position with my ten month old son. Right now I've noticed improvements by following advice in the No Cry Sleep Solution. Crying it out is not an option for us so this book has been very helpful. I was another message board where the mom posted that she discoved through a Dr. Sears books that eczema (sp?) can cause night wakings. Does your baby have this? It's a possibility. She got the right kind of cream to soothe it and then the baby slept soundly.

I wish the solution could be that simple but unfortunately it probably isn't. I wish you luck in deciding what's best for you and your family. Cry it out isn't for everyone and before you choose a path, my best advice is to do a lot of reading and look at both sides... Sending you good sleep vibes!!

I had the same thing with my now 3 year old son. You must read a GREAT book on sleep for babies. HEALTHY SLEEP HABITS, HAPPY CHILD by Marc Weissbluth, M.D. I know it's hard to think of getting through a book in your tired state, but it is very clear on sleep habits, and you can identify what is causing the sleeplessness. Read the 1st 4 chapters and then skip to the specific chapter that deals with your child's age group. It was the best thing I did when my son was 12 mos. and still not sleeping through the night.

H.,

Is he breastfed or formula fed? Either way, have you talked to your pediatrician about food intolerances or reflux? My oldest son was like that. He NEVER slept. He was up 3 times a night, every night until he was 2. He slept through the night for the very first time about a month before his second birthday. Even now, he sleeps through the night only about half the time (he was up twice last night, yawn!) Some kids are not natural sleepers and it can make life really, really hard for mommy. So now I also have a 5 month old baby who has really severe food intolerances (I breastfeed) and reflux. He's intolerant to dairy, soy, eggs, caffeine, and chocolate. It took about a month after I started my elimination diet to see a big improvement but now he's a happy, smiley, interactive baby who actually sleeps. For a while there, we had a very screamy, miserable, non sleeping baby on our hands. Now that I look back to what we went through with my 3 year old, I realize that he most likely had the same issues although now quite as intensely as his younger brother - which is why it was never really "bad" enough to get a diagnosis. But now that I know what to look for, I realize he likely had issues too....
Even if you are formula feeding, formulas are built from dairy or soy and corn (corn syrup). And many, many babies are intolerant to dairy or soy or corn. There are hypoallergenic formulas but they have different levels of hypoallergenic-ness. They sell some in the grocery store but there is one that I think you can only get via prescription (neocate) that is even more hypoallergenic than what you can buy off the shelf. I haven't gone the formula route so I'm not all that familiar with them, but it could be worth a try to see if it helps. Keep in mind that if you are breastfeeding and you eliminate dairy and soy (most kids who react to one will react to the other because the proteins are really similar), you have to eliminate "hidden" dairy and soy in food (which means reading labels carefully) and once you are dairy and soy free, it can take up to a month for all of the dairy and soy to clear out of your system, although in my experience you will start to see improvement in about a week. I would think if you are feeding formula, it would take a similar amount of time to see if changing formulas would help. Since your son is 8 months old, I'd assume he's eating solid foods, you are also going to have to read the labels on everything he's eating. Even many of the baby cereals has soy in them. FWIW, you are looking to avoid soy PROTEIN. Soy lecthin and soybean oil are fine. If you try to eliminate those, there will be nothing left to eat. LOL It certainly wouldn't hurt to do a little research on food intolerances. In my experience, regular pediatricians know very, very little about food intolerance and give out really poor to dangerous advice in this area. If you think it is a problem, ask for a referral to a pediatric GI doctor.

My other thought will probably terrify you so I'll apologize in advance. My 3 year old non-sleeping child has also turned out to be autistic and he's got some pretty serious sensory issues. I'm not saying your kid is autistic because he doesn't sleep but I'm telling you my experience so if there is an issue, hopefully you will figure it out much earlier than I did. I really do think some of my son's problems were due to food intolerances but it is hard to say which ones were food related, which ones were autism related and which ones were both. It is really, really common for autistic kids to be notoriously poor sleepers. Again, looking back it is always easier to say "well, this must have been caused by X" but at the time, I thought he was just a high needs kid and now I know he was definitely high needs but the reason was autism. So I would recommend that if your son is not hitting his developmental milestones or is hitting them kind of late (my son hit them all at the very end of the "normal" range but still within the normal range), it wouldn't hurt to talk to your pediatrician and get a referral to a developmental pediatrican. This is another area where a regular pediatrician doesn't know much and can give some really bad info (mine swore there was NOTHING wrong with my son until he was close to 3 when we knew there was clearly something not quite right) but you should have a local early intervention office and you can self refer and just make an appointment and it is a free service. If nothing else, they may be able to reassure you that your son is developmentally on track and you can cross that off your list of things to worry about.

I hope you find something in my story that is helpful to you. But in the meantime, I sympathize. Especially now that I have a baby too, I really can't remember the last time I slept for more than about 3 hours in a row. LOL I hate to tell you that you will eventually get used to it, but you really will. Or you may get lucky and not have to get used to it. One thing that really helps me cope is to go to bed earlier. If I go to bed around 9 and know I have to be up around 7 (but typically my 3 y.o. gets up between 4 & 6 a.m. depending on the day but occasionally he will actually sleep later), it is easier to fit in enough sleep to survive if I start with about 9-10 hours to do it. That way even if I'm up a few times, I still get enough sleep that I don't completely feel like dying the next day. If you have the ability to nap during the day, do it and don't feel bad about it. Everything else in your life will feel ten times harder if you are too exhausted to cope so you've got to make sleeping a priority at least some of the time. I know that if I stay up late and have to get up 2-3 times at night, it is really, really tough.

FWIW, I'm not a big fan of letting babies cry it out to learn to sooth themselves but I did try it a few times out of desperation with my son. In my experience, all it did was make him hysterical and then he'd throw up. It then took an act of God to get him to go to sleep. And then he'd wake up screaming at the top of his lungs multiple times for several days afterwards. So, I would really recommend against trying to let him cry himself to sleep. It doesn't work for every kid and for my son, it was terrifying for him.

As far as keeping a baby up all day, with both of my kids, the more tired they are, the worse they sleep. Regular naps and regular bedtimes help both of them sleep more and sleep longer. As far as the teething tablets, if your babe has an issue with dairy, the teething tablets could be making it worse. They have a "milk sugar base" which is dairy. I tried a bunch of the homeopathic stuff with my younger son when all of his problems started but the only thing that really helped was figuring out what in my diet was bugging him and eliminating it. Gripe water helped somewhat but really, treating his stomach ache didn't help nearly as much as eliminating what was causing the stomach ache.

Hoping you find something that helps,
T.

i'm not sure whether this will help you at all, other than to make peace with your situation, but i just wanted to let you know that it is totally developmentally normal for a baby his age to wake every 2 to 3 hours during the night still. as a matter of fact, it's normal for children, teens, and adults to wake during the night- the difference is, we've all learned to put ourselves back to sleep so quickly and easily that most of us aren't even aware that we wake up. only a night-vision camera would show us tossing and turning, changing positions, re-arranging the covers, etc. that might be the sort of normal "movement" you hear your son engaging in during the night. if he's crying also, and not just moving around, it could be because he's still learning how to go back to sleep by himself and sometimes it's hard! he's crying because he's tired too and frustrated because he wants to go back to sleep but can't. i would say if he's just moving around, let him be. if he's crying, try going and patting his back or tummy or rocking him and see if you can gradually teach him to go back to sleep without as much help from you (i'm trying to teach my dd to go back to sleep without nursing right now). as an aside, it would also be normal for a baby his age to need one feeding during the night- is it possible that he's waking because he's hungry? i just want to make the disclaimer here that we are co-sleeping with my 10-month-old dd, and nursing during the night (but trying to night wean now) and i know that i am getting way more sleep this way than i would if she were in a crib in another room. i hardly wake up when she wants to nurse, and she doesn't wake all the way up either. also, since she's next to us, she tends to sleep in in the morning. most days she wakes for the morning between 8:30 and 10:30 (yep, 10:30). and she goes to bed (by herself- we don't go to bed this early) between 7:30 and 8:30pm. co-sleeping is a touchy subject but if you're that exhausted you might want to try it. ALL my friends with older kids who have done co-sleeping were better rested (mom and baby) and ALL their children naturally transitioned into their own beds and rooms between the ages of 2 and 3. None are still in their parent's beds. just a thought!!!

I'd just put him in my bed and I know that sounds bad but you need sleep mom and I know it's never gonna happen if he is'nt sleeping. maybe he just needs your heartbeat. my daughter is the same way. it gets harder but belive me the sleep is worth it.