Need My 8 Month Old to Sleep Longer Then His MAYBE 4 Hours Please

It sounds like he is just hungry. By 8 months old, he should be eating more food. You can mush up cooked veggies and break off pieces of noodle, chicken.... really anything you eat that's soft. but it is definitely time to add more food to the diet.

Hi A., Maybe you should give him some cereal with the applesauce at night. This should keep him a little longer. I also would try to cut out the 5:30 nap. All you can do is try. Grandma mary

You sould get in touch wit St.John's Meryc sleep medice and research center. They are great!!###-###-####. My is almost 9 month son and is now sleeping from 8 to 6!

hi hon, i read some of the other replies and im not going to "bash" you, just give you some advice. I nursed my son till 13 months and up until he was 10 months old i still nursed him here and there throughout the day and night, it wasnt for nourishment, just for comfort, his and mine! But, Your son should def be eating at least 3 meals a day at this point, ill give you an example of what mine was eating at that point, breakfast was oatmeal with shredded apple (i cooked my own oats 1x a week and refrigerated them) plus a waffle or french toast or regular toast with butter and jelly, lunch would be veggies (green beans, carrots, beats, sweet potatoes etc.) also baked beans and lets say some chicken breast or grilled cheese and yogurt. dinner usually mimicked lunch...i also gave him snacks throughout the day, some chopped up grapes, mango, watermelon or a slice of cheese or turkey breast lunch meat. you will continue to wake through the night if you dont feed him enough, thats for sure. I also put my son to bed at 7 and he sleeps til 7. I recommend working on changing his eating/sleeping habits now becuase it is so much better to hvae a well rested baby and mommy! makes for a heppier household. my son is now 14 months old and is basically following the same routine, also taking two, one hour naps during the day. his disposition is much better now that he's on a routine. Its hard as a first time mommy...trust me i know! good luck and feel free to email me if you have any other questions!! D.

Hi. Sounds like he needs to eat more during the day. At 8 mos he should be eating at least 2 meals a day--fruits, veges, cereal. He's waking up hungry. You can breastfeed as well but he needs to eat food if he's already cruising around. he may not be getting enough. the napping will change to 2 naps a day and then to 1 nap from 12-15 mos. you may have to facilitate this by keeping him up alittle longer between naps. it takes time and patience. perhaps keep a journal and see how he does. my son was walking/running at 9-1/2 mos! give him more food at breakfast and dinner. good luck. m.a., mom of 2 (2 and 4)

Hi A.,
Not sure if this will help you or not, but I have a 8 month old as well as a 4 yr and 5 yr olds. My eight month old wakes at 6:00am and then takes a cat nap around 9:00am for about 45minutes then a regular 3 hour nap at 2:00pm to 5:00pm eats a good dinner at about 6:00pm including some cheese, mushed up veggies at least 2 T of fresh bananas, some chopped avocado and maybe some cheerios to finish it up. Then heads off to bed at 9:00 and wakes once during the night mainly for a five minute feeding and falls right back to sleep....I've found the more she eats for dinner the less likely she is to wake more than once a night. Maybe loading him up on some good wholesome dinner items will fill his belly for bed...at 8 months an eight ounce bottle or nursing just doesn't fill their belly's enough for a good sleep. Sorry, I got off course, with her eating habits....as far as the napping is concerned all of my babies have had different needs as far as how much sleep they have needed....if your baby is tired enough for a nap then he must need to sleep...if it is causing you to be housebound...them take him on more outings carrying him instead of a stroller that he might dose off in...maybe a different surrounding would stimulate him into staying awake a bit longer and get him into that 2x nap a day pattern instead of every 2/3 hours.

Best of Luck
Kristen

I think he needs to eat more food!! My son was born at the end of January and his appetite is so big there is no way formula alone could sustain him. You can still continue to breast feed and use breast milk in the cereal but by this age he should be moving on to real table food and actually even want to be trying to feed himself. I can almost promise you that if you switch him to three full meals of cereal and fruit and veggies a day the two of you will not be having more then one waking at night for the breast. Be sure to speak with your pediatrician but I am pretty sure he/she will tell you the exactr same thing. Is there aspecific reason you have chosen to hold out on the baby foods?
As for the naps I think you are fine. I found that reading the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby" by Dr Marc Weisbluth really helped me with the understanding of sleep and the schedules that babies need.
I hope you are able to fix this issue with all the advice you have gotten. But first and foremost I would definatly talk to your pediatrician about you feeding schedule, and see what he/she says.
Good Luck
A.

I have an 8 month old too- isn't this just a magical age?? They are so much fun! :)

Here's my advice: First of all- his naps sound wonderful! Don't change those! Sleep begets sleep, and those naps are sooo good for him. But I think he needs to go to bed at night earlier. I put my son down between 6-7 pm, and he sleeps for 12 hours straight! No wake ups! (Unless he's teething, sick, or going through a major milestone- like standing up...) I also think it's time to be giving more solid foods to your kiddo. He's probably ready for finger foods, if he's already standing up. Crawling = ready for finger foods. Plus, it's so much fun for kids to learn to feed themselves. It's really empowering, and they love the independence! It doesn't take away their need to nurse, but it does signal that they're growing up. Hard for us, but good for them!

BTW, that kind of frequent nursing at his age may be another signal that he's hungry. Breast milk is so healthy, but after 6 months it loses some of its iron and protein content. Supplementing with solids is a good idea now! Fresh fruit and veggies, tofu cubes, little pieces of pasta, organic baby foods, etc. This stage is actually really fun- and sitting down together for meals are some of my favorite times of the day. My son and I share a bowl of cheerios every morning, and it just melts my heart.

Good luck, and enjoy! I think you'll find that he'll sleep longer too!

that sounds like way too much napping to me. try to cut him down to two naps a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. also, my kids started solids at like 4 months old, maybe he needs more solids.

My 7.5 month old daughter was waking up every two hours to eat at night...now I feed her 2-3 times a day with food and she sleeps much better....she was exclusively breastfed also. I feed her at least a 1/2 cup of food twice a day made up of oatmeal, friut, veg, and rice cereal at night. I waited till she was 6 months to introduce food. At first it was a taste but very quickly she needed me to bulk up her portions in order to satisfy her. Offer him rice cereal for his evening meal. Let him tell you when he's had enough. I was afraid of over-stuffing my daughter after a couple tablespoons but my doc said a 1/4 to a half cup is fine at her age. Doc was totally right.

Hi A.!
Congratulations on your baby! I had a baby boy January 17th so I can relate. I am nursing as well.

YOU MUST, MUST , MUST START GIVING HIM FOOD IN ADDITION TO BREASTMILK!!! According to multiple pediatricians (I went on 3 consultations when I was pregnant and they all gave me feeding guidelines) and multiple books, your baby should be eating three meals a day now, and milk in between. Most recommend 24 - 32 ounces of milk a day until they are 1 year old. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusively breastfeeding until 6 months of age, then supplementing with food.
First start your gorgeous boy with very thin cereal (rice, then barley or oatmeal- no wheat yet). Then you can start with yellow or orange vegetable or fruits, applesauce is good. You must add more food to his diet and after he gets used to eating more, you should start to give the STAGE 2 foods and make the cereal a little thicker so his digestive system gets used to food. It is really important to start doing this today. Remember that you need to introduce a food for 3 to 4 days befoe adding another new food to make sure the baby is not allergic. Call your pediatrician and have them fax you ttheir feeding guidelines. I also referred to baby books (What to expect the first year....) and different websites such as Babycenter.com.
I didn't know any of this until I read and had to ask my pediatrician for his guidelines. But start with more food today! I promise you your life will get so much easier and your beautiful growing baby boy will sleep longer too. Once my son started to eat more, we got him on a great schedule and he sleeps from 8:30 pm until 7:00 am. Before that, we never got more than 4 hours from him. Good luck and check out the websites. For today, just start to give him the applesauce at lunch and dinner since he has already had that, and you can also give him rice cereal from a bowl with it.

My 8 month old has 1 fruit and 4-5 tablespoons of cereal for breeakfast, a vegetable and a fruit for lunch and about 3 tablespoons of cereal and a mixed meat (with fruit or veggie) at dinner. All with a short nursing session after the food and a full nursing session between lunch and dinner. I also nurse him first thing in themrning and then giv him the breakfast about 1 1/2 hours later. It took awile to get to this point though since you can only introduce a new food every 4 days. Check out babycenter.com and their exap[mple of schedules for babies....

GOOD LUCK AND LET ME KNOW HOW IT GOES. Not that I am an expert or anything, but I have done a lot of research and come from a family of doctors for whatever that is worth. If you would like to call, feel free - ###-###-####. GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN WITH THE FEEDING - IT IS A MESSYM FUN JOB THAT REQUIERES PATIENCE - THEY ARE VERY SLOW EATERS AT FIRST!!!!

A., have you tried putting him to bed earlier? I have read (and my pedi says) that babies should go to bed between 7 and 8:30pm. My son is almost 7 months and he has been going to bed at 7pm since he was 2.5-3 months old--before that he was going to bed at 9pm. He was just so cranky in the evening. Now that we are on the 7pm schedule, he is a star!

Could he be teething? I know that Elliott has trouble sleeping when he is teething. Is he trying to crawl/walk--he might be waking up because he is thinking about it so much...

What does your pedi say about adding solids/nursing frequency--is it possible he is just going through a growth spurt? I dont think your LO is sleeping too much during the day--they always say that the better they sleep during the day the better they will sleep at night. I read (I read a lot--First Time Mom syndrome) that babies in the 6-9 month range should sleep 3-5 hours during the day, and are usually awake for 1.5-3 hours between naps. This is pretty much what happens during our day... I can show you my "schedule" if it helps:
(the last few days he has suddenly been sleeping 12 hours, so I will give you our regular, not our ammended schedule):
5am (ish) nurse
8-8:30 up for the day
9 nurse
10-11ish nap
12 nurse
12:30/1 1 tbsp oatmeal and 1-2 ounces veggie or fruit
1:30/2-3/3:30 nap
3/3:30 nurse
5/5:30-6 nap
6 nurse
6:30 1 tbsp oatmeal and 1-2 ounces veggie or fruit
7pm bed

We have just added the second solid feeding and it is going well. I dont know if I actually helped or just gave you extra info--let me know if there is something I can actually help with. I know that moving up bedtime worked for us (and my husband and I can spend some time together), hope it works for you, too!

E.

darling, the baby has a big appetite. if you pump milk, add two tablespoons of cereal and more fruit and give it to him. he is hungry and wants more food that is why he is not sleeping longer or eating frequently. i can appreciate your need to only breast feed but i would suggest pumping and putting it in a bottle and you'll see how much he is getting. you are doing great but your son has a healthy appetite.

i have an almost 6 month old and after running through my supply of frozen milk i was stressing. so we asked the doctor what formula was best and we started supplementing. i still nurse, i still pump and save and he is eating stage one food. he is big. was born small but went hrough a huge growth spourt.

think about this and know that you are doing the best you can. you have a guy with a big appetite. take care and all the best.

Hi A.,

At this point you should be giving your baby more food. That will help him eat less from the breast and maybe even sleep more at night. When my daughter was 8 months she was eatting food 3x a day plus 4 times from the breast or a bottle (only breast milk). Morning give cereal with fruit (baby food), lunch yougurt with some veggie (babyfood) and at night veggies and/or fruit. You should even start giving table foods like small bits of chicken, fish, pasta and cheese. When he wakes up in the middle of the night don't give him the breast try to let him cry it out. It will work. My daugther slept from 9-5 at 6 weeks and by 8 week 9-8:30. He just knows you will feed him so he cries for it.

I hope it helps.

my daughter is 8 months as well and she doesnt eat solids. contrary to what people believe, breastmilk alone can sustain a baby just fine. the ONLY worry would be iron deficiency since iron stores in a baby start to decline after 6-7 months, however the chances of a healthy, full term breastfed baby being anemic at 9 months is VERY, VERY low. BUT, there is always a but, the research i read says once you start to give a baby iron fortified cereal and formula(which is only absorbed at 4%) and iron supplements, the babies body changes the way it is absorbed and cant absorb much from the breastmilk(which is a very small amount however is absorbed at 50%) so what you should do is have a very minimal test done, and if it comes back low, just increase iron with food(like broccoli). there is no other problem from only eating breastmilk.

now if you are only breastfeeding though, your son will wake up as breastmilk is absorbed so quickly, and at his age and weight, he probaly needs more milk than he can take in all day, so he wakes at night. my daughter wakes up about the same at night. she is a snacker, so eats about evert 2 ours for 5 mins. for solids, have you considered baby led weaning. at 8-9 months, its the perfect age to introduce whole fresh foods. you dont have to feed ANY baby food, you can just skip it all and feed regular, healthy foods. my daughter just had avocado for the first time last night, my next will be a broccoli head. i plan on never having her eat baby food, and eat at her pace. just google it, or go to mothering.com or la leches website in the feeding solids section. my daughter now wakes up about the same times as your son. she is a snacker so eats for 5 mins every 2 hours.

for the naps, i do believe sleep begets sleep but at his age i would cut out the evening nap, and then have him go to bed earlier, around 7 or 7:30. its great that he is such a napper, but if you can get him to instead sleep earlier, it will end up being a better schedule for you and him.

so all this food/nap stuff aside, just know some babies wake every few hours. some young children still wake. every child is different, and if there was some magic pill of what to do to make a baby sleep thru the night, we would all know about it. what works for one, wont work for another. my children are light sleepers. my sisters son slept all night, and took 2 3 hour naps a day. her daughter wakes all the time at night, and never naps. everyone is different, just like adults, so dont get too caught up in following this advice and that, since it may not work with your son. good luck!!!

Yes, he needs to eat more food! My 7 month old (and my 4th child) eats three solid meals a day (fruit and cereal, yogurt with avacado or fruit or veggies and dinner of anything from tofu to beans, all sorts of veggies, tiny pasta) and nurses first thing in the morning, before his second nap and before bed. He sleeps from 7:30-7:30.

I personally do not believe in breast snacking (unless they are sick and just need a little extra comfort), nor do I think any baby past 6 weeks old needs to eat every two hours unless they are not taking in enough at each feeding. He is your first so you are more flexible, but I can't subscribe to the die hard breastfeeding mantra of feeding on demand for as long as the child likes (sometimes well over a year!!)or that breast fed babies can't be on a schedule. I have three other kids that need me and I have managed to exclusively breast feed all of them but taking into account both their needs and my own life!

If you wait too long to introduce solids, he may be more difficult to feed as time goes on. Most pediatricians and the books talk about table food by 9 months - so get started on the pureed stuff. And way more than just a tablespoon of cereal! About an hour after nursing for 20 minutes my little guy takes down about 4-5 tablespoons mixed with 3 more oz. of breast milk and some fruit!

One other thing, try to get the second nap to be a little earlier (around 3ish) and put him down for the night earlier.

Good Luck!

A.,

Good work and congratulations on nursing your baby!

I would love to hear more about your baby yoga? I've heard of baby massage, but not this.

Nursing in the wee hours for the wee one is normal, but there are suggestions I've heard that people have had varying degrees of success with:

You can let him cry it out. Don't respond to his cries on the overnight.

You can slowly cut him off after he starts nursing - start at 5 minutes, then lower it down to a minute, then down to just a cuddle, then a back rub, then let him cry and maybe he won't.

You can try more food if he is still hungry. I looked back at that age for my DS, and he was eating solids towards the middle of that month - 8.5 months he started eating solids every day. (qualifier: He hasn't slept through the night since he was 5 months - but that is another issue entirely to do with his Dad and teething.)

I made up a little cereal and would make a little more if he still showed signs of wanting more.

Sometimes he sleeps through the night when he's had an exhausting day, sometimes when he's eaten little, sometimes when he's had lunch and dinner close together in the evening (we are late sometimes after nap). I really don't think it has anything to do with food.

A friend mentioned to me (just last night): A hungry baby will wake and cry. A full baby will wake and play with her toes and go back to sleep.

So I think waking might just be natural enough that it depends on what your child does with the time awake.

Good luck, and hope this gives you some perspective,
M.

I would try increasing the amount of solid food he is eating by quite a lot. At 8 months that is not a lot of cereal etc, especially if he is burning up a lot of energy with his physical develoment. When my daughter was 8 months she was on 3 meals a day as well as milk feeds, and was also a very active baby. I wonder if he is not sleeping just because he is hungry.
Also, at this age they are usually on 2 naps a day, and around one year old they often get down to just one after lunch. Why don't you try just one nap in the morning then one early afternoon, then put him to bed for the night earlier. If he is eating well during the day he shouldn't need to feed so much at night (by this age both my kids were going 12 hours at night without any feedings and were thriving on that)

At 8 months, your son should be eating 3 solid meals a day. He hight be waking to eat too often because he needs more substance in his meals. Also, the longer you wait to introduce solids, the more likely he will be to reject the new foods.

Also, try cutting out the 5:30 nap. I have 2 daughters. One will be 2 in October, and the other is 3 months. My 3-month-old still sleeps quite a bit because she is still young, but I give her the last feeding @ 6:30 and she is asleep by 7:30,and is out for the night until 6am. I used to do the same thing with my older daughter. She would take a morning nap around 10-10:30 and another around 2:00 and then be in bed at 7:00. Try to keep your son engaged throughout the day to keep him from napping too much. This will also tire him out so that once he gets that last feeding he will be out for the night.

Hi! Your little guy is not hungry at night! He wants YOU and wants to play!! As long as he is getting 5 full meals throughout his day he does not need his late night "snacks!" I would also stick to two scheduled naps of no more that 2 hours each. Next time he wakes up for his 1am feeding, do not pick him up! Give him a bottle of water (at 8 months if you have not introduced a bottle yet, he may not have any interest in it...It also okay to give him a bottle since he is very nicely set in with breastfeeding - no worries about him leaving your breast) in his crib, a pat and a kiss. If he does not take the water, pat him, give him a kiss and go back to bed. Let him cry (if he does cry) for five minutes - go back in and quick kiss/pat, say goodnight and go out. If he cries again, wait 10 minutes, do the same thing, then 15 minutes, etc. I would suggest starting this on a Friday. It may take all weekend, but usually just the one night! He will probably cry like his little heart is breaking, but Do Not Pick Him Up!! One or two nights of this, and he will learn his sleeping habbits. Just be sure he gets full feedings, not little snacks during the daytime. You might also want to read a book called "Babywise." It helped me...

Wow....I feed my baby 3 times a day and he is 7 months old. He may not be getting enough to eat before he goes to bed. We are already starting him on veggies,fruits and other things. Ofcourse my boy is bigger and yours might not need that much food. My boy only takes 2 naps...both maybe 45-1 hr. I still breastfeed, but we feed him really well in the evening and then rock him to sleep. He usually sleeps throught the night.
I hope that any of this has helped.
good luck!

i'm sorry if it interrupts with your beliefs but it seems to me that at 8 months an infant should eat a little more solids (cereal, purees, table food) than just a tablespoon of rice cereal in the morning. Don't get me wrong, it's very good you breastfeed but it can't be enough for a 8 months old baby boy. Maybe that's the reason why he wakes up and naps so much. I'd say that at 8 months the nap schedule is usually 2 good naps during a day and lots of babies already sleep through the night up to 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep (okey,that's in an ideal case, but usually not more than 1 wakening during the night).

You may want to try switching the oatmeal to at night because that will keep your lil one fuller then the applesauce will. As far as sleep habits, those words don't always exist! Our oldest didn't sleep thru the night until she was around 15 mos btwn colic and double ear infections.........but, our youngest slept thru the night from 3 months on - 8pm-5am. sometimes it's hard, but you just have to fanagle things here & there until they work. Good luck & don't give up!

A.-

You should definitely talk to your pediatrician before making any radical changes to his diet, but what about giving him more table food? He is probably hungry. At this age, you could probably start to feed him at regular meal intervals (breakfast, lunch, dinner) with one small morning and afternoon snack if he were used to table food. This is likely to improve sleep. Best of luck.

My daughter is 10 months old so I know where you're coming from. Why is he eating so little solids? At this age, he can be eating much more. Maybe that's why he is nursing so frequently and could be part of the reason why he's waking up so much during the night-he's hungry!! When my daughter was 8 month, she was eating 3 meals a day, consisting of different fruits, vegetables, grains, cheese etc besides for her milk.

In terms of the sleeping, babies that age should be going to bed earlier than 9 PM. Our pediatrician recommended a 7 PM bedtime. A baby that age should be getting around 10-12 hrs of sleep a night. Although it sounds backwards, sleep allows someone's body to sleep more. So often the earlier the bedtime, the longer they'll sleep. And the better their naps are during the day, the better their sleep at night will be. I highly recommend the book Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child http://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Sleep-Habits-Happy-Child/dp...

Good luck!

Yes too much napping. At 8 months he should be down to 2 naps a day. One in the morining and one in the afternoon. My son slept for 1.5-2 hrs each nap. The morning nap was around 10 and the afternoon nap around 2. Your activity level sounds good (for when he is awake) I would suggest keeping him awake with those activities throughout the day. Also, he needs to eat more. The breast is great. But ask your doc and start introducing a breakfast / lunch and dinner regimen with cereal and fruit. One fruit per week to rule out allergies, then go through the veggies in the same manner, when your done with all that start the meats (not straight.. no baby will eat that) mix with sweet potatoes or apples to get the protien in there. After each meal you can finish up with the breast or a bottle if you're ready to switch. If he is more than 10 pounds (which I'm sure he is) he no longer "needs" to eat throughout the night.. he just wants too.. but if he isn't eating enough during the day (its my opinion that he isn't) then he may be truly hungry. When he wakes up in the night don't offer the breast, or bottle, just give him a pacifier (hopefully he takes one) if not just rub his back (try to not pick him up) and get him to fall back asleep on his own. Get the book "the no cry sleep solution" Its very good and there is "no cry" in it so I liked that. So thats my 2 cents worth. A schedule like that will serve you and him very well as time goes on. You can plan your life and he can get all the sleep and food he needs when he needs it..
Let us know how you make out and good luck!
ps get a jolly jumper for a doorway, great excersize and will help to wear him out! My son LOVED it!

M. from Rochester

Hi A.,
My son was the same way (He was born Jan 29) but around 5 months I started putting him to bed earlier- around 7 and he sleeps til 5 or so and then I feed him and he goes back down until 7 or 7:30. Sounds counter-intuitive, but babies sleep longer the earlier they go to bed. Then have him wake up around 7 or 7:30. Pick one feeding to keep (either the 1am or the 5am) and try to get him to go back to sleep on his own for the other one. You may also find that he can drop the 5 pm nap if he is going to bed earlier. My dr said that if you want the baby to sleep through the night, don't let them nap after 5. If you find he is cranky in the afternoon, put him down around 4 or so and let him sleep for about 1/2 hour.
By the way, eating solids has nothing to do with it, no matter how many people tell you that. Solids actually have less calories than breast milk so he is not going hungry. My son is also still primarily breastfed every 2-3 hours. I offer him solids 2 times a day and if he wants them, that's fine, if not, no big deal. I would give him more variety though than just rice cereal and apples. And go up to 3 solids feedings a day. If you want a good book on solids get Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. I make my own fruit & veggie purees for my son and freeze them in ice cubes so they are in convenient portions.

Hi A., I am also a stay-at-home mom of 3 beautiful children. They are 9,6, & 18 months. I always had my kids on cereal at 4 months. I think your baby is hungry & is not able to sleep b/c of that. What worked for me at 8 months: Wake up & nurse, about an hour later, cereal & fruit,play & nap 2 hours after waking up. My kids napped 2 hours then up & nurse again. Lunch time cereal, veggie & fruit. Play & errands. They would be up for 3 hours then back down for an afternoon nap for 2 hours. After 2nd nap- dinner(same as lunch- just change up the vegs & fruit). Nurse before bed. Be consistent. Babies thrive on routine! All of my children slept through the night by 3 months b/c they were getting enough food through the day. A well fed rested baby is a happy one. I hope this helps you A.! Joyce

i agree with the above responses. your kid must be pretty hungry -at 8 months , more solid food would be appropriate.

You may want to start giving him baby food and expand his eating time to every 3 hours. I read this book called babywise and it talked about breastfeeding and how to get your baby on a schedule and it works. You can give him a fruit one feeding and then a vegetable another and breastfeed after he eats. If he has teeth you can start giving him some table feed but in really small pieces. I have a 11 month old girl and she loves to eat per my doctor I started giving her baby food at 6 months.
Good luck

I think by 8 months I was feeding my daughter three solid meals a day. I'd give her cereal and fruit for breakfast, fruit and veggie for lunch, cereal and veggie for dinner. Maybe if he's getting more calories he'll let you sleep a little longer! As far as naps go - I never had a set schedule for my daughter. I followed her lead. If she was tired, I put her down for a nap. She used to take three naps a day, then she weaned herself down to two, now she's 14 months and she takes one nap a day.

Also, I was nursing my child on demand pretty much all day. My doctor told me at my 6 month appointment that she was big enough to skip the middle of the night feeding. She told me that as long as I keep feeding her, she'll keep waking up. Maybe you want to try skipping that feeding. He may end up waking up at like 4ish and needing to be fed, but that would at least give you a longer stretch...

Good luck!
B.

Dear A.

I just wanted to chime in that your baby might just be this way, he might not be hungry at all. The solids are a supplement to the most important breastmilk right now. If he eats more solids, great! But it may not help, he might just not be able to get through more than 4 hours at a time yet. Many babies get through the night on just bm and that may be their nature...I'm sure it will get easier with time! Good luck!

Love,
K.

Hi A.,
His nap schedule sounds very normal! How long has he been on solids? While it's recommended not to give solids before six months and until a year, the milk is his primary source of nutrition, he is getting the amount of solid food that you'd give a baby their first week or two of trying solids. One tablespoon of cereal a day isn't cutting it for him. At 8 months, most babies are eating 2 or 3 meals a day. If he's only getting solids in the morning, I am not surprised that he's waking more than once at night. I would suggest adding lunch and dinner. When my son was 8 months, he still nursed often but he also had cereal and fruit or veggie (he ate a variety of both) three times a day.
Good luck A.!

Hi A.,
I think your son is hungry, which is why he is waking up so often. He should be on more solids throughout the day and especially at dinner time. Try feeding him cereal at night instead of napping @6ish and maybe that will help. I have 3 kids and I only let them take 2 naps a day, so they would be more tired at night. Good Luck.

At 8 months, your baby should be eating 3 times a day and nursing less...with a full belly he would probably take a longer nap in the earlier part of the day and sleep longer at night. My 8 month old eats 1/4 cup of cereal in the morning and a jar of babyfood or table food cut into small pieces for lunch and dinner. Her morning nap is 2-3 hours, her afternoon is 1-2 hours and then she sleeps from 7pm until 7am. If he's not getting the calories from table/babyfood, then he won't be able to sleep as long without being hungry. Plus, babies are typically on table food by 1 year, so you should be introducing as much as possible before that 1st birthday.

I remember my DD napping 3 times a day and we stopped night feedings at this point. It took a few days but she started sleeping better. We were giving her three meals of solids at this point as well so we knew she wasn't that hungry at night. I would suggest stopping one feeding at a time at night, go for a week then cut the next one. If he is up at night have dad deal with him so nursing isn't an option if that is possible. good luck