my son is 8 months old and not sleeping through the night. He has been doing this for 3 months now, before he used to sleep wonderfully. He is not teething. He wakes up and wants his pacifier. If he cant find it he cries and wont soothe himself. He does this about every 2 hours. I go back to work in 2 weeks and would really like a full night's sleep. Any suggestion on what to do to help him sleep through the night. Oh and he is a tummy sleeper, has been since birth. The moment he rolls onto his back while sleeping he freaks out. Please help cause I am going crazy
He goes to bed anywhere between 7:45 and 8:30 so he is not staying up very late. He usually wakes up for the morning at 6 which is great cause that's when he need to get up so I can take him to day care
My daughter was a horrible sleeper, but outgrew it at about 13 months. One thing that did help was giving a heavy snack right before bed. She needed to eat and simply was hungry. You may want to try that. I also put extra pacifiers in the bed and that seemed to help some. Good luck, this really will pass eventually. We used to joke that she would sleep through the night before college and now she is a great sleeper!
What you discribe is totally normal. Research shows that even among preschoolers, at least 1/3 of all of them wake 1 or more times a night. Some babies sleep through the night and some don't. You just only hear mother's bragging about kids that sleep through the night at 6 weeks of age--never the rest of us that are up every night with toddlers. I have 2 that didn't sleep through the night until after age 2 and I'm still waiting on my 18 month old to sleep. Research now points to sleep patterns as hereditary possibly baby's mirroring their mother's. My babies always woke every 1-3 hours during the teething stage. Please just hang in there and take care of your baby when he wakes. I promise it won't last forever. My oldest 2 are now 3 and 6 and they sleep 10-11 hours straight! Midwife Mom
How much solids is he eating in the daytime? We found that if we fed him more solids, then he sleeps all night. I feed him a good dinner before bedtime and that helps a lot.
Our son was addicted to his binky at 8 mos. He'd wake up every 2-3 hrs looking for it. I even put 5-10 of them in his crib but he still woke up crying for it. I work full time and it was driving me insane, the lack of sleep. Then we just stopped cold turkey. It was rough for a few days, but believe me it will pay off in the long run.
My daughter nursed every night at about 1:00 am and 5:00 am until she was 13 months old. This wasn't as bad as the every two hours that you are describing. But, are you feeding him during the night? Most babies still need to eat once or twice in the night.
My kids definitely didn't sleep through the night at 8 months. My 2 year old still gets up at least once most nights, and my 5 year old goes through phases when he gets up. Not trying to make you feel depressed, just letting you know that this is normal.
Personally, I sleep so much better when I just bring them into bed with me. My husband and I are very fortunate to have a king size bed, so there's plenty of room. (We were just joking about that last night.)
Our boys always begin the night in their own bed. If they wake in the middle of the night, we don't usually get up, they just know they can come in and join us. That way they get their hugs and reassurance and go back to sleep easily.
We actually co-slept with your boys at that age. We tried to get our oldest to sleep in a crib, but definitely gave up trying to get him to stay there all night when he was around 8 or 9 months. With our second, we didn't even try. Looking back, I'm not entirely sure why we bothered setting up the crib at all. As a newborn he slept in his carseat. When we was too big for that, we began sleeping with us.
If you're open to co-sleeping, I highly recommend it. I think you'll find you do get more sleep. Also, I wouldn't worry too much about him sleeping on his tummy at this age. Sounds like he's perfectly capable of rolling over if he needs too. The risk of sids decreases dramatically when they can roll over on their own.
Sounds normal. Pretty sure he's waking up hungry.
Mine didn't sleep through the night past 3 hr stretches until he was about a year then didn't sleep totally through the night until he was almost 2 yrs of age w/6 hr stretch. The 6 hr stretch was great.
I say get up and try to give him a bottle. He's still young and their
tummies are still super small so they get hungry fast.
Hang in there. I know it's hard but try it. I promise you...you'll get sleep soon.
This stage, too, shall pass.
Give him what he needs (he's a growing boy) and you will come out the othe side of this very soon.
He most likely needs food, some coddling reassurance and comfort.
AND when you're old he can take care of you! :)
Poor moms we don't get our sleep but you will soon! Again, I promise. :)
Sleeping all night is considered a 6 hr stretch. He may really be hungry and want more than just a pacifier. When we ruled out hunger (only latched on for a few seconds before falling asleep or if you bottle feed only sucking on a bottle for an ounce or two) we got rid of the pacifier it was rough for a few nights but he started sleeping one really good stretch then waking to eat and sleeping a few more hours. Do yourself a favor and get rid of the pacifier now because it will only get harder to wean it the longer you wait.
I forgot at what age they would be ready for some cereal before bed....maybe he's not getting enough to eat to carry him through????
I'd try an earlier bedtime. My 8 month old goes to sleep between 6:30 and 7 every night and if he isn't in bed by 7 I know it'll be a rough night. We also let our little guy cry it out on nights when he does wake up unless I know that he's up for a reason (teething, hungry, etc). Works well for us. good luck!
I feel you. My 15 month old still wakes up twice, and I feed her. I have resigned to this, and I'm not that tired anymore.
One of my friends got so sleepy she just put 4 or 5 pacifiers in the bed with her son each night. The solution wasn't perfect, but it beats falling asleep at your desk when you return to work!!
My son responded well to a sound machine. We found one at Target that played the sound of rain and he slept soooooo much better, especially when we traveled.
Ask the pediatrician about introducing a transitional object a bit early. Having a "lovey" can work wonders! My son attached himself to a Pooh Bear at about 12 months and would just "talk" to the bear when he woke up at night.
Most of all, hang in there! My challenging sleeper is now 9 years old. We both survived the sleepless nights and now he'll sleep for up to 13 hours straight during a growth spurt!!
Are you nursing or bottle feeding? I have found that most breast fed kids (at least ones that I know) don't sleep through the night this early, but that's just me. My kids were bottle fed and were sleeping through the night by 4 months. I dont' think it had to do with what I was feeding them, just how. I fed them every 3 hours and if they were sleeping I woke them up. With the bottle I knew how much they were eating and that helped me guage how much they should eat, etc. With a breast it's hard to know how much went in! I suppose you could still feed them every 3 hours though.
It sounds like he just wants his pacifier. I don't have much advice in that area but I've heard of some weaning from the pacifier early b/c of this habit. Although, at 8 months I think she should be able to put it back in??
My pediatrician was a big help to me with all this and gave me lots of good tips. You way want to check with your doc at the next visit.
I don't have a solution for you, only empathy. My 10 month old is still up 1-2x every night to nurse. It doesn't seem to matter how much I feed her during the day, or how big of a dinner she has, she just can't make it all night without eating. And, she is seriously hungry when she wakes up-nurses eagerly. What do you do? I don't know but I feel your pain! Best wishes!
I don't want to depress you but I thought I'd tell you that my son did not sleep through the night till he was 2 and a half. My daughter is now 21 months and she is up one a night most nights. I think it depends on the kid. Some are great sleepers and some are not no matter what you do! (I have tried it all).
