Hi Mom,
I tried looking up some old questions but couldn't really find one that fit my issue. My almost 8mo old has not ever slept through the night. Since she was about 5 1/2mos she has been going to bed at 8 and waking every hour until about 4:30am then she cries about every 10mins or so until about 5:30 and then she's up. She starts cooing and playing and is just fully awake. She takes a 20min nap about 8:30am and then a 1-2hr nap around noon and then a 20min nap around 5pm. I know she isn't oversleeping during the day but she sure ain't sleeping at night either. She has been eating table food since she was 6mos, her DR oked it because she was diving for our plates and we make sure she can eat it and not choke. So she's eating good and usually has a big dinner and a 4oz bottle before bed but then she's waking all night long. I give her a bottle every other hour and her pacifire on the odd hours. Letting her cry does not work and I hate doing it anyway. I've tried meds but that only buys another hour or two before the first waking. I just don't know what to do to get her to sleep better and I'm so exhausted I litterally spend my DH's day's off in bed catching up on sleep. So I need some advice. How do I get her to sleep longer with fewer wakings!?
Massage before bed. Look up websites or books and tapes on baby massage.
Well the only thing I can say is yikes! You could check to make sure she doesn't have acid reflex or something. That can really bother babies when they are laying down. IS she on breast milk or formula? YOu might want to try giving her more than 4 oz before bed or adding rice cereal to her bottle to make it hardier. When my daughter was about 11 months she all of a sudden started waking up in the middle of the night and not wanting to go back to sleep she wouldn't eat so I new she wasn't hungry she would be up from like 1 until 4! I finally gave her some cold med to make her sleepy and let her cry it out. I know you don't want to do that but I new it couldn't be healthy for her to be up so much at night. After about a week of pure hell, she stopped waking and went back to sleeping through the night. I know people say letting the baby cry is so mean but I was losing it and it was the only thing I hadn't tried and it worked! I would also think about moving her naps around. I wouldn't let her nap past 4 so she is good and tired at bedtime. I would try to hold off the morning nap until like 9:30 then she might nap a little longer then her next nap maybe around 12:30 or 1 then she might be done if she sleeps longer and won't need another late nap.
If a baby is overly tired it backfires and makes it very hard for them to settle in. May I suggest an earlier bedtime?
At 8 mos she should be in bed by 7pm and at that age it isn't uncommon still to wake every four or five hours to have a bottle or nurse. I don't recommend the cereal in the bottle.
That can cause choking and if she is eating really well, maybe give her a bowl of cereal before bedtime too.
I would also say 4 oz is not much. My kids started 6 oz at 6 mos easy. My son at 8 mos was at almost 8 oz, he was a bigger baby but still.
4 oz is what newborns take in too.
She also right now could be teething. Don't enforce pacifiers, if she doesn't want it feel blessed or you will have a whole other problem on your hands if she loses it while sleeping and having to break that awful habit!
If she is teething, try natural teething tablets, motrin before bed. Then if seems her tummy is upset try mylicon.
I also agree with the other poster about reflux which can cause problems when they lay down and is painful.
Talk to your Dr about all of this.
See if they can evaluate her for reflux. Does she spit up a lot, burp a lot?
Sounds like too she is getting good naps in for the day too.
Some kids nap longer then others but she is from what you said getting 3 hours in during the day which is great at her age.
If you rule everything else out, try a warm bath before bed, massage with nighttime lotion and let her fuss. Try those voice activated music boxes that wind down slowly.
Try white noise like a fan too.
You are not a bad mom letting her cry for a while. If you are running into her and there is nothing else wrong then you are setting her up for expecting you to come to her every time she cries.
Hang in there, check with your Pediatrician, try the teething issue things and see what happens.
Hope you get some sleep soon.
My child has NEVER been a good sleeper. I always envied those mothers that had babies that actually slept and still napped well during the day... Anyway, my doctor actually told me that the norm is that babies tend to sleep these long hours, but it isn't ALL babies and some babies just don't need as much sleep. Not something I wanted to hear. I am a sleeper, I LOVE sleep!!! But my little sweetie just has too much to do apparantly.....She is 22 months old now and we are getting better at sleeping for longer periods of time and occasionally we get 8 hours at night!! YEA!! So it will get better, sometimes it does take time. I did have a hard time letting her cry it out too. It was heart breaking to me, but I finally got so tired of waking up 6-8 times a night that at 17 and a half months I had to let her cry herself to sleep...But unlike most people, it wasn't 3 or 4 days of HELL, it has been months. Luckily now she only cries for a few minutes but I hate every second of it.
