Increasing Length of Time Asleep

I have an eight month old also. A couple months ago, we discovered the he was reacting negatively to foods I was consuming. Since I began this new diet, started solids, and supplementing w/ hypoallergenic formula (because he was so slight), he sleeps better and his disposition has improved. He still gets up for one feeding a night. I think it's out of habit and pacification, but I like it. It'll change in blink of an eye, and I know that I'll miss that bond, so I will not try to prevent it.

So my question to you is: How is your son's disposition? How often is he pooping and what's the consistency?

He sounds really hungry at night. You said he's always been like this so it's not a phase. If you are not comfortable with supplementing, start feeding three big solid meals a day. Be sure to mix in cereal, too.

It's a tough time of his life to try to pinpoint what's going on because before you know it, he's going to start teething. I'm not looking forward to that either!

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Baby sleep can be so frustrating! Some babies just take longer to sleep through the night. It's actually biologically normal for them to not sstn at that age. My DD was like that. Really it was forever before she ever slept for 5 straight hours! Breastfed babies nurse through the night for a long time. We coslept which made it much easier. Your sleep patterns do sync as someone else said and thus when he is in lighter sleep and then wakes, you are also in the lighter sleep so it is SO MUCH less jarring to you. Many women mostly sleep through the night nursing. I didn't but it was much better than having her sleep separately.

It's a myth that introducing solids makes babies sleep through the night. Sometimes solids can make the problem worse, so be sure that what you are giving him, especially at night, is easily digestible. Cereal is just empty calories with added iron, so I don't know how helpful that is at all. We never fed that at all. Have you tried trying to give lots of nursing later in the day/evening? Sometimes that can help. Adding more solids may just make him hungrier in the middle of the night since they are likely to be less nutrition than what is in the breastmilk.

Their sleep schedules make them more wakeful at 20-30 mins, though plenty of them don't actually wake. DD did often wake 20 or 45 mins into a nap. My solution was to try to be right there and get her back down quickly or to have her in a sling for naps (or let her nap on my lap and get her right back down). You can do a lot of stuff with a sleeping baby in a sling-really! Also many babies sleep a lot better on their tummies-that was my DD. And do you use white noise?

As someone else mentioned food intolerances can cause sleep disruption in babies. But what you describe at that young age, sounds like normal baby sleep. They need a lot of milk to support all that growth and development that is going on.

I know it's tough, especially if you are talking to friends who have babies who just sleep well. DD is a great sleeper now at 3. She did outgrow the need to nurse all night eventually. Really! Good luck.

Have you spoken with your pediatrician about this? Babies do go through different phases of sleep patterns - just when you think you have it down, they change on you.

But, I'm wondering if there's something else going on (teething, ear infection, reflux, etc) that may be causing him to awake because of discomfort.

Our daughter (21 months) is a great sleeper most nights. Our 3.5 year old son comes into bed with us every night. He loves body heat and wakes up when he's cold no matter how many blankets we put on him or pillows we put next to him.

I'd advise asking your pediatrician at his next well-baby visit or give them a call to see if they have any recommendations. At that age, they can't verbalize what's going on, but it does seem a little strange that he's not sleeping better.

HI L.,
I have a 7 month old boy who is also a terrible sleeper!
We have gotten to the point where I can put hiim down in his own crib between 6:30 and 7:30pm, and he will sleep until around 11pm, then up again around 1am - which is when I give up and take him into bed with us, so I can get some sleep. He usually nurses around 5am, 6am and then again at 7am, when he is up for the day. I am not sure if he is nursing in the middle of the night as I stay 1/2 asleep.
We did sleep training with my daughter (who is now 3 1/2 and a great sleeper), but this baby is different, and doesn't get it. He can cry for HOURS in the middle of the night - so I figure he just needs me then...for whatever reason.

My son is a good napper, however, which my daughter wasn't. She was like your son, up after about 30 min. He, on the other hand, will nap for one to two hours at a timne!
so - I guess I don't have nay good advice for you, just to let you khow you aren't alone, and that every b aby is different!

good luck!
E.

Hi there! Sounds like he is really hungry at night. Can you feed him more solids during the day? Also nurse him longer each time you do during the day so he gets more milk.
At night, nurse, burp, nurse, burp, and nurse again. Make it last 10 min longer before bed.
Then in the middle of the night get your hubby to comfort him instead of you. I would not try and get rid off all the night feedings at once, but start with one at a time.

As far as naps go, put him down earlier than you are. 30 min naps generally mean that babies are over tired and cannot sustain sleep. Puttin him down earleir should help him sleep longer.
Also, the better he naps, the better he will sleep at night.

Good luck! I know it can be so frustrating.

I hate to tell you this, but it's normal for a breastfeed 8mo to have a sleep pattern like this. None of my children slept through until around 18 months until I stopped nursing at night. One suggestion that I have to get you a bit more sleep is to takt the little one into bed with you. Your sleep cycles will synchronize and you won't even fully wake up to nurse.

My son did this too. He is a great sleeper now, so it doesn't last forever. At 7 and half months I vowed not to feed in the middle of the night. So I stopped doing the 2 am feeding. I held him and rocked him and he may have cried for a while but he would go back to sleep or I would wait until at least 4. Then the next week I waited until 5. It didn't matter what time he woke up, I waited. Feeding in the middle of the night can become a habit that can be broken (for most babies). If you feed at night, they get used to it and don't eat as much during the day. So try to start spacing out the feedins in the middle of the night. It won't last forever. Each week my son would sleep later and later. He would eat at 5 then at 6 then at 7 then 8. at 10 and half months he went into his own crib and then at 11 months started sleeping 12 hours straight. from 9pm to 9am. If you have any questions, please let me know. Of course during teething times this went out the window. He didn't eat but woke up every 2 to three hours. But Tylenol helped a lot. I thought my son was the worst sleeper, but it got better with a little sleep training. :)