My 8th month old isn’t sleeping through

My DS use to sleep through until about 3 weeks ago, now he's waking twice during the night

It all started when he got his first tooth, a cold and we went away for the weekend (all in the space of a few days). He's had another 3 teeth since then and another cold.

He use to sleep 11 - 12 hours each night. I've had to change his bedtime routine slightly, but its still very structured. He is still being wrapped, there is no dummy, I'm confident he's not too hot or too cold. He is on 3 solid feeds a day. He is having 2 naps a day, totalling max 2.5 hours.

I'm not one to let him cry for too long (especially at night), so I generally give him 10 minutes to see if he self settles. When he doesn't, I get up and feed him. He's still taking a full feed (I'm still BFing), so must be hungry???

I know that babies are always growing, but do they go through a growth spurt at about 8 months of age?

Any suggestions? I'm exhausted and can't work out why he's waking. I would have thought that by 8 months, he'd be sleeping through all the time....or is that me being a bit naive?

Sorry, this has turned into a bit of a rant

Daniel has only just started sleeping through properly in the last month apart from when hes sick. So it's still very normal for them to wake.

His teeth sound like they have upset him, he may still have others moving around there and when he wakes up feeding probably feels really nice.

We always just ride out any "bad patchs" with sleeping. You may find he just suddenly starts sleeping through again once his gums have settled down more.

Naughty Rex!

Is he crying really hard when he wakes? - if he is not screaming and you can handle it, you could leave him a bit longer and see what happens?

I had to "teach" A not to expect boobie at night after having a cold, but I had her ears and chest checked first, so I didn't feel like the worst mummy ever leaving her if she was still sick.

I guess if he is hungry, he is hungry though... You could roll with it, and hope it is a phase or spurt? The baby whisperer says that it is common for babes to wake at night when they get more active because their limbs ache.

Maya went thru a similar thing around 7-8 mths and Plunket said it is to do with a developmental stage whereby their recall memory begins to develop so they can associate action with response. They start to realise that if they cry, someone comes, whereas prior to that they cry from need rather than want. So a lot of babies have sleep issues around that age.

I don't have any advice to offer tho, we did CIO with her and it worked but I realise a lot of people aren't into that.

And if it makes you feel any better, one of my 19 mth olds is not sleeping thru either...

NikkiB I would say its a stage he is going through. Lauren has stages like this, infact she has just come out of a whole month of waking twice a night, now she's sleeping through again. I do feed her if she wakes crying though as she quickly eats and then re-settles so fast its just not worth the effort of letting her cry and me being kep awake for ages.

Sometimes if she wakes and lets out a cry or a groan I wait a few mins as more often than not she will re-settle herself, its more that she has woken up after a sleep cycle but not for food.

Thanks so much everyone. Once again, some really good advise given

Well, after having a good old rant, my DS slept for 11 1/2 hours last night

I'm hoping it will continue!!!!

Pekemoemum, you reminded me about the book thanks, I had a quick flick through it again last night. I must read it again.

Isn't it amazing what a good nights sleep can do - both DS and I are in such good moods LOL!

Nikki, they constantly change therules on ya dont they?  Tom started sleeping through at 5.5 months...it was bliss (while it lasted).  Then he got a cold and started teething.  He was waking 3-4 times a night and sometimes screaming for half an hour before we could settle him back down.  I never could let him scream but I also never fed him at night once he had started to sleep through (it never really occured to me). 

One thing I do often do when he wakes for no good reason and seems upset is to give him some pamol.  I am hoping that teeth are the reason.

Also Tom has just started a seperation anxiety/ mummy thing and hehates going to bed.  It is as if he knows as soon as he closes his eyes I will leave him so he fights it and I mean really fights it.  And he has started waking after every sleep cycle (did that all last night).  He also wont settle for DH anymore....must be mummy.  But he is settling faster when I go in so hopefully we are coming out the other side.  But Tom only has 2 teeth so we have a lot of teeting to come.

 

I guess what I am saying is it is perfectly normal and I dont think they are going to consistantly sleep through for a long time yet....maybe when they are teenagers??

jett used to sleep through untill around 8mths also now he wakes around 3am.

but on the plus side he still sleeps better than my 5yr old did she never slept thru untill she was about 3 1/2 !! and now shes awake at the crack of dawn