8 month old and night time/ nap time problems

[PleaseGoToSleepPlease]

Hi

I'm turning to you knowledgeable mumsnetters for advice.

I have a dd who has just turned 8 months old. Up until around six weeks ago she was a good sleeper. I breastfed her to sleep in the night (not ideal but it worked) and she'd sleep around eight hours. She had good long naps in her pram / buggy around the school run with my older child.

Weaning started well and she's cut one tooth. Then it's all gone horribly wrong. She also learnt to roll and started sleeping on her tummy around this time. I don't know what has started this awful sleep cycle.

Take yesterday and so far today as an example.

Yesterday put in buggy for school run at 8:30. Walked 15 minutes to school, dropped off older dc, walked to supermarket to get some items. Fell asleep restlessly in supermarket. Walked home. Slept for about one hour 15 minutes. Woke up about 10:30am. Had lunch etc. Put back in buggy at 1pm as showing tired signs. I walked around with her. She fell into a restless sleep around two and woke at 2:45.

Started settling her for bed at 5:45. In cot at 6:15. Patting, shushing etc which sometimes works. Also trying pick up / put down etc. Got herself into a state so to comfort her I bf her to sleep. She was asleep by 7:45pm and slept peacefully. Fed once in the night and awake for the day at 5:45am today. I'm aware that's not enough sleep. She used to sleep later in the morning, and I think that early waking s are a sign of overtiredness?

I bf her on waking at 6ish and again about 6:30am as she's often too busy looking around to feed properly. Breakfast at 7am of banana, yoghurt and toast. At 7:45 she yawned and rubbed her eyes so I put her in her buggy at 8am and rocked buggy as I made and ate my breakfast in the kitchen with the aim of having plenty of daytime sleep today.

Left for school at 8:25am. Walked to school, left school, walked home the long way, she was still awake at 9:20am. Surely after one hour and twenty minutes she would have fallen asleep??

Thinking she must be exhausted, knowing sleep breeds sleep etc, I decided to take her out of her buggy as soon as I got home and give her some more breastmilk with the hope of her falling asleep on me so I could transfer her to her cot. She fed well. She didn't fall asleep on me, so I put her in her cot, tried shushing, patting, PU/PD etc - she's more interested in trying to crawl, roll, squawk in her bed etc.

In end I gave up about 10am and she's now wriggling around on the living room floor as I type this. She's happy and content crawling backwards, rolling, etc.

I don't know where to go from here. It's 10:20 and she's been awake since 5:45am!

I'm tired after six weeks of bad nights and pounding the streets with her for daytime naps. I don't know where I'm going wrong....

Can someone please help me?

How long do you try and get a baby to sleep for? Shall I try her back in her buggy where she normally has daytime naps?

[PleaseGoToSleepPlease]

Update;

At 10:20 I popped her in her buggy (it can go pretty much flat). Rocked her in the kitchen, made a cuppa, rang Dh for a chat etc. She was gurgling and kicking sometimes. No sleep.

Got her out and gave her a light lunch at 11am. She ate a reasonable amount.

Took her upstairs, cuddled her and bf her to sleep. On the third time I could successfully transfer her to her cot. Put her down on her back, she flipped to her belly, lifted her head and wriggled and screamed. I gently applied pressure to her back and head to get her to lie down, and within seconds she was asleep.

So, wake time basically six hours from 5:45am to 12 noon!

[FATEdestiny]

I know you said it as an aside: "she's cut one tooth". But worth bearing in mind that teeth usually cut in pairs.

It might be a quote simple and strsught forward explanation of sleep going rubbish because she's cutting the second tooth. You could make loads of stressful changes then find that once the paired tooth is through, everything goes back to normal anyway.

In terms of sleep, getting baby to go from awake to asleep in the cot and not feeding to sleep will make significant differences. But that is a big deal and is no easy feat.

If you need naps out and about, on the school run, a pushchair (laid down) might be more effective than a pram now. The harness of the pushchair holds baby in position more than when in a pram, useful through this stage of flipping and rolling.

[PleaseGoToSleepPlease]

FATE thanks for coming back to me.

She does sometimes go to sleep in her cot, with shushing and patting but often when she's in such a state I bf her to sleep as that's the only way to calm her. This is normally when she's completely overtired. Like today.

She is in a pushchair. She has been for about two months. So there's a harness etc.

I'm wondering if the other teeth are moving...she's had one single tooth now for about six weeks...

I managed to get her to sleep at 12 noon. She woke up at 1pm, screaming very high pitched, rocking back and forth on all fours. Shushing and patting didn't work to resettle. So I bf her again and she fell back asleep at 1:20pm. She's utterly exhausted.

I'm doing all I can just to make her sleep - anyhow but it's going very badly 😢

[HerculesParrot]

This doesn't help you, but my 8 month old seems to have gone haywire over the last six or so weeks too! Has yours ever napped in a bouncy chair? Mine won't sleep in the pushchair or sling anymore - I think there's just too much to look at now she's interested in what's going on around her. I can get her to sleep in the bouncer if I feed her to drowsy then transfer her to that and rock her through the inevitable stirring.

We're currently working on getting her to settle in her cot at night, because I also can't seem to transfer her without her waking anymore. It's slow going. I'm not even tackling naps yet - I think needs must to avoid overtiredness, as that just seems to exacerbate everything else.

This has been a very useful forum for me of late. There's a lot of threads about babies around this age. They all seem to be playing up!

[LapinR0se]

There is a very big sleep regression at 8 months linked to developmental changes.
Ride the storm as best you can and try very hard not to establish more sleep props but to instill healthy habits wherever possible.

[PleaseGoToSleepPlease]

Hi Hercules and Lapin

I recognise your names from other threads - which I've been reading for sleep tips. It's good to know that we aren't alone with our non-sleeping babies! Thanks for coming back to me.

My dd has never napped in a bouncy chair - she was never very keen on it. Only ever in her pram then pushchair or on me / in her bed. Up until six weeks ago she slept very well.

Today, in the end; she went down in her cot at 12noon, woke absolutely beside herself at 1pm, so I bf her back to sleep. She slept 1:20 till 2pm and woke up happy and contented.

At 3:45pm I put her in her buggy, which has a huge sunshade so she can't see too much of the world, and walked around with her till 5pm. She was staring and yawning on times but was quiet and happy. Just refused to sleep.

Came home, had tea. B Fed her several times to ensure she's hydrated in this weather and offered her water. Started to settle her at 6:45 in her cot and she fell asleep in her bed at 7:45. My Dh settled her with minimal fuss in the end. She's now asleep in her bed wearing just a vest as her gro-egg says 26c!

She's developed massively in a short period of time. She's grown A LOT and is now sitting, rolling, crawling, weaning etc.

hercules sending you good sleep vibes for tonight as I know you've got a lo a similar age.