Cry it out. 8mo

[Barelyfunctioning3]

NC.

My 8 month old babies sleep has gone downhill so much. He has only ever slept through the night on the odd occasion but for the past week he's waking every hour and feeding 3 x through the night.

I'm on sedating medication and can't function like this. I'm sat in the bathroom bawling my eyes out after texting DH (who works nights) saying I wish I never had him.

I have to be up early regardless of whether I've slept or not as I have an older disabled child and my days are so full on.

Would I be unreasonable to trial the cry it out method in the hopes it will break the habit?

I cant do this anymore 😔

You have at least three people you are responsible for here. Overall the evidence shows cry it out has no negative long term effects and there are significant short term gains for you and your family. So if you think it might work try it and see. It doesn’t work for every child and you should check there isn’t anything specific that has caused your DC’s sleep to go downhill, because if they’re teething or something the cry it out isn’t the way to go.

Be kind to yourself and ask for support from others if you can. The lack of sleep is a killer and makes everything seem worse, but when you’ve managed to catch up, things will seem brighter.

I will literally come cuddle your baby at night so you can sleep. Where do you live?

Have a look at controlled crying rather than cry it out. I'd also suggest you start tomorrow, at the first nap. Its much easier for nap times. Try to survive tonight knowing you have a plan.

People will be horrid on here but it worked a treat with my 3, who all sleep brilliantly now.

Sleep is critical for you but even more so for them. And I judge parents who don't teach their children how to sleep well just as harshly as MN judges me for sleep training.

Consistency is the most important thing, so make a plan and stick to it.

You will get through this. And you will get through tomorrow.

Every baby is different, it's hard to say what will work for you. It's also hard for other people to assume that what worked for them is the right way to do things.
It's ok to acknowledge that this is overwhelming and you might want to change what you are doing because what was working before isn't now. An eight month old might not be the same as they were five months ago?
Could it be teething?
Anyway, it's better to place the baby in a safe spot and step away if you are at the end of your tether even if that means letting them cry.

Sending love, it will get better. How is the day time? I’ve found it has a huge knock-on effect on the night time sleep. Also offer him as much milk as he could possibly want at the last couple of feeds before bed. I read Gina Ford while pregnant (ignored the own room from day 1 thing) but she had case studies like this at the back of the book. She often suggested giving water instead of milk if they get up to make them soon realise it’s pointless. He might genuinely still need it but if his day time naps and milk are going well then I don’t see why he would still.

My little boy is 10 months and thankfully, great during the night but has struggled getting himself to sleep a bit recently. When I can hear him on the monitor crying, I base whether I go in or not on whether he is sucking his thumb and trying to sleep or just screaming his head off. If he’s still crying, il go in, hold him upright against me for about a minute, hum a song, no eye contact etc, that usually settles him enough to catch his breath then I put him back in, say shhh, Ewan on and walk back out. It basically says to do something along those lines in Gina Ford rather than just completely leaving them to get on with it. You might need to do it a lot of times and give a lot of water but it shouldn’t take many nights til he catches on to it being a waste of time getting up. Hope something works for you soon