8m sleep

[Kafri]

DS is 34weeks

He goes to bed after a 7 o'clock bottle and is generally asleep by 8.

Lately he's been stirring about half 10 but usually settling himself. Sunday was a bad night - he repeatedly stirred throughout the night, some settled by himself, other I went in and repositioned him in his cot.

Last night was brilliant, asleep by 7.30, stirred slightly at half 10 but settled and slept til 6 when he woke for his milk as usual, back to bed no problem til 8.

Tonight, not so great. Asleep by 7.30 but woke at 9, really crying and unsettled. He had calpol with his feed as he has a sniffle - think teething rather than poorly. Took ages to resettle and go back to sleep.

No two nights seem the same at the min and I dread night times and lie there not able to sleep worrying about not getting enough sleep silly I know

He has 4 eight oz bottles of milk at 6am, 10/11am, 2/3pm and 7pm. He also has a bit of brekki (he's never keen on having much) and then approx half a jar of 4m+ baby food at lunch followed by some fruit and the other half at tea along with some jelly - most of the time it's home made but I make it in portions the size of the 4+ jars as that's how much he eats and I have to purée to 4+ texture as any lumper and he still gags.
I only add his food to this post as I don't know if his food may be related to his sudden waking at the min.

Sorry no help but my 9 month old does the same. Last few night it's been every hour. I've tried calpol before bed and offer milk all night but she's not hungry and just seems unsettled.
The room isn't too warm/cold, nappy is fine. I thought maybe a separation thing but she doesn't seem to settle immediately when I go to her.
She's just started crawling in the last few weeks and is desperate to walk now. So I sometimes find her sitting up in bed whimpering with her eyes closed
I thought maybe it was a developmental thing as she isn't really upset when I go to her, just unsettled really.

Hope someone else can provide some insight!

My LO is 8 months and similar is happening with us, have you heard of Wonder Weeks? My LO is just coming out of a phase now but has been fussy for a few weeks now. His sleep has always been great but he's doing similar things to your LO at the moment and I too dread the nights and I'm hating being so tired, it's awful and you have my sympathy. He's definitely teething too, I find that the teething powders are fantastic.

The best advice I've had is to stick to all routines, even on the worst days/nights. The only exception I allow is that when he cries I will always pick him up because he hardly ever does, so I know it's not for attention. I was also advised to add a snack with his 10/11am bottle, so I give him some fruit or a yoghurt which has helped a bit, so increasing his food intake might help. Perhaps using the 7m jars in place of the 4m ones would add further nutrition? Just mash them up a bit more, my LO got used to them as I mashed them up a bit less each time, now he eats lumps ok.

I'm sorry I don't have much advice there really as I'm in the middle of this at the moment too. But hopefully it'll help to know that it's normal, lots of people with babies of the same age are going through the same thing, I really believe its developmental. With regards to food, I've dipped in and out of Gina Ford's The contented little book of weaning, it's got sample routines in for food/sleep, The contented little book of sleep is also helpful. It explains the links between food and sleep and how nap times can be shuffled to improve night time sleep. I'm not saying either way on any of her methods, but the thinking behind it all helps to make things work in the way you want them to (IYKWIM).

Thanks for the replies, I'm writing this after just being up with him again and am waiting to see if he settles again.

Just given more calpol, but to be honest he was still pretty much asleep, just wailing in his sleep sort of, it's hard to try to explain.

Let's see what happens for the rest of the night.

Just wanted to add that we've also had varied nights and DS is 8mo. He used to sleep 12h reliably but since 6mo it has varied. Then someone mentioned all the changes he's going through and it just sort of made sense - weaning, growing lots, just cut first 2 teeth (simultaneously), just started crawling, is trying to pull himself up on things...! He always sleeps at least 10h and averages 11h, sometimes does 12-13h, but also sometimes stirs in the night, whimpers, etc which of course means I wake up. So far the following has helped:

• keeping water beaker nearby, he gets thirsty during the night sometimes especially in recent warmer weather
• hushing or playing lullaby when he whimpers soothes him back to peaceful sleep
• bonjela, calpol, calprofen in escalating order if he gets very grizzly
• large breakfast, decided to offer more and he loves it; eg today was cereal (50g with 150ml milk), yoghurt (whole pot, I think it's 50g) and some grapes. The rest of the day varies with his solid food - sometimes he wants to eat proper meals, other times not interested - but breakfast seems to have made a big change for now!

One more thing that we'll just make our way through until the next stage

When I say whimper, it's similar to what you say about wailing whilst sleeping - he'll still look asleep, eyes closed, hard to rouse - but he will cry, usually a whimper but sometimes full blown crying yet still seemingly fast asleep.

The latter is less common for us so when it does happen I tend to just co-sleep as it seems to work, but if it was more regular then I'd be looking for a different solution.

How was everyones' night? I hope everyone managed to have a better night :). Ours was slightly better as I staggered the Calpol a bit better so he had the next dose when I went to bed, rather than an hour later and it seemed to work. I'm not a fan of filling him full of Calpol really but I do think he's in pain so I'm trying to get to him before he is desperate for it. I fed him a bit more yesterday, and he had full bottles too rather than leaving a few ounces so I'm not sure if that helped too? But I can't control that and he was still a bit unsettled.

I understand what you mean about the wailing, it's exactly the same for us - not quite crying, eyes still closed but certainly not settled. This won't last forever, this won't last forever...

He was up at 9, again at half 11, stirred again at 12, up at half 1, stirred at half 2 then stirred at 7 and is now waking up.

Now, seeing as this is new to us, what happens in the daytime - presumably he's going to be tired from all his cot partying! I presume I should try to push for his usual naps and not let him have extended or more naps???

On one hand, people say over tiredness doesn't help but surely of I let him start sleeping more and more in the day, he'll start sleeping less in the night as time goes on??

Boy am I sleepy!!

Hmm, I'd say not too much extra sleep in the day, I (try to) put my LO down for half an hour or so on a morning then for a longer nap in the afternoon. Sleeping for longer than an hour and a half in one nap is unusual for him, so in the middle of this sleep issue I won't let him nap longer than an hour and a half for each nap not that he would anyway. Id stick to usual nap routine but maybe allow a tiny bit longer to combat the overtiredness. One day we will return to a full night of undisturbed sleep...

I think I read no more than 3 hours altogether? But I'd agree that if they extend sleep in the day it just exacerbates the night wakings.

I'm on my second coffee, I hope I feel more human soon! I hope your day gets better :).