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Original poster

What do you think of this sleep? 8 month old

19 replies

FionaBrusque · 14/09/2019 16:01

Hi everyone I am a first time mum and would really appreciate your thoughts on this routine. DD has never been a great sleeper, I work hard at her naps but they don't always happen sometimes she just seems wide awake.

In terms of night time sleep she has never ever slept through the night but now this is a typical night (give or take):

Bedtime 6.30pm - goes to sleep in her cot
9pm - wakes and has a bottle of milk
2am - wakes and has a bottle of milk
5.30am - awake for the day

Sometimes there is a bit of resettling at 5am. She is formula fed. I really hoped she would be sleeping through by now- she eats fairly well during the day but does seem hungry in the night.

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nuckyscarnation · 14/09/2019 16:36

I wish my twins slept that well and they’re 13 months old!

She sounds like a great sleeper to me! Eight months is still little to be expecting her to sleep thorough the night. Unless you’re going to bed super early she’s basically only waking you once through the night. I’m frankly green with envy

PuffHuffle5 · 14/09/2019 16:42

Bedtime 6.30pm - goes to sleep in her cot
9pm - wakes and has a bottle of milk
2am - wakes and has a bottle of milk
5.30am - awake for the day

Mine was similar at that age. I think at about 8/9 months he dropped that 2am ish feed, but I continued to give him a dream feed just before I went to bed until he was 10/11 months. It was just after he turned one that he started sleeping through properly - also his bedtime gradually moved from 6.30ish to 7.30 as he was gradually able to stay awake longer.

CarolineKate · 14/09/2019 16:47

Pretty sure my son was the same at that age. But bottles stopped at 9 months. I started trying to rock him first before offering a bottle. If he was upset I would give him a bottle but often he just went back to sleep.

He started sleeping through at 16 months.

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Celebelly · 14/09/2019 16:48

I don't think it's awful; it could certainly be far worse! But it could also be better. Is she drinking plenty of milk during the day? Is she waking for the 9pm bottle or is it a dream feed? This is the one that seems unnecessary, although it's not that disruptive I suppose. But it's like she sees 9 as her proper bedtime as that's then when she has the longest period of sleep.

You do at least get a solid chunk of five hours or so which I'm sure quite a few people on here would be jealous of!

My 7mo DD does 6.30-3 or 4 usually and then she's down again till 6-6.30 (sometimes 7 if the stars align!). She's breastfed though but she doesn't seem to need milk overnight, even her night feed is very short and I think it's more for comfort, which I'm happy to keep providing for now. They're all just so different and there's no normal, really. And sleep changes all the time.

nuckyscarnation · 14/09/2019 19:57

One of the jealous people over here @Celebelly I’ve not had five hours sleep together since last August!

polkadotpixie · 14/09/2019 20:18

How much is she drinking at 9pm and 2am? I've always put my son to bed slightly later (8pm) with an 8oz bottle and he sleeps through to 6:30/7am

My son is a good sleeper which I'm grateful for but maybe a later bedtime/more milk would cut it down to 1 night waking?

SoyDora · 14/09/2019 20:23

Very similar to my 8 month old. I can cope with the two wake ups/feeds but I find the 4.30am/5am resettle with 5.30am start exhausting.
I have two older DC and think they were similar at this age too, although they tended to resettle at 5ish then up at 7 which was easier to handle.
Later bedtime doesn’t help for us, and he has never ever had 8oz of milk in one go. It’s a struggle to get 5oz down him. He vastly prefers solid food to milk.

SoyDora · 14/09/2019 20:25

Ours is usually...
7.15pm bed
10pm feed
3am feed
4.30am resettle
5.30am up for the day

Original poster

FionaBrusque · 15/09/2019 10:55

@SoyDora that's very similar to DD and yes the night feeds are relatively quick but it's he mornings that are really hard. I've tried later bedtimes and she still gets up at the crack of dawn so I'm going to enjoy my evenings whilst I can!

OP posts:

rubyroot · 15/09/2019 10:58

Personally if mine was having so much milk at night at this age I'd try and night wean for my own sanity.

SoyDora · 15/09/2019 11:02

Personally if mine was having so much milk at night at this age I'd try and night wean for my own sanity

Yeah that’s what I thought as well. This is my third and I vowed not to get caught in the same trap as I was in with my first when she would only settle with milk. Indeed with my second we managed to stop night feeds around this age.
However I have tried to night wean him. Numerous times. He literally screams until morning, or until he’s given milk (whichever comes sooner). With two other DC to deal with there are only so many nights I can stay awake all night with him. A 10 min night feed ends up being the lesser of two evils.

rubyroot · 15/09/2019 11:18

@SoyDora God that sounds hard. I'll admit I've never had to nightwean as luckily my son weaned himself with a bit of help at 8 months. After 8 months of sleep deprivation and back at work full time I breathed a sigh of relief.

SoyDora · 15/09/2019 11:26

I have realised more than ever this time round that this things depend so much on the child. DC2 was easy to night wean. I just decided to stop feeding her in the night and spent a few nights cuddling her back to sleep instead, or offering water from her sippy cup. Easy.
DC’s 1 and 3 on the other hand...

hormonesorDHbeingadick · 15/09/2019 11:28

Sounds really good to me.

blahdehbleh · 19/09/2019 23:07

Sounds like the sleep routine of a much younger baby tbh.

I would look seriously into your day time routine. Waking every few hours, and not getting a decent restorative sleep (sleeping through the sleep cycle transitions) will lead to a very overtired baby.

Sounds like baby needs to come off the habit night milks, and you need to teach baby to self settle. I would look into a programme like Little Ones - super informative and will help
You understand baby sleep patterns. E.g importance of day time naps, sleep cycles, self settling, good sleep associations, protein at lunch times, and how to break habit wakes.

sewinginscotland · 20/09/2019 21:31

An 8mo shouldn't be needing 2 feeds in the night. Can you try just resettling them at 9pm?

We struggle with the 5am wakeups, but I refuse to accept 5.30 as a start time so fight him back to sleep. He usually wakes around 6.30/7 now.

Rarfy · 20/09/2019 21:37

Sounds tough. My dd was having four bottles a day and I was told to cut one by HV.

DD has a later bedtime, between 8.00- 9.30pm and sleeps through till about 6.30-7.00am. Has been doing this since about 5 months.

problembottom · 21/09/2019 12:13

My nearly 9 month old sleeps 7pm-6am, she’s just extended that from 5am. But of my NCT group, eight babies of 8-9 month, there are frequent wakers, once or twice wakers and sleep throughers even tho we all do the same kind of routine in the day.

mindutopia · 22/09/2019 16:41

That sounds normal, though 6:30pm seems quite early. Mine went to bed at 7:30-9pm at that age. But the 2 wake ups sounds very standard.

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