My 8 month old still doesn't sleep through the night

[frodojodo]

I just want someone to tell me that they have also experienced this with their child...

My 8 month old has NEVER slept any longer than 3 hours during the night since birth. No joke. I've done 8 months of sleepless nights and I'm really exhausted now lol!! I've tried everything, well I think I have anyway..

We have a bedtime routine, bath, feed, bed. She acts very sleepy and usually goes down around 7pm without too much of a fuss but then is awake every couple of hours until 6:15am the next morning. She isn't hungry as I offer her a feed but she's not interested, she's still sleepy when she wakes as well.. it's almost like she's in discomfort or something, she fusses and cries and then falls back asleep.. then repeats every 30/45 mins. She sometimes gives me a stretch of 3hrs but that's the most. I make sure her nappy is dry and she is a good temperature too.

Any advice would be great!

I have found this page helpful to get an idea of what was going on with sleep: www.babysleepscience.com/single-post/2014/11/05/interpreting-night-wakings
Hope you get some rest soon.

@Lou98 She currently sleeps in my room. Her cot is in my room. She's in the cot from 7pm until 11pm/midnight and then into my bed. I settle her in the cot until I'm too tired to be up and down so I just bring her into my bed.

The problem is- if I leave her to cry for too long, like I said earlier, she rolls onto her tummy and can't get back to her back. Or she shuffles up the cot and ends up crunched at the top of the cot all uncomfortable.

My 3 year old is exactly the same. 3 years of broken sleep and nothing seems to work 🤷‍♀️

My first slept through 12 hours from about 3 months but this one is trying to kill me off I think!

Sorry I also think it is quite normal although on the wakeful side. My now 13 year old was not sleeping through at that age but he would do a longer stretch than 3 hours. My 3yo didn't do a four hour stretch until he was over 1yo. My 5mo seems to be going the way of DS1 and doing longer stretches, but I don't expect him to sleep through any time soon.

I really like the Lyndsey hookway stuff on Instagram and Facebook, she is a good one to follow for sleep. A lot of the time you get people falling on one side or another of "oh don't worry they'll sleep when they're teenagers, just cosleep! You can't sleep train, it's awful" Or "you must sleep train immediately, look at those bad habits you're in!" If I'm honest I lean towards the former, but just cosleep isn't very helpful advice if that's not helpful for you. And it's not crazy to want to know if you can do anything to improve sleep. Anyway I find her a nice sensible in the middle.

I wouldn't leave to cry personally. But at eight months she is safe to leave to find her own sleeping position even if it's on her front. She should be able to roll both ways by now so she can roll back if she wants to.

You have my sympathy. My DC2 didn't sleep more than 2 hours at a time until she was 1 yr. Around 8-9 months was the worst because she started moving around in her cot and getting in a tangle. Sleep training at this age just didn't work for me.

When she was 1 yr I could not cope with lack of sleep any more and was about to go back to work, I weaned her off milk at night and bought earplugs (for me). She has slept through ever since then.

She still often cries out when she goes through sleep cycles (now age 4) - but she isn't actually really awake. A bit of grizzling is just her way of getting back to sleep again. Good luck!

I've been through this!
Apologies for the long post!

1. Make sure the room is warm enough and she's not waking chilly. It's hard to sleep and stay asleep and settled if you're cold
2. Give a tip up feed as you're putting to bed if you're not already, she may be too tired for a feed in the night but a slight hungry tummy will wake her up.
3. What are you doing when you go in? Don't make eye contact, no cuddles or kisses or lifting out of bed. Just a shsshh and light hand on chest and then leave the room. Make sure you're consistent each and every time you go in.

If that doesn't work, I'd try sleep training. My DD was the worst sleep EVER and it worked but was very hard the first night. So, if she's kicking off, leave her five minutes and then go in with the sssshhhh and straight back out, the leave 6 minutes, 7 minutes, 8 minutes etc etc each time going in with the same sssshh, reassuring hand in chest and straight back out. I went in 23 times the first night but it did work. It's not for everyone but like you, I was beyond tired and it was having an impact on work so I had no choice as I'd tried everything else. Little ones need to know they're safe and secure in their beds too x good luck

[quote frodojodo]@mismigraije What is this whole wakening every 45 mins about?! It's exhausting [/quote]
This is because 45 minute mark is when REM begins which usually wakes them

Sounds quiet normal. My dd was 3 when she started sleeping through the night. She's 6 now and still a couple of times a week she wakes me up in the night.
I would however try moving her into her cot in her own room. Sometimes just me turning over in bed would wake my dd up.

Hey, my little girl is 6 months and obviously hasn't slept three the night, it's not that common for babies to do so. I am not a fan of sleep training methods but follow a few pages on Instagram that are full of tips and advice but it's very normal. https://instagram.com/foxandthemooninfantsleep?utmmedium=copyy_link
This lady is one of my favourites and foes sleep guides that explain sleep and can help but also 1-2-1 calls if you really need help. None of it involves any cry it out styles and is known as gentle but IMO is just parenting 🤷🏻‍♀️ xx

Is hard work but normal unfortunately. My oldest woke every 45 min from birth to 9mo when she started doing the odd 2 hour stint. First slept through at 17mo but not consistently until 3yo (and even then we still have wake ups every few nights). My youngest is 18mo and the longest I can get out of him unless he's in bed with me is about 2 hours and that's a good day....I'm at my wits end with it tbh, nothing has worked with him.

Hoping you see some improvements soon, it really is relentless xx

Do we have the same child. Lol, I could’ve literally written everything you have.

Currently up cuddling my daughter for the 4th time since 7pm and it’s not even midnight. She never seems to be able to get comfy in bed.. even our bed. She wriggles and whines for ages. I refuse to sleep train, but have tried adjusting nap times/bed times but nothing really works. I have thought about calling th GP but she is generally a really happy baby during the day… just night time she seems uncomfortable. Think she just wants to sleep on me all night. I wouldn’t mind if it meant I could sleep too!!

I also second @lilroo87 about Emily at Fox and The Moon Sleep. She has made me feel so much more relaxed about my daughters wake ups. I realise im not alone and that sleep can’t be taught. Before I had my daughter, I woke up about 2/3 times a night and im a grown adult 😬 STTN at 8 months consistently are the exception not the rule.

Don’t worry about the way she ends up sleeping in the cot - my baby is always asleep squished up against the side of the cot on her tummy - it’s pretty normal (it looks uncomfortable but it mustn’t be for them)

The 45 mins thing is because that’s when they go into the light sleep stage so if you helped them to sleep previously they need your help again..
You’ll need to get her down in the cot awake and to go asleep herself…. Easier said then done I know !!!

I was in your shoes myself for months 🙈

She’s 10 months now and sleeps 7pm but she still wakes twice at night (about 2 & 4am for milk) but it’s more manageable now that she sleeps a bit first

The only thing that worked for me was letting her cry for a bit unfortunately .. I did in room settling with her while she cried - I just patted her and lay her back down - once she got the message she wasn’t going to be taken back up she eventually went to sleep and by the next night she was only crying for 10 mins and now she just goes down no problem