8 month old, not sleeping through the night.

[Twistedunicorn]

Tired mama advice needed please. Buckle up it's a long one...

Wakes 6/7am has a 7oz bottle
Has breakfast which is usually porridge @ 8.30/9am
1st nap of the day about 10 is usually no longer than 45 minutes.
2nd 7oz bottle around half 11/12pm
Then lunch about 2pm which is scrambled eggs, toast etc
2nd nap again for no more than an hour
Playtime/walk for school run in between
3rd 7oz bottle 4/4.30pm
Dinner 5/6pm usually a pouch, fruit & yogurt
Bath and bedtime 7.30/8pm with another 7oz bottle

He will sleep till roughly 12/1am has another bottle, back to sleep and that's usually him until 6/7am.

He whale tails allllllllll night, bang bang bang 🤣🤣 also has two top teeth coming through which isn't helping but anbesol liquid is a lifesaver ATM.

Is there anything we should be doing that we're not or something we should be doing differently?

This sounds pretty good to me tbh. He’s 8m old and he only gets up once a night for a bottle and then goes back down. I think you’re much luckier than 95% of the parents I know.
what bit are you unhappy with? The restlessness? I think if he doesn’t seem uncomfortable or exhausted then it’s fine 🤷🏻‍♀️

This sounds very very good. Mine woke up hourly until they were four years old. Take the win!

@Lightsandrainbows aw do you think so? I just wasn't sure if this was normal or not.

He doesnt seem unsettled and if he's tired then we let him sleep, maybe I should stop worrying and just let him find his own wee routine.

@Barrellturn my heart goes out to you! I also have a 7 year old who's always slept right through so I guess I'm just not used to the tiredness

Unless I'm misunderstanding, you're complaining that an 8 month old is waking ONCE per night?

Count your lucky stars and careful not to say that to a fellow mum in real life.

I’m Yes normal for 8 months. You could try upping dinner though, a pouch has little calories and isn’t great to feed them for meals, try feeding an actual dinner, whatever you’re eating, then the yoghurt and fruit for pudding and he may be fuller for bed time.

Unless I’ve read it wrong, he wakes up once overnight? If that’s the case, I’d say you’re living the dream!

My 10 month old wakes up about two or three times and I thought that was pretty great. 😂 Although my 2yo often wakes once and my 4yo always wakes once…

@Sunny123Skies67 no need for sassyness, I've had countless mums ask me multiple times if he's sleeping through yet and every time I say no he still wakes once for a bottle I get the same pity eye roll as if to say aw somethings up he should be sleeping right through, if you've no advice to offer then please feel free to scroll by

Sounds like he sleeps very well for an 8 month old.

Personally I would probably give the night feed at 11pm so I could go to bed after.

He's not getting a huge amount of sleep, but potentially just has low sleep needs.

Are you waking him from naps or does he wake by himself?

Count your blessings! My DS woke every 2 or 3 hours overnight until he was 26 months old! Enjoy all that sleeping

@VikaOlson so shall we skip the bedtime bottle, settle him for the night and try a dream feed at 11ish?

He wakes himself up from naps, we're quite happy letting him sleep, if its been a short nap we'll try settle him back down for a bit longer @NuffSaidSam

My 2 yo wakes up an average of 14 times per night. We reached a year without ever getting a stretch longer than 2 hours. Want to swap?

Brilliant thanks for the recommendation @Overthebow I'll definitely try change dinner for him tomorrow and see how we get on

Honestly this wasn't a my child sleeps better than your child (in your face) kinda post. My heart genuinely goes out to anyone suffering with lack of sleep and kids who are restless etc.

Like I said I have a 7 year old who's had absolutely no issues sleeping through and having such an age gap its all new to us again.

This was my thoughts. When mine was 8 months old I'm sure he had longer naps than that. And once a night is good for that age, especially as 8 months is when they get separation anxiety 😬 do you cap his naps or does he wake himself?

😳 fucking hell, does your 2 year old nap at all?

@Devilsmommy we just leave him wake up on his own.

I'd still do the bed time bottle, just do a dream feed at 11pm without waking him up.
I just prefer to do it then, then I go to bed - than go to bed then have to wake up at 12/1.
With my children I just gradually reduced the amount of the 11pm feed and brought it earlier before dropping it.

He's obviously very low sleep needs then. And if he's only waking once you're well away. I wouldn't change anything to be honest. As you've seen, most 8 month olds wake up way more. Mine was formula fed too, I wonder if that makes a difference?

Great suggestions, thanks so much. I'll definitely try change his dinner and also a dream feed around 11pm see how we get on tomorrow night 🤞🤞

He's also formula fed @Devilsmommy so I'm not sure if that makes any difference or not

Some days does, some days doesn't.

On days does nap (literally wakes after 40 min) won't go to bed until 9:30, wakes every 20 min to an hour.

On days doesn't nap will still fight sleep until 8pm then still wakes just as often.

We have to cosleep and take it in weeks swapping between my and DH in the bed with him so we each get a few days of sleep before the deprivation begins. We instated this after I went to the GP convinced I was epileptic having absence seizures and investigations showed I was just that sleep deprived.

When our DS was born 20 yrs ago the local NHS was still giving out a big book that set out what your plan for pregnancy and their first year should be aiming for. The sleeping through goal was 12-16 weeks. About 1/2 the mums I knew at local baby groups didn't achieve this goal.

I don't think the book was especially old, but opinion regarding certain things had moved on. In the pregnancy section there was an alcohol allowance and no mention of caffeine at all. Midwives were not behind the drinking of alcohol or caffeine. Sleeping through was something health visitors were really keen on.

OP, you sound like you are doing well. Just keep going and don't forget that as your DC gets older they will start wanting more food.