8 month old now unsettled at night

[riggsy2]

Hi, My son is 8 months old and up untill a week ago he had a pretty good sleep routine, would go down at 7 and wake between 7 + 8, I would usually get up to him once a night but only to give him his dummy, then he'd be back off....now tho, he goes down at 7 and will wake about an hour later and will just cry and cry! The first few nights I tried to settle him down but after about 20mins I gave up and bought him downstairs where he stayed for about an hour before I gave him another bottle and put him back to bed...he then did 1 night of sleeping through but then started going down fine but waking about 11 and crying constantly, again I tried to settle him but in the end he ended up in my room for a while untill he tired himself out again....Last night he woke at 10.30 and it was 12.45 before he went back to sleep again.....I think his teeth are bugging him but also think he has now got a bad habit but Im not too sure how to get him out of it? Do I just keep trying to settle him untill he finally drops off?? How long do I keep this going with no effect before I get him out?? (or do I dont get him out??)

Help please!!!!!!

We are having the exact same problem with our dd at moment she is almost 8 months old (could have wrote your post word for word), lets hope someone repsonds with some help!x

Fingers crossed someone will! Im dreading tonight already!! x

I have just got over the same problem, and DP & I are so chuffed that we are now sleeping again!

I'll be back in a minute with a copy and paste of a comments I typed previously to help someone in a similar situation

• don't allow too many naps during the day or she won't be tired at night
• only give a milk feed at naptimes
• blackout curtains/blinds
• rock and sing to her whilst feeding, then perhaps put on some soft music
• does she have a dummy? Is she waking up looking for it? Perhaps have four or five dummies in the cot, so that she can find one easily.
• do not speak to her when she is crying after the 2nd or 3rd time
• ensure that she is not going to bed hungry, make sure she has enough food during the day - maybe increase her snacks so that she feels satisfied
• obviously clean nappy just before bedtime
• take turns with DH to do the getting up in the night - you one night and him the next night, even if he is working because you both need to get alternate nights sleep.

I did all of the above for my dd (albeit she's 10 months) but you wouldn't believe the change and last night for the first time in months she slept from 7pm to 7am this morning! (I actually went in during the night to see if she was still breathing )

Perhaps you've tried all of the above, but keep trying.

For me, the main problem was food. Now dd has the following:

8am - breakfast
10am - bottle and nap (nap lasts for 1.5 hours)
12.30pm - lunch
15.30 - nap - lasts for 1.5 hours (I would heat up what was left of the earlier bottle, or give some juice)
17.30pm - dinner

18.30pm - bath
19.00pm - bottle and bed (right through until 7am most nights)

Hope this helps :)

Hi, thanks for that, the last 2 days I have increaed his food and last night he slept through!!
I thought he was getting enough food but obviously not, hopefully it has done the trivk and we'll have many more good nights!
I think I will put some more dummys in his cot too because that seemes to be another reason I was having to get up to him quite abit...Thanks for the advise, fingers crossed the bad nights will be behind us!! xx

wow, that's brilliant! I'm so chuffed for you

Honestly, I know what it's like to be up all night - it puts a strain on what you're doing during the day, can start causing aggro in the house between you and DP (it happened in my house!) And now that dd is sleeping right through everything just seems so much calmer and relaxed.

DP & I are actually smiling at each other

Fingers crossed for you!

Hiya! I'm having the same problem, its only just started and my baby is 8 months also, I could also have written your post word for word almost. Tonight I have increased his food and we spent quite a while over his dinner so hopefully he will be fuller... Velvet Snow, thanks for the advice too, I'm going to try that too ..., though we've never used a dummy and he doesn't seem to know how to use it whenever we've offered, it always falls out. Any ideas why this happens at 8 months - teething? growth spurt? other??