8 month old fights bedtime sleep

[XxHanxX]

Hi all,

Please can I ask for advice.
My 8 month old is teething at the moment and only really seems to suffer just before bedtime. He used to go to sleep on his own in his cot but now I have a struggle which lasts between 1-3 hours meaning I start putting him to bed at 7:30 and sometimes I have still been trying at 11 pm.

I have tried bathing him then bed, settling him down, carrying him, pushing him in his pram but nothing seems to work. He finally falls asleep but that's after I have been trying for hours leaving me with no evening and feeling very stressed and slightly tearful.

He's such a happy boy and always active throughout the day so I would think he would be tired but he isn't. Last night I bathed him at 7pm followed by his milk and bed and he did seem a lot more sleepy than usual but still fought it for an hour and half.

I'm a new mum so any advice would be greatly appreciated
Thank you :0)

He used to go to sleep on his own in his cot

What used to happen to get him to sleep in his cot, when it worked?

How old was he when he stopped going to sleep in his cot?

How are his daytime naps? How often/long does he sleep and does he go to sleep OK for these?

Hi,

I used to put him in his cot with the night show on and he would lay there for a little while, chat away but self soothe himself and just drop off. He stopped doing this at around 7 months.

He will only nap around midday now , he used to have two naps in the day at 12 and 3 but now he will only nap at 12 and that's only for around an hour.

If I put him in his cot now like I used to he will cry and start to choke until I see to him.

He seems to just fight the sleep :0(

He sounds over tired. He could really do with 2 or 3 hours of daytime sleep.

If you haven't had much success re-settling back to sleep at lunchtime, could you try working hard for a morning nap, about 10am and then another nap around 1pm.

More sleep promotes better sleep. An over-tired baby is a nightmare to get to sleep. Whereas if you try for a nap when baby is just a bit tired, not exhausted, it's often easier.

This difficulty at bedtime is probably down to over-tiredness. It is self-perpetuating

Thank you :0) I really appreciate your advice.

I done this today, made sure he slept this morning and again this afternoon. I'll see how I get on tonight and continue to do this to try and get him into more of a routine.

Thanks again, really appreciate it :0)

I agree. One nap might be ok if it's around 2-3 hours but otherwise it's not much sleep for an 8 month old.
Teething is a pain! Try putting bongella on his gums before his last feed.

That's great thank you :0). He's had two naps today totally 2.5 hours, had a bath and his milk so hopefully tonight will be more successful.

I'll let you both know tomorrow, thanks for taking the time to help. :0)

Hope bedtime is going OK! Just a thought but if he's learning new physical skills in the day that can make them very restless and unable to keep still at bedtime- basically their bodies just want to keep practicing! Not much to do about that, but reassuring that they do settle down again once they've conquered the milestone they were working on.

This article might help too: sarahockwell-smith.com/2015/11/18/what-the-heck-goes-wrong-sleep-wise-at-8-10-months/

Thank you Jessplussomeonenew, I did read something similar to that article the other week. That's really helpful and so very true. Everyday he is learning to do new things and noticing everything around him.

I'm so pleased, tonight he settled at 8pm and has been asleep since- I feel so relieved just for the fact that he has settled without stressing himself out and was calm.

I will be sure to re introduce two nap times in the day as he clearly was over tired and my goodness, that makes is so difficult for him to get to sleep.

Thanks to all of you for your advice, you've really helped me. Hope you all had a nice evening x

Successful night no.2 yay

Brilliant news! My daughter isn't napping well in the day due to teething (8 months) and it's making her hard to settle at night!

Hopefully you've cracked it

Aw really, they all seem to be the same around that age. Well hopefully it will continue but from the advice I have been given I have changed his routine in that instead of bathing him in the morning I top & tail him with warm soapy water. Then I make sure he has a nap around 11-12, if he won't nap I take him out for a walk and he falls asleep. Then at 3-4 I try again for another nap however depending on how long he napped in the morning I either keep on trying to get him to nap or just spend some time relaxing with him. I then bath him at 7, feed him at 7:20 and tonight he was asleep by 7:35! How have you got on tonight?x

Not great! Turns out she has a cold on top of teething so she's waking up twice in the night. Will try your routine when she's feeling better x

Aw bless her, hope she feels better soon. Have you put Vic on her feet? Yes definitely, the routine is going well. Has made the atmosphere in my house more relaxed too as we aren't spending all of our evening trying to get little one to sleep.!

Ahh good I'm so pleased! I remember feeling the same when we got our little boy into a routine and got some time to ourselves in the evening. Used Vicks on feet for the last two nights, she seems a bit better tonight so hoping we're through the worst of it.

Enjoy you're evening

So it's still going well but he seems to wake up S
A number of times throughout the night and cry. Last night he woke at 11, 1, 3, 4 & finally 6...