Is there an 8 month sleep regression or is this a plot to kill me?

[Iknowacrackingowlsanctuary]

Is there a sleep regression at 8 months because my DSs sleep has been awful this past week.

I used to rock him to sleep but after reading some advice given to others struggling with this I have started weaning him off this. I can now just sway slightly and then put him in his cot. I don't do this gently as I like him to rouse slightly and then I lay with him with my hand on him until he is asleep.

He used to then sleep until around 11pm, have a feed and go back off very quickly. Another feed at around 3am and again back to sleep until around 6.30am. I only needed to place my hand on him once or twice in the night to resettle. He was even going from 7pm-1am, feed, sleep until 6am and I thought we were heading toward sleeping through.

Last night he went to bed at 7.30pm and woke at 11pm as usual. He then woke at 1am and screamed until 3am. The only way to console him even after a feed was to have him sleep on my chest and even then he fidgeted on and off until 7am. This has been the case for the last few days.

He is very active and can kind of crawl commando style. I'm now finding him thrashing about in his sleep and roaming all over his cot, even with his eyes closed just whining Is it just that his brain is very active at the moment?

He is on the 90th percentile for weight and eats like a trooper. An example day would be:

Wake 6.30am - 6oz bottle

Breakfast 7.30am - porridge, fruit, maybe some toast

Nap 8.30-9.30ish, sometimes longer

Milk 10.30 - 6oz

Lunch 11.30 - mixture of finger foods, yoghurt, etc

Nap 12.30-1.30 (sometimes this is until 2pm so makes his 4o'clock nap just 30mins)

Milk 2.30 - 6oz

Nap 3.30-4/4.30

Dinner 5pm - something filling like risotto, stew, pasta that I've made and frozen. Pudding such as rice pudding, banana and custard.

Milk 6.30-7pm - 6oz

Bed for around 7.30pm

He then usually has a bottle at 11pm and 3am. Again both 5-6oz so in total he is having around 30-35oz in 24 hours plus 3 good meals

Naps are sometimes on me or in his pushchair. Not ideal but I thought I'd try and crack the in-cot bedtime and then start on the naps.

Just realised I've basically written War and Peace

I had the same thing and have unfortunately resorted to co sleeping as a last resort. I'm actually going to a sleep session at the children's centre today to get advice and make a plan. Do you have anything like that in your area? I'll report back.

Apparently 8 months is a bit of a clingy phase for them plus it doesn't help that DS is teething badly and is in pain most of the time.

I'll report back.

Hopefully someone else will be along with something more helpful. But you aren't alone.

There is an 8 month regression! DD is almost 10 months now and no end in sight. Unfortunately for us this also coincided with dd learning to crawl and pull up and all she wants to do is stand up. We already co-sleep but it is going to have to stop now as she wakes up and starts whacking us both, or pinching or trying to clamber over me to get to DP. Just as it was starting to get better she has started cutting her first teeth so we are back to square one.

We've just built her cot so that she won't violently wake us up and can Potter around in there, but I have always fed her to sleep, maybe danced her to sleep 10 times in her life and the cot won't go level with our mattress. How the hell do you get a baby to sleep in a cot?! I can't even put her down in it asleep as the mattress has to be low because she can stand up.

Thanks Ribena, I don't think my children's centre offers sleep sessions but will double check as they change them quite often.

We resorted to cosleeping when DS was teething, luckily (unluckily?) all 4 came through together so although it was rough going it got it over and done with in one go.

DS is very clingy at the moment and only wants me at night even though DH tries his best. I go back to work full time next week so that should be a barrel of laughs

Just seen your reply silk, this bit

We already co-sleep but it is going to have to stop now as she wakes up and starts whacking us both, or pinching or trying to clamber over me to get to DP

sounds exactly like DS! If he pulls my hair any more I will have a bald patch

My 91st centile baby at 6 months old was having 50-56oz of milk per day (7 or 8 7oz bottles per day). I would suggest stopping night feeds though, and shifting all of baby's milk intake into the day. I'd add in a bottle after each meal, so that each period of awake time had one bottle up in waking, one bottle just before going to sleep (but not feeding to sleep) and a meal in the middle of the awake time.

In addition, can you resettle to lengthen those naps? I'd say you probably want to start thinking about dropping the third nap. For thing to happen though you need to be able to stretch the first two awake times and could ideally do with at least the second nap being more like 2h

owl and pyjamas it looks like our children got the same memo! DD1 was a nightmare at 8 months. She was awake between 1 and 3 am and nothing would get her back to sleep (not even BFing) so I took it as an opportunity to night wean. Co-sleeping wasn't an option as she used to clamber all over the bed and I had to keep catching her by the ankle so she wouldn't fall out. I think it was developmental as it happened when she was learning to crawl and pull up. I think her brain and body just wanted to keep practising at night! I'm not sure there's much you can do other than wait for it to pass and give them lots of practice for their motor skills during the day.

pyjamas does your cot have some removable bars? If so you could take them out then lie on the floor leaning in to the cot through the gap to settle the baby, then pop the bars back in when the baby is asleep?

Thanks for your advice FATE, when DS was 6 months he was having around 45oz but that has dropped since upping his solids. If I try to feed him every 3 hours he just refuses or only takes 2-3oz. I then end up with him wanting more milk at night.

Would you just bite the bullet and stop the milk at night, just concentrating on trying to resettle? Or would you reduce the amount you give?

I can sometimes lengthen the naps to about 1hr 45m but that is mainly if he sleeps on me and I rock him slightly. If we have had naps of over 1.5hrs then he hasn't had the 3rd one.

At 8 months I'd just go cold turkey on the night feeds. He doesn't need them.

chloe Glad to know it's not something I've done wrong! Feeding DS between these times does eventually get him back to sleep but it takes a lot of work so think I might aswell night wean too.

welsh that's what I've been telling my DH but his first response is to feed him He will definitely be on board with it though if I make it quite clear. I'm sure he still thinks of DS like a newborn

I'd just stop the night feeds completely. In fact I'd have stopped them several months ago.

Maybe his daytime milk needs will increase. Maybe his portion sizes will increase. Be prepared for either - so until bed established dropping the night feeds offer an extra bottle here and there and also offer bigger portions at meal times. You'll soon see where he wants his calories from.

Don't forget drinks too. Daytime drinking is important to avoid dehydration. Baby should be able to get all hydration in the daytime, so not be thirsty at night. Just the same as hunger needs can all being met in the daytime.

Having an alternate way to settle baby, that isn't feeding, is always a good thing.

Right, got my big girl pants on and going to ride it out tonight. Luckily we followed the EASY routine when he was younger so he isn't fed to sleep (he is rocked but we're trying to deal with that too....)

DD is 9 months old and is horrendous at the moment. We night weaned ages ago and she's been sleeping 12 hrs a night for a couple of months now. But OMG this Sleep regression is hellish.

Last night we had to cosleep, and every time we thought she was deeply asleep and we put her back in the cot she would wake 5 mins later. I literally tried 6 times between 11am and 3am. Then got her heavily to Sleep in her cot - thank God - then she woke up at 3.30! DH went in and was in there for another 2 hrs! So between us we were basically with her all night. We have a bed in there as it was originally the spare room and we haven't gotten around to taking the bed out. Thank God!

And even co sleeping she is a nightmare, can't settle at all. I have an enormous scratch across my throat from her.

And during the day she's very very trying. Not able to clamber up but constantly trying to, and failing and whining. OMG the whinging! Basically I've spent all of today picking her up. And she's only happy when you support her "standing up" on the floor but she's flipping heavy!

Today she was so clingy I couldn't get dressed till noon! Even putting her in her cot with a mobile she cried for me.

This is a tough age........

Ok so back from the sleep clinic.
The advice was..
When sleep training you must stick to it. It varies from baby to baby but generally the first 3 night's are the worst with 4th seeing improvement. Night 3 is the worst as they are testing you to see if you will follow through.

You have to stick to a plan and not deviate from it. It's good not to have distractions like night lights as baby will expect it every time which may get problematic.

The aim is to get them to self soothe. Put them in the cot awake but sleepy with a full tummy and stay in the room with them. Patting/stroking/shhhhhing them. Eventually they will sleep. If they are whining they can be left but not if getting distressed and crying frantically. If it gets really bad they can be picked up to calm down but must then immediately be put back

It's important that you don't cave as it's not fair on the baby and it ruin all the hard work youve done.

We are gonna try this in a few weeks as MIL is over from South Africa and is keen to be involved. So we figure 3 people sharing these duties will be better.

If you have a sleep clinic going on in your area I'd definitely recommend going. She was lovely and told me I can come back and see her if we need any further help.

You can find out through your health visitor if there's anything like that going on in your area.

This was advice given to me based on our situation and my baby's behaviour at bed time but I hope it was useful.

Thanks for taking the time to post that Ribena

I've taken some of what you've said and put it with some advice I saw FATE give another poster.

I did my usual swaying but put DS down drowsy instead of asleep. I then did the pat/shh and he was asleep within minutes. He woke about an hour later and I did all settling in the cot, except for when he really screamed. This only happened twice and I picked him up but put him straight back down when he was calm.

Fingers crossed for a better night

Well last night was a disaster

After going back to sleep at 8.30pm, DS the woke again at 9pm screaming. I did the pat/shh but he then became hysterical so I picked him up. He then screamed every time I even attempted to put him down. Settling in the cot wasn't possible because of the state he'd got himself in to I think at this point he was so overtired that he didn't know what to do with himself. He then went back off at about 10pm and I put him in his cot. He woke at 11pm and I thought maybe he was hungry so gave him a bottle but he only took 3oz. He then screamed again (and I sobbed a lot! ) until I finally put him in bed with me. He then slept until 3am but I managed to resettle instead of feed. Needed resettling at 5am but again went off quickly and we got up at 7am.

On the plus side the night weaning seemed to go relatively smoothly

He nearly fed overnight. This is a good thing. Take the positives. If he needs extra help sleeping while night weaning, I'd give it if it was me.

Hopefully his diet today will adjust. Give it a couple more nights of no night feeds and then the whole calorie need should be being taken in the daytime.

Night weaning won't necessarily solve the night wakes you know, just to set realistic expectations. It's just the first step towards bigger chunks of night sleep. Not a magic wand, immediate answer.

Can't remember if the cot is in your room or not? Having a cot next to your bed (with one side removed?) would be preferable to me, than cosleeping. But I have resorted to cosleeping on occassion when I was knackered, it's just not my thing as a usual occurance.

Barely, not nearly.

That's what I'm going with FATE - positively all the way! Can't have a repeat of my sobfest last night. Think it was months of exhaustion, some family worries and going back to work that just all came out

I don't mind DS feeding at 10-11pm if it means dropping the 3am feed is easier. I can then always work on dropping that one later.

DSs cot is up against our bed with the side removed. It's a cot bed so is big enough for me to lay down in too. That's what I was doing last night, completely encircling DS but I think he had gone way past the point of being resettled like that.

I've been offering milk after a meal today too and he has taken some (only about 4-5oz a time) so hopefully that will help see him through 11pm-7am again (minus the breakdown! )

There is a regression at 8 months and a lot of babies really need night feeds until at least one.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/sarahockwell-smith.com/2014/08/10/how-to-gently-night-wean-a-breastfed-baby-or-toddler/amp/

Have you thought about cosleeping through the rough patch?

Well last night was better - but it may have been because he was in my bed

He was exhausted due to all the sobbing the night before so was ready for bed at 7am (I prefer 7.30-8 to stop 5am wake ups) so I put him in his cot. He slept for an hour then rolled and woke himself up. Cue the hysterical crying so instead of battling it I just moved him across onto my bed. He instantly went back to sleep! He then slept until 3am (so no 11pm bottle!) and then I was able to resettle him until 5.30am!

No idea what being moved 2cm to the right makes but at the moment I don't care. DH agrees - we need to break this cycle of sobbing and being exhausted. Once he is sleeping better we will then work on moving him back across to his cot.

I got 7 hours sleep in one go!!

I used to have a manouver I called "scooting" (ie "im going to try scooting DC back into the cot"). It is a way to move baby back over into the cot, but without lifting or moving baby very much.

I would kneel up in bed, facing baby (fast asleep in my bed next to sidecar cot) side-on. Slide both arms, flat, under baby; one under baby's upper back and the other under baby's bun. But the arms would be flat to the mattress, like two conveyer belts.

Then take baby's weight on my forearms and by crawling forward on my knees, sort of slide baby from one surface to the other. So it's not picking baby up and putting down, its more of a slide across, or "scoot".

It ended to wait until baby was in a deep sleep for this. It was usually after I'd bring baby into bed for a breastfeed and fall asleep while feeding. Then some point later wake up, realise baby was still in bed with me but had finished feeding. Could be an hour later, so baby should be in a deep sleep.

Scooting across might disturb baby a little, but an in-cot cuddle and/or dummy suck used to sort that. At least it meant I got my own space back in bed, given I'm not a natural fan of cosleeping.

"It used to wait until..."

Love the idea of scooting, at least it will give me a bit more room.

DS has taken to sleeping on his front starfish style so that might make scooting a bit more difficult