Baby won't sleep through!!

[emjellis1991]

My little girl is nearly 8 months old and she is still waking 1-3 times in the night.

She wants milk which we are trying to stop, she also won't go back to sleep on her own. We have tried leaving her to cry but it doesn't work.

She naps through the day 3 naps an hour each nap and her naps end at 4pm. She is eating solids for lunch and then fruit or yoghurt for dinner something light.

She drinks an 8 ounce bottle before bed after her bath at 6pm. She is usually asleep for 7pm.

She tends to wake at 2/3am then wakes every hour after that until about 7am.

I have tried EVERYTHING nothing is working. Even tried co sleeping as a very last resort and that doesn't work.

She is not teething and has no issues with colic or reflux or anything like that.

It's starting to make me poorly from lack of sleep I'm getting bad headaches and migraines and I'm struggling.

I just don't know what else to do!

Another one here strongly suggesting you increase her day time meals to 3 proper meals, as well as bottles. She'll be growing and needing lots of energy. She sounds hungry to me.

My DD didn't sleep reliably thru until she was nearly 3.

You aren't doing anything wrong. The reason "nothing is wrong" is because she may not be developmentally ready to sleep through the night. It is something that happens at a range of ages - I know some adults that don't sleep through the night. You can't make her sleep - leaving her to cry didn't work because she needs something from you, it may just be comfort.

You are not overfeeding her by feeding in the night at 8 months. My eldest had 3 full bottles a night until she was 12 months old when she started sleeping through all of a sudden. She ate and slept well in the day right up until that point and she was never overweight.

My DS slept through for a month at 3 months old and is now back to waking 4 times a night at 6 months. It isn't something that gradually 'improves', it is something that fluctuates depending on the stage they are at in growth and development. You may find when she starts walking she regresses again.

My eldest is now 2.5 and having slept through from 12 months has been waking in the night for the past 3 weeks. Who knows why!

Should have quoted Nothing is working - sleep deprived haha!

After her bottle at midnight she slept until 5:45am. Tried cuddles and water but she wasn't happy with it. Have her another bottle she drank 7 ounce.

She refused sleep after and wanted to get up.

The only reason I have been giving her smaller amounts of food is because of comments made by the health visitor and the hospital when she was referred for a suspected hernia (luckily no hernia present thank god).

They both asked me the question "has she always been a chubby baby". She is weighing more than she should apparently for her age

Don’t worry about the weight, if she’s hungry she needs to eat. Baby’s can’t rationalise it like us in terms of losing weight etc. I’m afraid 8 months is still early to expect them to sleep through and 5:45 is when my DS would get up at that age. On the plus side, you only had one night feed at midnight. So that’s some progress, we’ll done.

She needs to be having three meals a day. Our at least- she needs to be fed more solids during the day.
My DS was on three meals per day, snacks and porridge before bed before he would sleep through

My eight month old sleeps through the night, 6.45 to 6.30, and has been doing so for about a month now. It is possible, but depends on your baby, I suppose. I have her on a routine of feeds, naps and meals so she always knows what’s coming next. She has 25oz/750ml milk spread out over four feeds, so we know she gets enough milk. She naps two hours spread out over three naps. She has three good, proper meals a day, including protein at lunch and dinner, which I think makes a difference as she’s full. We stopped feeding her in the night at about 7 months and it was a pretty easy transition.

However, this may all be luck rather than circumstance, but we did sleep train her at 6 months. She was napping in her cot in her own room from 5 months, so she was used to her room when we put her in there at 6 months. We used controlled crying, which I know a lot of parents here don’t agree with, but it worked for our baby as she needed to be alone to sleep (she hates us being with her, soothing her to sleep, whereas on her own, she grumbles for a couple of minutes then falls asleep independently). She still cries when she needs us, rest assured!!

Something to think about, but in my experience, we put the work in and we have reaped the rewards. If things change, at least we know she’s capable of it and can adapt accordingly.

She doesn't need a diet at 6 months. If she's hungry, feed her! If you feed her more in the day, then chances are she'll be more settled at night as well.

Well this morning instead of giving her a bit of porridge I made it to the instructions on the tin. She has the Heinz tin 7 month plus porridge

She had 5 scoops mixed with 3 ounce of water. She ate it all apart for about 5 spoonfuls. She has had a morning nap too.

At lunch I will give her a full jar instead of half and see what she eats of it along with her milk and see how she goes.

Hopefully this will work!

I know she doesn't need a diet she isn't a fat baby. She is just right (see picture attached).

Health visitors can be very judge mental I have discovered.

She is gorgeous! My DD is 91st centile and I just feed her till she refuses anymore. At 8 months she was having 3 full meals (purée) plus yoghurts, fruit, snacks etc. So for instance lunch would be a whole jar / pouch, then a whole yoghurt (adult sized!) then a little bit of fruit.

It sounds like your DD might be hungry in the night and needs more calories in the day. No need to restrict what she eats, she will let you know when she is full! Also, I always made all porridge etc with formula for extra calories. Much better to get those calories in during the day rather than at night!

Oh bless her, what a lovely smile. DS is a big lad too - 91st centile! I used to occasion worry that he looked chubby, but once he got moving he just never stopped and all that baby chub turned into fuel. He's now an energetic 2 year old who never stops running. Also, I've noticed that he goes up then out, as opposed to doing both at once, so he can look stockier at times but I know it's just a sign he's about to go up again. Fortunately my HV was sensible and told me that I shouldn't worry and that he'd soon burn it all off when he started walking and running. HVs are such a lottery!

If your dd is hungry, feed her. She needs all that fuel for growing and learning.

She is gorgeous! You don't need to worry about her. Her sleep patterns, food intake and weight are totally normal

I think sometimes with first babies we get caught up in what babies " should" be doing - they aren't robots. There isn't a certain recipe you need to 'get right' in order for them to sleep. Some do, some don't. Some get there in their own time. It isn't you.

With my first, every time she slept well I would try and replicate the days food and naps exactly so it happened again - never worked!

Mine (x3) all went from waking 2-6 times a night to suddenly sleeping through at 7mths within 2 days of moving them into their own room. Is she in her own room? I think it was the peace and quiet, and me not reacting so quickly to every cry that did it.

Thank you she is my little bundle of joy.

She is in her own room she has been since she was about 4 months as she hated the Moses basket.

When we first put her in her cot she loved it and slept through for a good few weeks but it's changed now.

I have her a full pouch for lunch, she ate it all!
Then she had a peti filou yoghurt and ate all that too.

I left it half an hour then she had 4 ounce of milk and drank it all.

So far so good! Thank you for all your help and advice.

Sometimes it's something simple that you don't think of for some bizarre reason !

I sympathise I had two useless sleepers. At that age with my eldest however we stopped offering milk when he woke in the night, just water.
We had one very miserable long night but things were a lot better after that.

Although they stopped feeding before that eldest did not start sleeping through reliably until we did controlled crying when he was 2.
This completely failed with youngest and he still wakes at nearly3😩. However we just take the easy route out with him these days and plonk him in between us in bed.

What a gorgeous little girl, glad she’s enjoyed her food today

She's gorgeous - what a cheeky smile!

Lovely baby not too chubby.
My DS has 3 meals a day and sometimes a snack too plus milk. He is 8 months 95 centile and wakes up all night ... it’s normal I’m afraid.

Well after a successful day of food and some porridge before bed, we had the worst night ever!

She slept from 7pm till 2 then woke up thinking it was morning and would not go back to sleep

My baby is 11 months old and wakes about 8 times a night No help here!

Just goes to show - babies are unpredictable. Sorry about your lack of sleep, but it really is par for the course that some babies just don't sleep through. Lack of sleep is awful, trust me I know. Even if more food had helped last night, it doesn't mean it would continue to be the solution.

As my Dad says - the expert wrote the boo, you've read the book but the bay hasn't............

Sorry - can't spell / type today. meant to say the expect wrote the book and the baby hasn't read it

DD is 7 months. Has breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks in between. We co-sleep and she still gets up 3-6 times a night still. Some nights are better than others. Maybe more food during the day might help a little bit?

I have increased her food to as much as she will eat rather than limiting it and it's not worked.

She ate a full bowl of porridge for breakfast yesterday
Lunch a full jar and yoghurt
Dinner a full jar and yoghurt

In between she had her milk as well

I also gave her porridge before bed with milk

She still woke up hungry at 2 and drank 8 ounce of milk so I don't think hunger is an issue