Why won't he sleep ?

[Piper1879]

Hi ,
I am absolutely desperate for some advice / help on my 8 month old sons sleep. He's sleeping less now than when he was a newborn and to be honest it's killing me . I'm a single mum with no friends or family nearby and I'm doing everything by myself and I'm struggling to cope on broken sleep.
He sleeps well during the day and will nap very well , I use the huckleberry app ,he normally naps in his pram but will nap in his cot , although if he naps in his cot , he tends to sleep less. He has two naps a day , the morning one tends to be 1.5 hrs and it's normally between 9-10:30 depending on his morning wake up and his afternoon one is between 2-3 and last about half hour to forty minutes.
He is very easy to go down , with it be bedtime or nap time. We have a routine of bath (every other day) book and feed , he then goes into the cot when he's asleep. On a good night I might get three hours before he wakes, last night he woke every 45 minutes.
He's slept five to six hour stretches until we started to wean and since then he's been awful , he's also had issues with his skin and has been on steroid cream which I also wonder could be a factor. His doctor and HV keep telling me it's his teeth. I'm not so sure and they won't entertain anything else but I am at my wits end and daily am questing whether or not I can do this for much longer... any help would be appreciated

Sounds really tough! Have you tried teething gel and calpol at bedtime? Do you think the issues around weaning are that he has a sore tummy or isn't eating enough so hungry? If the former maybe keep a food diary to see if any patterns emerge and give him his main meal at lunch so he's not going to bed with tummy ache. If the latter, give him a filling supper before the bedtime routine such as milky porridge. Personally I swear by white noise with both of mine - play it loud and continuously all night as, especially my oldest when he was a baby, the slightest noise could wake them! Sometimes switching up naps can help but sounds like naps are fine so not sure you want to mess with that. Is he crawling/walking? Lots of activity to exhaust him could also help although if he isn't mobile yet that may not apply.

I don't think he's napping enough. What time does he get up? Could the morning nap be more of an extension of the nighttime sleep?
Afternoon nap not long enough. I'd say he needs at least 2 hours if he's down to 2 naps now. What time does he go down for the night?
I second the teething powder / ibuprofen in case he's teething.
Is he bf?
Have you tried a dream feed?
Can't help with the skin I'm afraid.

Is he out in daylight through the day? (just been listening to Dr Michael Mosely talking about melatonin and early morning sunlight stops the body's production of it, you should be sleepier at night then).

@Quincie , Yes we go out most days for an hour or so walk, even if it's raining I try and go around the block

@devildeepbluesea He normally goes down around 7:30-8. He's very good with medicines , he almost enjoys them 😂 i give him teething granules and calpol but I'm finding it does nothing. Also tried a dream feed but he still doesn't settle , he's formula fed.
Will try and extend the afternoon nap and see if that helps

@Hufflepuffsunite I feel it could be a sore tummy , he eats quite well , 3 meals plus snacks and water. He's been refusing a few bottles for awhile now , so we are down to 3 a day. I did toy with the idea that he could be CMPA but i'm not sure i'm just reaching.
He has a myhummy in his cot that's on all night , I might turn it up and see if that helps him.
He's not crawling or walking yet , a lot of standing though.

Yes, give it a try. I always tried to ensure at least a few hours awake time at a time. So she woke at 6ish, went down at 10ish. Then big afternoon sleep between 1-3, then bedtime started at 6.30. Any more than 4 hours awake time seemed too much for DD though, so maybe the bedtime is a bit too late too?

Does he feed to sleep? And how does he settle for his nap? At that age both my DCs issue was that they couldn’t settle themselves when they went though a sleep cycle. There is also a regression at 8 months which hit very hard with my DD so if it’s a new thing it could be that.

For the skin have you looked at washing powder ? Try something like Surcare and stop using softener.
If he’s waking because he’s hungry would you consider supper ? Maybe some baby rice or similar.

The skin issues would make me suspect he has a food intolerance. My DS3 was intolerant to dairy and he was a terrible sleeper. The effects of food intolerances, rather than allergies, can be very subtle. After my DS3 was diagnosed we also found out that my DS2, then aged 10, was dairy intolerant and he had been an even worse sleeper as a baby - he didn't reliably sleep through the night until he was 6!

feed , he then goes into the cot when he's asleep

This is likely the problem.

Feed him at the start of your routine (ie feed downstairs on the sofa, upstairs for bath and In to might clothes, story and into cot awake).

For hood sleep hygiene it is vital he goes to sleep in his cot.