8 month sleep regression

[SJT89]

As the subject states, what the actual f**k?!

Our 8 month old slept through the night from about 5.5 months until a week and a half ago, obviously there have been several times in between when he’s woken for a bottle as hadn’t eaten much through the day or due to teething/colds etc but now he is struggling to sleep in the day unless on one of us, hates bed time and starts waking up from 9pm onwards roughly every 30-60 minutes but at the same time not actually waking up but doing this horrendous low pitched grizzle which he has done since new born when he’s sleepy/drowsing. My partner gets him up and takes him downstairs at some point in the night as he wants me to get some sleep, always resulting in him having a bottle (I’ve stated I don’t think he’s hungry I think he’s just up because he can be, he’s excitable because of his new abilities, his teeth are hurting him and as soon as he sees his daddy he thinks right he’s going to get me up then).
Last night he was in bed before me so all night I kept putting the dummy back in, soothing with his comforter and getting him to go back to sleep, not once did he open his eyes fully until the one time my partner got up to sooth ‘his eyes are wide open!’ ‘I’ve been wide awake since you said at 3 you’d get up with him!’ (Didn’t have to as he went straight back to sleep) also if he had been awake since 3 why didn’t he f**king try soothing between 3-5?!

Right so I’ve gone off on a rant due to exhaustion, DP isn’t the problem.

Is this type of sleep regression normal?! I don’t remember it being this bad with our other two (11&13). What is this grizzle all about?? I can handle the grizzle most of the time, find it kind of soothing through the night now and I fall asleep with his grizzle but at actual bedtime it grates at me, not in an angry kinda grate but in a please stop kind of way. It’s like a low pitched ‘grr grr grr grr’, is that normal?! Like is there something wrong wrong or am I right with teething hypotheses? Shall I bring it up with the health visitor or will I look like an OTT mum?!

I honestly don’t know how I’m going to survive when I go back to work next month if this is our lives now (dramatic but sleep deprivation does that).

Also there’s no point to wake DP up for alternative soothing times as I’m awake then and takes 30 secs - 3 mins to sooth. There’s no point waking him when I know he’ll just take him downstairs which I feel will encourage this regression and we just need to sooth sooth sooth until he finally grows out of it when he’s 18??

Sorry for the long one, I’m on a bit of a sleepy ramble.

Sorry sounds tough. If he's not actually crying, can't you leave him? Is he in your room?

@naomiembrace I’ve tried just leaving him but then it goes into massive cries with tears. He’s in with us, we have a three bed with a 13 yo daughter and a 11 year old son. We will be partitioning the biggest room eventually as it wouldn’t be right having the two older different gendered sharing or either of them sharing with a baby who’ll have a completely different bed routine especially wouldn’t be fair on either of the older two having to be quiet quiet if he was to share with them. He’s a light sleeper, even clearing our throats or a sniffle makes him flinch

What's his routine like during the day? Do you think his dummy is the issue? Can he put it back in himself? When we got rid of the dummy for my kids, really improved their sleep

Also, have you tried giving Calpol before bed to rule out teething pain?

We went through this phase and nothing helped except time, unfortunately. Our DD suddenly started sleeping through again, and we couldn't tell rhyme nor reason why! It lasted about 3 weeks, and I was on my knees by the end. Here's hoping you find an answer on this thread that means you resolve it sooner than we did... good luck and solidarity!

His day routine was really good until these nights started but he’s still only having 2 naps a day most of the time with the odd day where he had a small third nap and I ensure all naps have decent awake windows and he goes to bed with a full stomach.

We were doing Calpol before bed which helped during Christmas time as that’s when his first tooth broke through then he was okay for a week or so then we assumed it was teething pain so started Calpol at nights again which hasn’t helped this time. If he’s bad again tonight I’ll try Calpol in the night.

I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s been through this haha, it seems like it’s timed perfectly for my maternity leave to end though. All the online forums I’ve read says it lasts roughly between 2-6 weeks this regression stage so fingers crossed it’s the lower end of the scale.

DC is also 8 months as of this week but has been going through regression for the last week+. I.e. shorter naps, and waking up earlier than usual.

Typically DC sleeps from 7pm to 5/6am. Recently it has been 4am. Which isn't that terrible but not ideal or typical. I'm also returning to work next month.

During 4 month regression we got rid of sleeping props, including dummy and at 5 months started some sleep training exercises which have probably limited impact of the current regression.

Not a great deal of advice as we are still dealing with it, but it's all temporary.