Help! I have an 8 month old and I’m at my wits end with sleep. I have felt dizzy and light headed for the last few days, blood tests have shown nothing wrong so I think it’s just pure exhaustion, especially as I have felt all day today like I could just fall to sleep.
He has woken several times a night since he was 3.5 months old. A great night is three wakes. I’ve posted for help before but not had many replies so just trying again out of desperation.
Background
- He was EBF, now has a bottle of formula before bed
- Self settles at night time. Bath, bottle, stories, in cot awake and then takes himself to sleep
- Usually fed to sleep at nap times and fed during any night wakes after 11ish, partner rocks the cot to settle him for any wakes before that
- We use white noise and a black out blind and read the same story before bed
- He naps really well in the day, prefers his long nap of a morning rather than at lunchtime but can usually go at least 90 mins without needing resettling
- Sometimes has two naps a day, sometimes three depending on how early he woke / length of naps. Third nap is capped to 15 mins
- We have tried earlier and later bedtimes, it doesn’t seem to affect it
- We have tried porridge / banana etc for supper
The only thing I can think we can try is to stop feeding at night, but I’m not sure how to go about this? I’ve tried leaving him and he just cries and cries and cries until fed. He seems to have a proper feed around three times a night, the rest seem to be comfort feeds.
I’m also considering quitting breastfeeding to see if he would take more milk via a bottle in the day and then wake less.
I’m open to ANY advice I may not have considered. I really can’t carry on like this for much longer. My first DS didn’t sleep through until he was one, I can’t take four months or longer of feeling this way, it’s not fair for anyone.
Sorry for the essay.