my 8 mth old is starting to wake 2 - 3 times at night again

[rita2007]

my 8 mth old is starting to wake 2 - 3 times at night again.... he had gotten into a pattern where he would sleep by 8:30pm and wake for 1 feed at 12 and then sleep until 7 or 8am. Now he is waking up at 11:30pm, 2am, 5am and 6am..... can anyone tell me why? its not for milk....i don;t know what is at the bottom of this and am completely confused and exhausted every morning. help!!

Has he started to crawl? I've read somewhere that developmentmental advances can make them suddenly start waking at night again. Can't offer any advice I'm afraid. My 8mo DD has been waking several times a night for months!

My 2 DC started doing this around the same age. It was because they had recently learnt to pull themselves up but hadnt worked out how to get back down again!

Rita2007 - you have my sympathies. And I'm interested to see your replies.

We had good sleep for a few weeks at 7 months then frequent wakings for almost 2 weeks with 2 teeth appearing at 7.5 months.

Then it settled down again at 8 months and now at 8.5 months it's gone rubbish again.

DD is struggling to shake off a snotty cold at the moment and managed a pulled elbow this week as well :-( so I'm hoping it's just that but she has also started crawling.

I feel like we get 1 step forward, 1 step back. (Poetically her crawling has been exclusively in reverse so far.)

Try an earlier bedtime for a few days - crawling/colds etc makes them overtired which in turn causes night time wake ups.

A couple of nights of wakings then has a knock on effect, so you get into a vicious cycle. The more overtired they are, the earlier in the sleep cycle they wake and the more often. So if they wake within the first 3 hours of sleep, ime they are very overtired. It seems to get later and lesser as sleep is caught up, but it takes several days to catch up properly.

Took me a long time and lots of reading to suss this - but once it clicked - we always knew how to fix the night problems!

HTH and good luck

Sometimes it is low blod sugar that wakes them but they're too tired to drink milk. Presuming he's on solids Ok then try giving him a good stodgy late supper like a bowl of weetabix or plain porridge,or mashed banana. They need the slow release of the carbs at night & it can help keep them asleep.

Failing that repeat the mothers mantra

(usually while rocking or bashing head against wall)

"It is only a phase.....it is only a phase"

BLOOD sugar even

thanks to all, you guys. as always mumsnet has given me some great advice ) I will try the mushed banana along with his solids tomorrow night. hope it does the trick. thanks all ;o)