Help with sleeping through at 8 months

[Faithcasey]

My son is nearly 8 months but still doesn't sleep through the night. I have managed to get him down to one feed a night, but he will wake about 4-5 times for his dummy. I got him out of the other feeds by stroaking his face and talking to him, until he took his dummy and fell asleep. That could take anything from 20mins to an hour and a half!!
What i would like some advice on is, do I just cut out the 1am feed, or give him water, so he stops waking for it. Also when he does wake, do I let him cry or keep giving him his dummy?
Please help.

am afraid I don't have any advice about dummies, but when my DD was 8 months old she was waking once or twice a night and I was feeding her. When she was just over 9 months she started sleeping through without me doing anything, so it might happen in its own.

I know some people leave loads of dummies in the cot so their LO can get one themselves, though guess it might depend on how mobile your son is, i.e. can he get to the dummies.

Dana Obleman seems quite good re sleeping problems, we're on night 8 and we've got down from an 11pm bedtime to a 7.30-8pm bedtime and from 3 wakings a night to just 1. Well worth a read. Good luck. (P.s DD2 is 5 mths and BFing)

What's Dana Obleman's method? Is it a form of controlled crying??

Again no dummy advice here, but I got dramatic results from offering dd a bottle of watered down EBM straight from the fridge rather than a BF - after 2 nights of this she decided it wasn't worth waking up for and has slept through ever since. This strategy was considered quite harsh by a lot of people, but then they weren't the ones having to get up in the night! Also, it didn't involve leaving her to cry.

I suppose it is, I know a lot of people don't like cc, but DD2 is much happier during the day and gets much more sleep now. She did endure some time crying on night 1, but virtually none since.

I like the ebm idea rancesrivis, but unfortunately DD2 won't take a bottle as yet (another battle there, along with potty training DD1 !! life is all one long battle with something !)

At 8 mths old he is still a little young to be going the whole night through without 1 bottle, also at 8mths old he is crafty enough to realise what he has to do for some extra mummy attention so if he were my son I would get your DP to give him his bottle at night and limit the time you spend soothing him.

He should be able to fall back asleep by himself at this age now but it sounds like he's cottoned onto how to get your attention during the nighttime. I really don't like it much but CC is the answer. I'm currently 'sleep training' my 5mth old and it seems to be working.

I really don't want him to get into the habit of night waking and thinking it's playtime so I ignore him if he wakes during the night after a feed. Good luck.

Also, make sure he is getting enough good quality, regular naps in his cot during the day. At this age they need 2-3 naps a day totalling approx 4-5 hrs. Naps should be in his cot, not on the move and should be planned for as you would his meal times. It really does help as a fatigued child does not sleep well at all.

Thanks for alll the advice. I'm going to start with cutting out the 1am feed, and tackle the dummy once we're over that.

He's not a great sleeper during the day. he gets about an hour in the morning, and maybe 30 mins in the afternoon.

Also I have only found this website yesterday, could someone give me a breakdown of the the abreveations. (blush)

thanks

I think you'll have a lot better luck getting rid of the dummy and keeping the night feed until your DS drops it himself. It's NORMAL and HEALTHY for 8 month olds to need milk in the night and not sleep through.

DS = dear son
DD = dear daughter
DH = dear husband
CC = controlled crying
LO = little one

I forgot to add I'm currently reading 'Heathy Sleep Habits, Happy Child' by Marc Weissbluth its a really good book, he gives the pschology of sleep and a step by step guide on how to improve the quality and duration of your child's sleep. Somebody recommended it on here and you can get it off Amazon for under £5 p+p inc.

Hiya All
Thank you all for your advise. You'll be pleased to know I've had 3 nights of DS going through. He's still woke for his dummy, but only a couple of times. So fingers crossed we're on the right road.

Lots of love
XX

my son is 14 months and he still doesn't sleep through the night.

there is a massive expectation that babies usually sleep through at 6 months, it's just not true.

Hhhmmmm - my DD is 8mths and wakens anything up to 20 times a night. I would do anything to get her to only waken 2 or 3 times...
I'm actually starting to think that the problem is the dummy.
I'm currently reading No Cry Sleep Solution so hopefully some ideas in that will work.
I don't think the 1 feed a night can be the problem.

Sorry - just to clarify - by the '1 feed a night' I mean Faithcasey's 1 feed a night - not mine. (I bloomin wish - it's more like 6 here lol)

Hiya
I think one of the reasons he's slepping better, is the amount of food he's getting at dinner time. I used to give him A Tomme Tippee pot of food, then the equivelent of half a banana. Now at 6pm I give him a pot and a half, and twice as much for desert. Then bath a bit of a play, and at half 7 a rusk, then BF, then he falls asleep. He still wakes a couple of times, but that's just for his dummy.
Sasamaxx
Could you try pushing DD to go at least 3 hours without food. That's what I had to do. When he woke, I just soothed him gave him his dummy, but wouldn't feed hin unless he'd gone 3 hours, then 4, then to just once a night. But all babies are diffrent, and I think it's up to you on how you tackle each problem. Good luck.
XX