NOTHING settling 8 mo old at night - all night...

[Mhairi100]

Our baby slept increasingly well from birth to 5 months. At 5 months we were getting 7-10 hours' straight which was fabulous. Since then the night wakings have increased and increased. Now, at 8 months, he's waking up crying AT LEAST every hour and not even breastfeeding is settling him. As soon as I attempt to put him in his cot or even in bed with us he cries his eyes out. The ratio now is approx. 45 mins sleep to 30 mins crying/feeding/settling, which is completely exhausting (he's always in our arms when crying being walked about - neither of us can bear to leave him crying). Before Christmas he was waking loads but a quick feed or hug would get him back in bed within 10-15 mins. We don't know what's changed. I don't think he's in pain - calpol does nothing for him. I'm about to implement a sleep plan from the 'no cry sleep solution' but as not even feeding is settling him I don't expect to see progress. Any ideas? He's been congested since 5 months and there's no sign of this getting better, though the doc says not to worry about it. We have a vaporiser, etc. No teeth yet though gums v hard. Any help would be so welcome, we are so so tired and I'm so sad for my boy. He's such a happy lad by day but really seems distraught at night . His naps are also down from a regular 1 hour plus nap in the morning to 20 mins or nothing most days, and when he doesn't nap he's reluctant to eat any solids. Thanks in advance for any suggestions, we are desperate!

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth is the book that I found most helpful for advice for both of my kids. Read the reviews on Amazon and buy it if you like the sound of it? It's very in depth as he is a sleep expert with over 30 years experience. Covers almost everything in that book.

Try the book and ring your health visitor and have a chat. They may have some tried and tested ideas for you. Maybe take him back to the doctors as well just in case, get him checked over?

It could be bad dreams or separation anxiety or something like that perhaps that began it and now he is so over tired it's spiraling out of control perhaps? I wouldn't like to say as every child is different and it could be anything but someone else might have an idea that could help? However I am almost 100% sure your health visitor will have some great advice for you. Mine always has.

Thanks for this . I'll look up the book and am seeing the Health Visitor on Mon so hopefully she'll have some suggestions too. He went to bed 10 mins ago - expecting him to be up within another 15!

have you tried teething powders? if he hasn't cut any through yet, then they will definitely be giving him some serious grief at the moment - with both DD and DS they had been grumbling for a good couple of months before the first one cut. ashton and parsons powders (boots, most other chemists, v.cheap) work well for DD as they did for DS. also rub some teething gel onto the gums (altho' I never manage this succesfully, it always slips off wherever I try to put it, but I read others on here say it works well). I would think it most likely to be his teeth, but as teaandcake says, every baby is different, so def see what your HV says.

Also, could he be picking up on your stress? (please forgive me if this isn't the case!) - he wakes upset, you're not sure what's wrong, so you try something else to soothe him when the first thing doesn't work perhaps? Can you say, just take him straight into bed with you, sush him quietly and just lie really still, holding him next to your boob, so it's there if he wants it? and keep doing it. rather than getting up and walking around after 5mins perhaps? If you're starting NCSS, then am guessing you'll be doing the sleepy words bit, so keep repeating whatever you choose.

RE: the congestion, have you tried raising the head of his cot? you can put a telephone directory or something under the cot at the top so the mattress is raised slightly (tip off our HV), and we found that worked both for DS and for DD. We drop some karvol around the top of the cot too, just the stuff you get in a tiny bottle.

I thought you might enjoy reading this thread if you haven't seen it:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/887064-ds3-is-getting-worse-not-better-nine-wake-ups-so

The other thing I've found with my 2 kids lately, is leaving the heating on over night on lowish, has helped them sleep better in this freezing weather. Worth a try?

he sounds tired the little fella. you sound exhausted too. both mine don't sleep well when they are overtired.

tricky one. I'd say most likely one or combo of following:

• overtired
• teeth on their way - altho less likely if he's happy during the day
• hungry - up the solids? frozen bananas great for sore gums as well as filling.

my DS1 used to wake around 8 months after having gone thru the night, until we introduced mashed avocado and banana as his last meal. nice and filling.

sometimes they need to have a grumble to get back to sleep when overtired and are best left for a short time to sort it out themselves. I found when I picked my DS1 up it just woke him more and exacerbated the tiredness. maybe worth a try, but I know its hard.

Thank you for the suggestions, you lovely people! DS is in his cot having a kip so I'd better be quick, who knows how long I've got...! We've got some teething powders, I'd forgotten all about them. Will dig them out and give that a go. Still no teeth but v red hot cheeks most days now, poor wee thing. The good news is that breastfeeding is settling him down again, and we're getting a bit more sleep - he's done a 3 hour block two nights running which is a big improvement for us. I think I'm less stressed now following NCSS book which is probably helping. Hard to increase solids as DS not very good at them yet, he's a slow weaner. Just saw health visitor and she thinks one of the reasons for this is that he's stuffing his face with milk all night! We discussed ways to reduce the night feeds but I'll be taking it slow as I don't want to make my precious monkey cry. Right, I'll see if there's time to look at that thread now, tea and cake! Thanks again all, I really appreciate it

Good luck -I know the feeling re: night feeds - am full of suggestions of what MIGHT work, but am still feeding DD 9mo 3 times at night myself

Thanks. 3 times is a lot better than 6+