Not sleeping through night

Dana - posted on 01/05/2010

you think that's bad, i have twin girls that are 8 months old and do the exact same things. I'll never know sleep again.

Kiley - posted on 01/03/2010

Well, I'm with all you late night moms. My 9 month old has really never slept through the night (except the very rare few nights he has) and I've tried everything. I've tried the crying it out (lasted for over an hour with no hope of calming down until I went in there), he's been getting rice in his bottle since 2 months, he's eating 3 times a day until he refuses to eat more, I've gone in to reassure and left, changed diapers, tried a pacifier (which he does not take), co-slept (this is the best one, I know a lot of people don't agree with this but I've co-slept since he was born and never had a problem)...I've tried all kinds of things and he still doesn't sleep. Some babies just don't sleep through the night. My cousin's youngest didn't sleep through the night until he was 2!! He does get 2 naps throughout the day but not long ones and if he doesn't get them, he's worse at night!! Go figure!! I'm with all you moms out there and hopefully they will all sleep through the night...and I feel for all of you that have to get up in the morning- I am a full time worker and a full time student so I definitely understand the need for sleep. Hang in there everyone, it will happen someday...(or at least one day you they'll be old enough that you won't need to get up with them-whatever is the most positive outlook).

Kristin - posted on 01/03/2010

My daughter is 8 1/2 mths and she still is up once or twice a night. Generally between 1:30am and 3:30am for the 1st.. no consistency there and then again around 6:45am but if I nurse her she will go back to sleep until around 8am. I put her down at night between 7:30 and 8:30pm. She kinda makes the call on that. I have friends that tell me it is me and that if I let her cry it out she will get through it but I am not happy about letting her cry it out. I am also working and I think I actually enjoy those quiet 10 or 15 minutes nursing her. The rest of the time with her (during the day when I am home) is crazy since she is in that discovery phase. I really enjoy that time together (although I do miss straight sleep). My mother tells me not to worry and that they are only babies once so enjoy every minute. For those of you that have a baby getting up once or twice I say enjoy it (if you can) for those that are up every hour or so (ugh!).. God bless you!!!

Teresa - posted on 01/03/2010

I am in the same boat as many of you. Levi(81/2 months) was sleeping great until we had to go to GA for a funeral. Since then< I never sleep. Last night was 11:45, 2:30 and 5:30 for the day. I have to nurse him each time or he won't go back to sleep. My husband can't help, he gets up at 3:30 to go to work. Any suggestions? My older son has been waking up some as well, hearing his brother. I don't know how much longer I can go on with no sleep. HELP and PRAYERS needed desparetely. thanks

Charlotte - posted on 01/03/2010

With my 8mth old daughter she is still waking up in the night too, however, sometimes its three times a night but others it could be once of even not at all. Is he teething? thats a huge factor for them not sleeping, also he may have wind or is feeling uncomfortable in his nappy. Usually when my daughter wakes up ill go in to her room put the dummy in and go and make a bottle, she hears the kettle and waits till i bring it to her, while shes drinking ill check her bum to make sure it doesnt need changing. If she gets up again, i only usually put the dummy back in. If she starts crying and hasnt finished the bottle i gave to her ill heat it up and give that to her. Hope that this helps you. Good luck and hopefully youll get some more sleep, i know that i could use it too :)

Samantha - posted on 01/03/2010

Thank you to everyone for your advise l will try and see what happens xxxx

Kelli - posted on 01/02/2010

I was having an issue with my son not sleeping through the night a few weeks ago... which was weird, b/c I'm one of the lucky ones whose baby slept through the night from about 6 wks. Anyway, I was wondering why suddenly he would wake up and scream bloody freakin murder, like he was scared or something. One night I put him down and forgot to close the bedroom door when I went out to watch tv with DH, he didn't wake up. Ah... afraid of the dark maybe? So I've left the door open every night since and we haven't had any more issues. Have you tried a night light, or leaving the door cracked when you put him down? Maybe he's getting anxious when he wakes up at night and can't see/hear you. Just a thought. :) Good luck!

Michelle - posted on 01/02/2010

Is he getting teeth by any chance? Mine slept through the night early on, but more recently, my nights have been like yours. He's up every hour on the hour. Sips a little & goes back to sleep to be up again in what seems like no time at all. He's been teething & I'm hoping once his teeth push through all the way he'll go back to sleeping longer again.

Page - posted on 01/01/2010

I recently found that my daughter was doing the same and using the book "Good Night Sleep Tight" really helped. Granted my daughter stills falls asleep while being walk/rocked but the schedule in the book really helped get her on track. She sleeps from about 7:30 till 6 in the morning. I have tried putting her to bed later but it just means earlier/ more often wake ups. Happy New Year.

Julie - posted on 01/01/2010

How big is he? At 6 months, my DD weighed 17 lbs, so I started going in at 10 or 11:00 and nursing her for a bit to "top her off" and then I didn't go in when she awoke at 3:00 or 4:00. This cut down one feeding. Then at 8 mos, she had an ear infection so I took her in and she weighed 19.4 pounds and I noticed she wasn't nursing much at all at that "dreamfeed" session, so I cut that feeding out as well. Now, I put her to bed at 7:00 and she's up between 6:30 and 7:00am. Yes, there was some crying when I dropped the 1:00am feeding and then 2 mos later there was about 2 minutes of crying when I dropped the 4:00am feeding and now she's totally fine. She just needed to learn how to put herself back to sleep after awakebing. And for months, I had been going in and "rescuing" her by nursing her back to sleep. My pediatrician handed me a copy of a page from a book that said to try to drop the overnight feedings around 4 mos. old, before they become habit.

I'm getting great sleep and now try to exercise in the basement while baby naps, so am feeling better about myself too. You are not destined to not get good sleep. You have choices. Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

Amy - posted on 01/01/2010

Mine is almost 9 months - still has not slept throught he nite. we EBF, so i have no idea what amount he has. He wakes up every three hours at nite and only takes one nap during the day. I've tried everything. nothing here works either. i'm wondering if his room isn't warm enough. i'm trying this. was just told by another mum that hers wouldn't sleep unless it was cozy enough to not need any blankies, wraps, etc. ???? i'll try anything. i sure miss even 6 hours straight! i've even had a glass of wine, added extra calcium to my diet. he refuses a paci. at first i stressed, but now i'm like, eh, it's cuddle time, i can get sleep when they're in school! lol .i just deal. but if anyone else knows another way to get them to sleep all nite, i'll keep listening to advice!

Holly - posted on 01/01/2010

Mine is awful too! Shes never slept all night. In the beginning, I would get her out of the bassinet, nurse her, put her back down. Now, I have a 3 yo going thru nightmares, a divorce thats been really nasty, etc so she ends up sleeping in my bed, waking up 2 times a night to nurse. I was so sleep deprived I didn't know what else to do.Now she wont sleep in her crib, only on my bed (even if im not in it). And she screams bloody murder if you try to rub her back and get her quieted down. Then that wakes up her brother and I have 2 kids crying!!!

Tijen - posted on 01/01/2010

I'm also having the same problem.My son will be nine months next week. He'll sleep through to about 12-1am is I'm lucky and then he's up every 2, if not every hour. He got his first set of teeth when he was 5 months, so I know that the rest are more likely to be coming also.

I too have to give him a night feed. usually at about 1 if he doesn;t settle, I find thathe will have a full feed and then go back to sleep for 2, sometimes even 3 hours.

I've tried the bedtime routine, being boring,no lights or talking when he wakes up. But still nothing yet.

I am hoping it will change when he gets to nine months. I am in need of some desperate sleep too!

Indra - posted on 01/01/2010

i m going through the same thing! Pls help. I really need some sleep

Andrea - posted on 12/31/2009

well this a tough one becuse every baby is different. but remember babies usually hit a growth spurt again around 9months, also consider teething . Something i usually start with recommending is when you go into his room at night try not to be stimulating. keep lights off, noise down, try not to talk or interact much with the baby.

Jessica - posted on 12/31/2009

My son is 8 months old and has never slept more than 4 hours at a time and that was only when he was a few weeks old. So, I have been dealing with a terrible sleeper since Day 1, so I totally understand how you feel. I have tried so many different things to help him sleep better and nothing seems to work. I'm sorry I have no advice for you, just know that you aren't alone...even though I know that doesn't make you feel any better. Because it doesn't make me feel better either. :-)

Joy - posted on 12/31/2009

My 8 mos. old sleeps about 6 to 7 hours straight. I think he wakes up hungry cause when i feed him he goes right back to bed and sometimes doesn't even finish his whole bottle. I would never let my baby cry for more than a few minutes. He refuses to eat babyfood so I've been giving him soft table foods but he only wants to feed himself so it's hard to see what he is actually getting because half of it ends up on the floor. Sometimes I put cereal in his bottle and he seems to stay full a little longer.

Alison - posted on 12/31/2009

Sure is reassuring that I am not the only one with an 8 month old who doesn't sleep through the night. I am up with mine twice every night and am going to try some of the suggestions to attempt to get some more zzz.

Jan - posted on 12/31/2009

My son is 8 months old and for the last month or so he has been waking in the night. He wakes up an hour after going to sleep and eventually will sleep. He then will maybe go for 4 hours and then wake up again needing a feed (We tried not giving him a feed and he just kept crying which got louder and tried to give him water but he knocked the cup out of my hand) and he eventually goes asleep again and then will maybe wake up again in 2/3 hours time.



He is a bit hit and miss with his naps really. Sometimes he will have 3 naps or sometimes he has 4. They are usually not very long. The longest is half an hour.



I think he must be teething because as soon as he hit 3 months he was sleeping through.

Jenny - posted on 12/29/2009

oh, I also wanted to say, my dr. just told me that my son is probably teething (he doesn't have any teeth yet) and that may be why he's waking up so much. She told me to give him infant motrin (tylenol doesn't seem to help much) and we got a four hour stretch, and two hour stretch and two three hour stretches of sleep last night! So maybe your baby is teething?

Melissa - posted on 12/29/2009

I have five kidos and my youngest is 8 months old and he just started sleeping throught the night not that long ago. I was nursing him and got up with him quite a bit. My doctors kept telling me that he doesn't need to be feed all those times in the night. Honestly they r crazy, every kid is different. adjust your routine during the day, dont let them take as long of naps, start your day earlier. Change his butt when you go in instead of feeding him, use a pacifer. All these things could help but really it is up to the little guy. Enjoy it the most you can tierd and all these days dont last much longer, then you miss them later.

Samantha - posted on 12/29/2009

would just like to say thank you to all of u for ur advice, hope we all manage to get some sleep in 2010 whole nights sleep would be amazing. Hope u all had a lovely christmas and wishing u all a fantastic new year xxxxx

Jenny - posted on 12/26/2009

My son is awake every hour or two every night....he's never been agood sleeper, but I'm not sure what to try either. some things you may try (we have and they didn't help, but every baby is different, so maybe it will for yours.) 1. Have you ever heard of babywise? There is a book called "on becoming babywise". It has worked for several of my friends. 2. I don't agree with the crying it out anymore. It worked with our older son, but he is very easygoing and he fell asleep within five minutes and never screamed, just fussed. My eight month old will scream for as long as you leave him there and has more and more trouble settling down the longer you leave him...so we don't do that anymore. We use a pacifier and that works a lot to get him back to sleep, we also use a blankie for him to snuggle with in his crib. I feed him anywhere from two to four times per night (sometimes more...just depends on how much he's screaming). You may also look at how much he is eating in the daytime. We are trying to add solids (and that's a whole 'nuther horror story with this child) to try to get him intaking enough calories during the day that he doesn't need so much at night. HOpe some of that helps

Martha - posted on 12/23/2009

So Sorry for you!!! My daughter has been waking up a couple times a night for the last week. I think that she is hungry, so I feed her and she goes back to sleep.

When she was younger she would wake up and cry, but really just wanted comfort. I would rub her head and put her NUK in and that would calm her down enough to go to sleep. The less contact you have the better for getting them to settle back with out a lot of stimulation. Make sure that he is warm enough! My little girl wakes up a lot if she is cold. pants, onzie, footie sleeper and 3 blankets is what she sleeps with. I have to do the blankets, otherwise she is awake a lot!

Best of luck to you!

Debbie - posted on 12/23/2009

my son is 8 and half months old, and he still doesnt sleep through. he usually wakes up once or twice before about 4am then i have to feed him, otherwise he wouldnt go back to sleep either. as soon as i feed him, he sleeps through till around 7.30ish. in the day he too is a very happy baby, always smiling! saying that on the very odd occasion he will sleep through till about 6 ?? dont ask why!! but that happens only very occasionally! my health visitor has told me to just go and reassure him and then go away and leave him, but he just starts crying. she said you have to be tough, and not pick them up. even if you have to go in 100 times, they will eventually learn to go back to sleep. i tried that a few times, but he just screams. i cant put him throug that in the middle of the night, it seems cruel. i dont know why he wakes up,! i start back to work part time in 5 weeks time, and im praying he starts sleeping through, but i dont hold out much hope. i havent had a full nights sleep now for about a year! oh anything to sleep a whole 8 hours!!!