Starting to wake up several times at night!

Melissa - posted on 04/26/2010

Yes. We used to give our 8 month old cereal with his lunch veggie, but now we give it with his veggie and fruit dinner. Then right before bed a little formula bottle and a little milicon drops to keep him from getting gassy from the cereal and he has slept much better.

Marilyn - posted on 04/25/2010

My son is 8 months also, and while he has slept through the night maybe only a handful of times, he has gone through several stages where he will wake up more to nurse during the night, even if he only nurses for 10 seconds and then falls asleep. The only thing I have noticed is that if he does not get enough baby food or if he naps after 8 or 9 he is up more during the night. Other than that I too am in need of advice (as well as a good nights rest!).

Alicia - posted on 04/24/2010

this is weird to see this because i guess my daughter was about 2 1/2 months when she started sleeping atleast 10 hours at night sometimes 12 until she was about 5 or 6 months i guess she started waking up atleast 4 times a night because she was hungry. let me tell you mommy and daddy had been super cranky. :) anyways i realized the milk wasnt enough to cut it anymore so we started feeding her solids. some pastas and toast, and fresh fruits stuff she doesnt seem to have a problem with only have barely 2 teeth. and since we have been feeding her i am happy to say for the last 2 weeks she has not woken up once!! were back to a 12 hour sleeper. it will all get better.

Jessica - posted on 04/23/2010

I asked almost this exact same question only about a month ago! I got some good replies and spent a lot of time trying different things. Mostly i wanted to make sure it wasnt hunger to i increased her meal portions at lunch time, i breastfed her 6 times a day and woke her myself at 11pm to feed. After that my health visitor said by now she should be going a good 8hrs during the night and recommended controlled crying technique. I really really didnt wanna do it so my partner rocked her back to sleep and I just fed her once at 3-4am, this helped but she still woke at 3am every night, which was much better than every 1hr or so. After probably 3 wks doing this she literally was just sucking for a couple of minutes to get back off to sleep so i thought ok, i'm gonna try controlled crying. I just felt it was right at this time she was just over 8 months. I was amazed how well she responded, she cried but not histerically for 2 hrs the 1st night then 20 mins the 2nd night.. and now she sleeps through 11-6!!!! i cannot believe it! She woke last night at 4am and i just poked my head in her door and gave her a shush noise couple of times and closed the door, she went straight back off. She is a much happier baby and i am a MUCH happier mum!! i read about the technique and followed it exactly and thought no matter how hard it gets i willnot pick her up. it is hard but i think worth it. Good luck x x x (ps she still has 6 feeds a day and 2 x full meals, lunch and dinner) let me know, my baby slept from 6wks too, we were very lucky back then eh? x

Kalimah - posted on 04/23/2010

yes he is teething but he was doing this even when he was not teething

Jami - posted on 04/23/2010

I say she is teething. My daughters both wake up in the middle of the night when they teeth. Other than that they sleep pretty well also.

Kalimah - posted on 04/23/2010

My son is 8 months also and has never slept throught the night. When he wakes up at night I just give him some milk or water or put his pacifier back in his mouth and he is back to sleep.

Anna - posted on 04/19/2010

My daughter has done this aswel but for her it was teething pain. She would wake up 3 times a night and want the bottle and when i give it to her she would just chew on the teet. She now has a dummy but i find myself waking up 5-8 times during the night to give her the dummy as it falls out and she wont find it herself.

Karalee - posted on 04/16/2010

I've got a daughter who is a bit older then 8 months and she is the same with her sleep and I've been told it is most likely due to separation anxiety.

Sarah - posted on 04/16/2010

yes that is the exact same with me although my daughter has slept through the night since 3 weeks old and does that. but i pick her up n put her in my bed and she goes to sleep then i move her back. i think i started a bad habbit. but i guess this is normal and they will go back to sleeping through the night.

April - posted on 04/15/2010

My daughter is doing it too. Our doctor told us that it could be from a combination of teething and being too busy. She just starting pulling herself up onto the edge of the sofa and letting go so sleep just isn't an option for her right now. He said that its just a stage that all babies go through and will eventually grow out of it.

Clare - posted on 04/15/2010

Absolutley! I'm at my wits end, my little Harry has never been a good sleeper and has always had one or two feeds between midnight and 6am but now its awful, he' was up more than five times last night and I had to feed him three just to settle him in. In the last month i've been up at least three times every night. I've decided to talk to my health nurse about sleep school, but i've heard it's very hard to get a place. Harry is 8 1/2 months old. It's also hard when you know they aren't hungry and the funny thing is (funny in the morning anyway) is when i have to do a nappy change in the middle of the night after he has woken crying, he thinks it's the funniest thing in the world and giggles at me, so I think it's waking from habit, but who can be sure. All the best with your little one Erica.

Stephanie - posted on 04/14/2010

My son has tried to do this to us as well, and my doctor said if you know he ate enough at bedtime just let him cry it out-most of the time my son's eyes arent even open when he's crying, I don't know if he's having a nightmare or what. THen others he's crawling around the crib screaming bc he wants the attention. After a couple of rough nights of him crying for awhile he figured out night time means sleep and he's been doing significantly better sleeping through the night again. They're old enough now to know what our reactions are to their actions so watch out, could be the start of some bad habits. Hope it helped!

Sarah - posted on 04/14/2010

Sounds like Habit to me. I sent you a private message with my experience. Hope it helps.

Gemma - posted on 04/14/2010

My daughter did this for a while but it soon stopped when all I did was walk in, lay her back down, give her a dummy and put on some soothing music. I just keep repeating this every 2 mins until she goes back to sleep. It seems to work really well. I think she used to do it for a cuddle. It's not much fun to do but it only ever took a max of 20 mins.

Sara - posted on 04/14/2010

I don't have any suggestions. However, I am curious to see if you got any responses. My son is 8 months old and we are having the same problem. He has 5 teeth now so I was assuming that was the problem.

Jeannette - posted on 04/14/2010

EXACTLY what's happening here. My daughter is almost 8 months old and just the past week or so she's been waking 2-3 times at night SCREAMING. I assumed it was b/c she's just learned to sit up on her own and is trying to do so much more. I heard that when they're rapidly learning new things they don't sleep as well. I'm not sure, though...

Julia - posted on 04/14/2010

Either a growth spurt, or she might be waking up b/c she is learning a new skill like rolling over, crawling, sitting up, etc. My daughter goes through short periods where she wakes up constantly, usually when she is learning something new. Then she goes back to sleeping through the night. I hope this helps!

Susan - posted on 04/14/2010

I would look into allergies, or possibly it is that your child is able to understand that she wants your company and cries for it. Does your little one breathe through her mouth at night? According to Dr. Weisbluth, 10% of babies are mouth breathers and it causes them to wake up frequently at night. If that is not the case, then it is probably something you either need to deal with and be tired, or let the baby cry at night when she wakes. Either way, you should probably go see your doctor to rule out anything else.

Yolandi - posted on 04/14/2010

she could be teething?

Kriti - posted on 04/14/2010

hi i am facing the same issue with my daughter who is 8.5 mnoths , i think its the heat its a constant battle at night to keep her covered.

Erika - posted on 04/13/2010

Yes, my daughter will be 8 months on the 17th of April, and she too has been waking up more often. She has started eating a llittle baby food now, but she doesn't like the cereal in the bottle, and Im still breastfeeding, and she has two teeth coming in at the bottom. I dont really know what else to to besides try to feed her more baby food...is that the right thing to do?

Michelle Carpenter - posted on 04/13/2010

My son is up a lot too! He has gotten 6 teeth in 3 weeks and then starting upping his nursing to every 45 min all day and night, so I think they must hit a growth spurt about now! I also noticed he is longer and leaner again which is amazing how that changes literally overnight! I unfortunately have no advice...we are just waiting it out. I'm not a good CIO person...hurts my heart to listen to the crying. My daughter was 2 when she started to sleep through the night. Now she is a fantastic sleeper and often puts herself down for nap or bed...we never made sleep a scary place for her and it payed off. I hope your baby starts to sleep for you!

Lauren - posted on 04/13/2010

My son is just over 8 months and he has been pretty good with his sleep up to now - but he has been waking up lately - not really for food - just to sit in his swing and then he goes back to sleep - so I can't help you really - but maybe it is a common thing!!

Marian - posted on 04/12/2010

Some babies develop a night-waking habit at this age. I've been reading Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Twins by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. He also makes a book for singletons. I recommend it.

Sarah - posted on 04/12/2010

My daughter is doing the same thing, she's nearly 8 months old, and has never really slept through the night, she'll get up at least twice, but lately she'll get up about 2-4 times at least...I use to go right to her and either sooth her back to sleep or nurse her for a bit and get her to sleep that way, but lately I've noticed that her cries are a "come get me even though nothing is wrong" kind of a cry, so I try to wait for a while before getting her to see if she'll go back to sleep...I'm pretty sure she's teething and possibly in a growth spurt...hopefully she'll be done soon and be able to sleep better than ever!

Megan - posted on 04/12/2010

hey erica! my son is almost 8 months now.. and has recently started doing the same thing.. a good friend of mine said to give him cereal before bed.. and to feed him until he didnt want anymore.. then top him up wth a bottle.. this has been a life-saver as he was sleeping through the night.. just means your lil one is growing.. good luck and i hope this helps!

Maryjean - posted on 04/12/2010

My daughter wakes up crying every couple hours, she was always a 11 hrs a night sleeper. At first I thought it was because of teething, but the teeth are out and she's still doing it. She doesn't do it to eat, as soon as I pick her up she falls back to sleep. I tryed just leaving her to fall back to see. She 'll fall back to sleep a couple times and then wake up screaming until I go pick her up.Does anyone have any suggestion what to do?

Lucy - posted on 04/12/2010

My daughter is also waking up 3 times at night for a bottle, I've been thinking about this all day trying to come up with some new ideas and I have. Sophia is 7 1/2 months and I think for her everything is habit/routine and she knows if she cries, mommy will give her a bottle. I'm trying something different today, after reading some conversations on COM i don't think i feed her enough during the day. I'm going to up her eating and bottle oz's during the day and right before bed, give her some cereal then a bottle. She needs to know that day time is for eating and night time is for sleeping. It's all my fault, I think I have spoiled her since she's my only baby. I may be wrong in all this, BUT I need to change with her since she is also changing everyday and what I did last month may not work for the next month. Wish us luck. I hope this helps you.

Becky - posted on 04/12/2010

I'm experiencing the sam with my second child. He wakes up at 2am and 5am for a feed, he's instantly screaming and takes the whole bottle!!! After reading all these posts I'm hoping it's a growth spurt - I didn't have anything like this with my first son!!

Amy - posted on 04/12/2010

My daughter was doing that too! She just started sleeping better, after 3 months, she still wakes up 1-2 times a night but its better than 5! I think its a growth spurt. Hopefully she'll outgrow it soon, until then nap when you can and try and get some rest! Good luck!

Nichole - posted on 04/12/2010

My 8 month old is doing the same thing. But I know he's teething. It looks like he has 3-5 teeth coming in all at once! So he wakes up several times at night crying. He sometimes will take a binky other times he has to eat. But he'll eat a whole 8 oz bottle with formula and rice. This is after he goes to sleep with an 8oz bottle of formula and rice. It could also be a combination of teething and growth spirt. Don't know, I just can't wait until it's over. He seems to be in pain. I don't get much sleep either.
Goes to bed between 8-9pm
Up at 12am -1am
Up again at 2:30am
Up again at 3:40am
Eats a bottle
Up again at 6:30am
up for the morning at 7:30am.

Very restless too.

Dana - posted on 04/12/2010

This is happening to my 7month old boy as well... I'm assuming it's because he's teething... he goes back to sleep quickly after breast feeding a little... i guess a little because soon he's not sucking... I guess he's looking for some soothing... He's already on solids... He does however wake up more than once and many times I just wait a little bit and find him back asleep again.... But I do wake up once at night those days for around 15 min and put him back to sleep on my breast... I dont' know if this is the right thing to be doing... but this is how I'm managing.

Alexandra - posted on 04/12/2010

I'm experiencing the same with my baby boy...But as far as i know is very normal for a baby that turns 7 months old and up use to wake up in the middle of the night even in their deep sleep. My baby boy many times suddenly wakes up in the middle of his sleep and crying out loud with no reason at all, but it's normal actually. I think 80-90% of 7months+ babies in the world experience it. ^_^

Emily - posted on 04/11/2010

It's really normal for babies to sleep through the night for awhile, then go through months where they don't sleep through. You're not doing anything wrong, this is just normal baby stuff. Just be patient.. she will sleep through again when she is ready.

Janice - posted on 04/11/2010

I don't believe that it could be a growth spurt. They don't last that long. Maybe you should try giving her cereal and then breast/bottle shortly before bed. It works for my daughter. She'll sleep min 12 hrs a night. Hopefully it'll work for you too, Good luck!

Tracy - posted on 04/10/2010

some babies will do that during a growth spurt others have now put together that when I cry mom comes. Does she eat quite a bit when she does wake up or just 1 -2 oz? if it's only an ounce or 2, I don't think I'd go as soon as she cries, I'd probably wait about 10 minutes or so and see if she goes back to sleep. I would guess she is eating solids at this point.

Amy - posted on 04/10/2010

Sounds like a growth spirt. Are you breastfeeding or boodle feeding? If breast feeding then your milk might be low.