Suggestion on how to get my 8 month old to sleep better.

Question

My baby girl just turned 8 month old. She has never slept for long periods of time and she usually takes 3 naps a day that average 30 minutes or less. She has a bedtime routine and will nod off pretty fast at night. However, she will wake up about 4 hours later and then every hour or 30 minutes from then on. When I go in her room to check on her when she wakes up she is sitting up in her bed and last night she was standing up in her bed. I try to put her back to bed by laying her down and rubbing her back. If that does not work, I will rock her and if that does not work I will nurse her back to sleep. After getting up 3 or 4 times, I usually just give up and put her in bed with myself and her dad (I know I shouldn't but when I know this is the only way to get a little sleep it sounds good). When she is in bed with me she like to nurse on and off throughout the night. If anyone has any suggestions on how to get her to sleep better I would greatly appreciate it.

Answer 1

My best resource for my 6 mo. old and sleep has been moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/. I found it when I was searching for four month old sleep problems, and there is a ton of info about sleep regressions and how a jump in development = crappy sleep. Sitting, standing, crawling, etc. in her sleep is her way of practicing what she's learning. She'll grow out of it. I think Moxie bases her ideas on The Wonder Weeks, which goes through what time periods your baby may hit a sleep regression.

That said, you may want to try some sleep training. Not necessarily cry it out, which I don't agree with, but some sort of "leave her alone to let her teach herself how to fall asleep" method.

Answer 2

You've got to let her cry it out. It will be REALLY hard on you at the first week or two but she will get use to sleeping on her own. It will better for the whole family. If she is getting enough to eat during the day she shouldn't be hungry during the night. If you think she's thirsty give her a bottle with some water in it. Good luck.

My daughter has been sleeping in her own bed for 7 months. She still cries a little when I lay her down but then she is out for the night. If she wakes up in the middle of the night I let her cry for a few minutes (unless its a painful cry) to see if she'll go back to sleep & she usually does.

Answer 3

I know this sounds cruel, but it worked for me.  When my son was 6 months old he started sleeping through the night (about 6-7 hours).  Then about a month later he started waking up and wanted to be held until he fell asleep.  I gave him for a few weeks and then following some sage advice from my mother.

I would not go into his room at the instant he started crying.  I gave it about 5-10 minutes.  Then I would check on him to make sure he was okay.  comfort him from outside his crib, cover him back up, and walk out.  Most of the time he would go back to sleep on his own within a couple minutes if I didn't enter the room.  Once he realized I was not going to get him out of bed, the nighttime crying completely stopped.  Its heartwrenching to just let them cry.  Five minutes can seem an enternity, but after just a few nights, you'd be surprised the difference it makes.

Answer 4

Try cutting her back on the daytime naps and see if she will sleep better at night.  If she is not making a lot of noise you might let her play in her bed at night until she goes back to sleep.  Taking her into bed with you and your husband is not a good thing, as you know.  You might check with her pediatrician to see if he/she has any suggestions since he/she knows your baby better than we do.

Answer 5

i have the same problem with my sister's kid.he is always up when i want to go out. what did i do? i played with him throughout the days,he is always so tired there is no reason for him to wake not even for is feed.

P.S.  d luvs is feed

Answer 6

warm milk, tummy rub, cradle, and pray