8 month old sleep question

Im sorry if this is something that gets asked on here like every other day but im desperate. My daughter is 8 1/2 months and she wakes up during the night at LEAST 2 or 3 times. if i give her her paci she goes right back to sleep but a lot of the time as soon as i get back in bed she will start crying again. with my son i let him cry, I would go and sooth him every 10 mins or so, but with him when he was up he was UP! i figure its so much easier just to stick the paci back in her mouth and let her fall back asleep. But I am getting pretty sick of waking up so many times a night. Sometimes its like 10 times! And the funny thing is... she slept better as a newborn! she was sleeping through the night for long periods at a super young age (maybe two months?). but that stopped around 4 or 5 months. and i dont always rock her to sleep. sometimes i do, but usually i give her a bottle and she gets drowsy and i put her down. so i think she can self sooth. in fact when she was a newborn the best way to get her to sleep was to just put her down and leave her alone. im ok with letting her cry but that is really a last resort because i really dont want to wake everyone in the house up, especially my son! Anyway... anyone have advice?

Sleep patterns are developmental. And it's common for the baby to experience a change in their sleep patterns when they are about to pick up or are in the process of picking up a new skill, like crawling or standing up or walking, etc.

Have you tried adding some baby cereal to her formula, or giving her baby food? Maybe she's waking up cuz she's hungry. If that's not it, maybe you need to try n let her cry a little while.

Quoting Leisurely Duchess:" Sleep patterns are developmental. And it's common for the baby to experience a change in their sleep ... [snip!] ... when they are about to pick up or are in the process of picking up a new skill, like crawling or standing up or walking, etc."

That's really interesting. It's proven true for me... DS was having a terrible time sleeping when he first learned to crawl and again when the pulling up and cruising phase started. I'd never heard that before, but I'm a believer! He's almost 8 months old and it's getting back to normal now (for him at least... but I haven't adjusted back yet lol).

Quoting Leisurely Duchess:" Sleep patterns are developmental. And it's common for the baby to experience a change in their sleep ... [snip!] ... when they are about to pick up or are in the process of picking up a new skill, like crawling or standing up or walking, etc."

thats interesting, i have never heard that before! she is actually starting to walk now. maybe i guess maybe between learning to crawl, then cruising, then walking, and teething she just doesnt sleep well? my son walked at her age too and he always slept all night. i know comparing babies is bad!!

Quoting nrspam:" Have you tried adding some baby cereal to her formula, or giving her baby food? Maybe she's waking up cuz she's hungry. If that's not it, maybe you need to try n let her cry a little while."

Thats a good idea... maybe she needs more than just a regular bottle before bed?

Quoting nrspam:" Have you tried adding some baby cereal to her formula, or giving her baby food? Maybe she's waking up cuz she's hungry. If that's not it, maybe you need to try n let her cry a little while."

Also I think I am probably going to start waiting longer before i get up and give her her paci... see if she quiets down on her own...

My 8 month daughter is having sleep issues as well, but mostly just at nap time. No matter what I try she only wants to nap in my arms, next to me in bed (and we don't generally co-sleep), or in the car on a drive. We have always done a modified CIO routine that has worked fine but now I am really struggling because she isn't napping as much as she needs to and I have no time to myself! I know it's due to a lot of factors: her 4th tooth just came in, she is standing and cruising everywhere, and she is still growing like a weed!

Quoting Mama VC:" My 8 month daughter is having sleep issues as well, but mostly just at nap time. No matter what I try ... [snip!] ... to a lot of factors: her 4th tooth just came in, she is standing and cruising everywhere, and she is still growing like a weed!"

yep i think the whole teething thing is probably a factor, plus growing and developing and stuff. I guess I compared her to my son too much! But the past few days she seems to have let me sleep a little more. hopefully just a phase for us. When CIO doesnt work there's really not much else you can do! what i do is just keep trying to keep a regular schedule. Also I took one of the people who replied to me at first's suggestion and I have been feeding her more. Also I was trying to get her down to one nap a day so she and my son will sleep at the same time and I think she just wasnt old enough. She still needs two naps in the first part of the day! So she may have been just overtired.

As far as the napping part goes my son was the same as you daughter....with him it was super hard to make him nap. The thing I found is that I was trying to put him down too early. So I started to rock him to sleep and wait like 15, 20 minutes after he fell asleep to put him down and as long as I waited long enough he would stay asleep. But if I put him down as soon as he kept his eyes closed for a few minutes he would wake up and cry. CIO worked for him at night but not during the day during nap time. I always found that strange.... But its still like that to this day, and he is 19 months old! So, I dont know if you have already tried it but if you havent, rock her to sleep and just keep rocking her, watch tv (a boring adult show like the food network, not something that she lkes) and watch tv for a while, then try to put her down, and see if she stays. Hopefully that helps!

<blockquote><b>Quoting ~*JJJJ*~:</b>" yep i think the whole teething thing is probably a factor, plus growing and developing and stuff. I ... [snip!] ... not something that she lkes) and watch tv for a while, then try to put her down, and see if she stays. Hopefully that helps! "</blockquote>


That is a good suggestion, and that has worked for us in the past but her naps are generally very short, so 20 mins in my arms might equal a whole nap for her. I am actually just realizing lately some of her over tiredness at night might be related to her taking too-short naps...

My 8 month old is the same. Major sleep issues-pretty much all my posts have been about sleep-lol. Every month I am so desperate for her to sleep longer/better...I finally let her cio during the day for 5 minutes (she fell asleep on her own) it was amazing! She went from taking 2 or 3 1/2 hr naps to hr 1/2 in one week! A new beginning....or so I though. We're going on 3 weeks now. Day time naps & when she goes down for bed at night she puts herself to sleep but not without me going in and giving her the binky and laying her down several times. She takes forever to get to sleep. Usually standing, crawling around, playing, fussing or crying for a min. She still wakes up 2 or more times a night for nursing or the binky. Im trying to wean her from night time nursing. Just thought I would share my story, hoping it gets better as time goes on. Sure taking a long time, but it is true that every little thing does change their sleeping-learning new skills, teething, sickness etc....just have to keep trying!