Grace Ding wrote:

Hello Everyone:

my baby is 8 months old, she used to be a very good sleeper, she can sleep through the night when she was 3 months old. But when she turned 7 months old, her sleep pattern totally changed, she has to wake up 3 times a night, crying.  I dont think that's because of teething, she has 8 teeth though.

We had to pick her up and rock her and put her back to the crib. Then she wakes up 5 am in the morning and won't go back to sleep again.  Both of my husband and I are exhausted.

We usually put her to bed at 9pm, now I read everyone's post and realized that it might be a little bit late, but she wont sleep before then and she is not hungry enough to finish last milk feeding (on bottle).

What's going on there? I dont know why she wakes up so frequently now since she used to be very good when she is yonger.  Any solutions to this?

 

Thanks

Hi there,

I'm in the exact same boat.  My baby is 6 months old and slept throught the night practically since birth.  Now she's suddenly crying every hour in the middle of the night.  She doesn't wake up fully and goes back to sleep on her own, but she's waking up much earlier in the morning.  I'm not sure if she's teething (she's been drooling a lot since she was 3 months old and no teeth yet).  We're exhausted too.

She goes to bed around 11pm - yes, late based on what others have written, but she, too, isn't ready for bed at 7pm and needs her last bottle around 10:30pm.  I should mention though that she does have an evening nap because she doesn't sleep at all during the day.  Putting her to bed at 7pm still results in her waking up before midnight and this is the pattern she's followed since birth.  It's actually convenient for us since that means we can take her with us at night and she's always in a great mood. 

Wondering if anyone has any answers for us?

Thanks

Claire (Alexia) Zlobin wrote:

Julia Lee wrote:

 

Thanks Claire for the suggestion!

My daughter is just over 8 months old and I definitely don't want to disturb her sleeping pattern.  Especially now that she sleeps for so long without waking up in the middle of the night.  It usually takes her about 45 minutes to fall asleep so I just thought that there might be a special technique to help her fall asleep alittle easier...wishful thinking I guess.

Thanks again!

Julia

Hi Julia,

You can also try the "pick up, put down" method but this does include a little bit of crying as well. Basically, when you put her down to sleep if she wakes up, you can pat gently stroke her hands, head or tummy and just talk to her gently or sing a lullaby, after 2-3 minutes leave the room, if she is still crying wait 2-3 minutes and then go back in, you can pick her up if she is still crying when you enter the room, but as soon as she settles, put her back down and do the exact same thing again and then leave the room... you may have to do this a few times before she falls asleep, but like I mentioned this may disrupt her sleep... if she has been a good sleeper, she should be back on schedule within a week. 

Another option is to use this special time after you feed her to tell her a story with dad and as she is getting sleepy, put her in the crib and then leave the room.  I'm not sure what you're bedtime routine is like... but it's very important at this stage to have a structured bedtime routine so that your daughter knows that the day has ended and it's now time for sleep.

It's a good idea to start the routine 1 hour before bedtime. So if you are putting your baby to sleep at 7:30, an example of a routine would be as follows

6:00-6:30 dinner
6:35-6:45 clean up, bedtime preparation
6:50-7:10 bath/massage - after the bath, give your baby a nice relaxing massage
7:15 - last night feed
7:25 - story or lullaby
7:30 - put baby in the crib, say good night and leave the room

You do not have to follow exactly to the minute each night... this is more a guideline for a structure routine than a schedule.  Having the same routine each night will help your baby to know what is coming next, she will know that after the last story it's bedtime. 

Just b/c she knows what is coming doesn't mean she will not complain a bit before going to bed. Just remember mommy and daddy are baby's best friend...  if given the choice she will want to spend as much time as possible with you.

These are a few books that are great to take a look at in terms of sleep. 
Secret of the Baby Whisperer by Tracy Hogg
The Happiest Baby on the block by Harvey Karp
Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy child by Marc Weissbluth

Take a look at all your options, decide what you feel you are comfortable with and then make a decision that you feel will work for you and your family 

Hi Claire,

We are actually doing the exact same schedule that you mentioned above.  It's taking her less time to fall asleep at night now. 

We are trying to get her to sleep on her own for her naps now and that's alittle tricky. She still wants to be nursed but I'm trying to be consitent all through her naps and sleep.  I just hope this crying phase will end soon.

Thanks again,

Julia

 

Julia Lee wrote:

Grace Ding wrote:

Hello Everyone:

my baby is 8 months old, she used to be a very good sleeper, she can sleep through the night when she was 3 months old. But when she turned 7 months old, her sleep pattern totally changed, she has to wake up 3 times a night, crying.  I dont think that's because of teething, she has 8 teeth though.

We had to pick her up and rock her and put her back to the crib. Then she wakes up 5 am in the morning and won't go back to sleep again.  Both of my husband and I are exhausted.

We usually put her to bed at 9pm, now I read everyone's post and realized that it might be a little bit late, but she wont sleep before then and she is not hungry enough to finish last milk feeding (on bottle).

What's going on there? I dont know why she wakes up so frequently now since she used to be very good when she is yonger.  Any solutions to this?

 

Thanks

Hi Grace,

It seems like all babies goes through similar phases.  My daughter started waking up at night because of teething and it almost became a habit for her. I think she wanted us to come and get her to bring her into our bed.  She also wanted to be nursed again. 

I wrote previously on how we are using crying it out method. We eventually had to put her back into her crib and when she woke up in the middle of the night, we would wait to see if she would fall back to sleep on her own.  A lot of the times, she would cry then fall back to sleep on her own but, few times, we had to bring her into our bed again.  This took several nights and very little sleep on my part because I was awake listening to her cry.  She now sleeps without waking up at night....for now.

Another thing you mentioned was putting her down at 9pm.  We were on a similar schedule where we would put her down at 9pm but at one point, it actually got to 11pm or even 12am.  This didn't really bother us much because she slept through the night so whatever worked was fine with us.  The only reason we changed her schedule was because I wanted her to be ready for when I had to go back to work.  We slowly moved up her bed time 30 minutes at a time and now she's in bed around 7:30 and she usually falls alseep between 8 and 9pm.

For my daughter, we realized that if she sees us, she will not fall sleep on her own. So, the only way that worked was letting her fall asleep on her own.  The very few times that she couldn't, we would bring her to our bed, but this hasn't happened in awhile.

I also read that adding an additional feeding during the day could help them sleep through the night. 

Good luck Grace!

Julia

 

Thanks a lot Julia! for last two nights she slept straight for at least 6 hours, that's a lot of improvement for us!