8 month old ebf still won't sleep through the night - help!!!!

Christina239 · December 2012

My 8 month old ebf is still up 2-4 times every night. He has randomly slept straight through a few times, so I know he can do it, but I don't know what to do to help make it happen, and in the meantime, I am so exhausted! Should I be giving him more solids throughout the day? Currently, I feed him 3 TB fruit/vegetables twice a day (he refuses to eat cereal). I don't know what to do.

shellpie84 · December 2012

we're in the same boat. LO was getting up 4-6 times a night but for the last few days has gone down to two. thank goodness! My dr. said not to cut out night feedings till 9 months. I'm waiting till then but then we're doing some sleep training to completely eliminate them. Just becuase they are waking up for them doesn't mean they need them.

MomtoH · December 2012

9.5 months here and nursing 2-5 times a night. While I love when she gives me a good 4 hour stretch of sleep, I feel like she wakes because she needs to nurse (no matter for food or comfort) and I'm ok with that. I'm really laid back when it comes to nursing for whatever reason.

AdoblerA · December 2012

I had a friend who was going through this. She started putting some cereal in the bottle she fed her baby before bedtime. It worked! I hope you figure it out. It's so hard when you're exhausted!!

Christina239 · December 2012

Well good to know I'm not alone. When he wakes up, it's not just fussing, it's full on crying until I go get him. I've tried waiting it out to see if he'll just go back to sleep, but it never works, he just gets louder. It's just frustrating b/c he did sleep through the night from 2 to 4 months old, then quit completely for the past 4 months, except for a few random nights. I keep waiting for us to be past it. And yes, he definitely wants to eat when he wakes up. My daughter slept through the night from like 7 weeks on. I guess I was spoiled with her. It's funny how babies can be SOOO different!

ilanat · December 2012

I could have written this post! I also don't know what to do. I'm getting a lot of pressure from friends and family members to do the Ferber method. When I hear my baby cry, I want to cry. It kills me. I have tried to wait a few agonizing minutes and then I run in and nurse him or rock him. Last night, at 2 am, he just wanted to hold my hand while he closed his eyes and went back to sleep, after he peaked a few times to make sure I was still there. It was so sweet. He eats a lot during the day. He nurses when he wakes up, gets three solid meals, plus Gerber Graduates puffs for snacks, plus water with each solid meal, plus an 8 oz breastmilk bottle in the afternoon and nursing before bed. I don't know what to do.

kezias · December 2012

I could have written this post also. We tried CIO with check ins about a month ago and it got better for like 2 nights then it got worse and I gave up. I found that just getting up and nursing and back in bed in 10 min was better than letting him cry for 45-60 minutes.

I decided last night no nursing before midnight, just pacifier, then when I do nurse after midnight I will gradually shorten the nursing times. I am going to try to move the "no nurse before" time back every week or two. I know it was just coincidence but he was only up once last night.

Here is to hopefully another good night.

kdjudd · December 2012

kbruington:
I know you've probably heard this but some babies don't STTN until over a year old. It's not uncommon for your baby to wake in the night. I don't breast feed so I can't help you there or give suggestions on what to do. Increasing solids during the day won't exactly fill him up so he sleeps through the night.

When he does wake in the night, is he just fussing or full on crying? My LO wakes sometimes, fusses then goes back to sleep. I don't go in and get him unless something sounds really wrong. I've done this from early on so he kind of knows that I'm not going to get him everytime he wakes up and makes a noise.

This is worded perfectly! I'd just like to add, that research has shown that there may be benefits to infants waking up in the night! Experts theorize that the light sleep actually allows the brain to continue to work in order to continue developing! So you might have a little genius on your hands! Try to keep that in mind while making your multiple trips to your LO's crib!

monpetitechouchou01 · December 2012

I understand how you feel! you're not alone! My 6 month old still wakes up a few times throughout the night. Recently she has actually woken up about 2x fussed a little and gone back to sleep. I wait until I know that she's going to go back to sleep on her own otherwise I wake up and feed her. I miss my sleep and on the nights where I must be up at 5am for work this is brutal. However, my thinking is that if she needs feedings for a little while longer than I'll get up and give it to her.

MattysGirl09 · December 2012

3 TB doesn't seem like very much for an 8 month old. Have you tried upping the quantity? DD is 6.5 months and is eating 5 TB at night and we're about to add in a morning feeding. I think by 8 months, alot of babies are eating 3 times a day, and eating finger foods as well. Good luck!

I forgot to add ... DD has STTN all of 2 times EVER, so I know how you feel. It's exhausting, but at this point there's not much we can do about it

Amanda2011 · December 2012

It's nice to see so many people with the same issue. It's so hard talking to people and hearing about how their baby sleeps all night. I ff and we still feed 1 or 2 times s night. I have done some sleep training. It help a lot but I give her 10 or 15 mins to see if she can get her self to sleep before I feed her. I do put 2 tbs of rice in her bottle at night for reflex. It does not really seem to help her sleep longer but every baby is different. The first week and a half of sleep training was really hard. I pretty much cried with her. She went from 10 wake ups a night to about 3 or 4. She learned to put her self back to bed. We still have nights were she will cry for 30-40 mins. I do 15 min check ins. I know some people that don't do any. I have the sleep easy book and modified it a little to fit our family.

theresa3086 · December 2012

I'm in the same boat, i thought i had it made in the beginning, my DD was sleeping through the night at 6 weeks old up until 5 months old then it slowly seemed to get worse to the point of 1 or 2 wake ups to 3-4 a night. It's driving me crazy! I BF and i swear she just wakes up and wants it for comfort. If she slept through before without feedings i cant see why she cant now. Esp when she now eats solids 3 times a day + puffs and nibbling from whatever we eat (my piggy, although a peanut) I finally got the nerve to stop going in at night on her first wake up, i found she would whine a little and find her blanket and pull it to her face and go back to sleep, i would just turn down the monitor so it wasnt loud and the less noise she made i would fall back asleep at and so would she, that was about 2 months ago. Since then i've had to give up her room to my cousin's kids who moved in with me and now my daughter is in my room, i feel like we've completely regressed! I try letting her cry a little but she only gets worse and basically hyper ventilate if i dont grab her and nurse her. i usually get a few nights a week when she actually does sleep through the night but most nights she will wake and it's always random, recently i realized and think it's worse because her 2nd tooth is coming in and her 1st tooth didnt phase her too much but this one she seems a lot more bothered by it. So maybe that is her problem right now, i'm not sure but maybe things like this are happening to others and they dont realize it. when she first stopped sleeping through the night she was trying to roll. I read that when they are learning new things they may sleep less because they are thinking about the new things they are trying to accomplish. Anyways good luck everyone it is definitely a stressful road.

8 month old ebf still won't sleep through the night - help!!!!

Re: 8 month old ebf still won't sleep through the night - help!!!!

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