8 1/2 Month Old Sleep Patterns Changing!

He may be getting ready for some milestone (crawling, standing...something like that) or have you thought about a possible ear infection? My son never acts like anything is wrong with him when he has an ear infection, the only sign is that he gets a fever. I hope you get some sleep soon! I know what it is like to be a zombie everyday at work! And keep up with the breastfeeding...It is not thinner just more easily digested so yes, they may be hungry more often than formula fed babies. But, the other benefits are fantastic. And you know he will probably go back to his old routine once this stage is over, it just takes them some time to adjust.

Hi T.,

Does he still seem hungry? Are you feeding him cereal's or food yet? Our daughter used to wake up during the night until we started to feed her cereal and baby food (about 4.5 months). When she woke up we gave her a bottle. I breastfed until she was 5 mos, when we went to formula, that helped too. It's thicker (BM is allot thinner and they eat more often). Anyway, try giving her him some cereal maybe before he goes to bed. Teeth, she ALWAYS woke up when she was getting teeth (has 2 now). They are O.K. during the day (they are not concentratiting on it) at night in the crib, that's when it hits them.

Good luck...

Hi T.,
My 8 1/2 month old just started doing the same thing this past week. I made a few changes: 1) I made sure he was eating his dinner (veggie and a meat dinner) 1-2 hours before bedtime and then followed his normal routine, a bath, changing into PJs and reading a book or two. 2) I pushed back his bedtime by 30-45 minutes. This has really helped. He has not woken up crying since these changes.
Everything I have read and been told by doctors is that by this age children should be sleeping thru the night. Sleep is just as important as food and you wouldn't deprive your child of food, so you should view sleep in the same light. I hate hearing my baby cry and so on these rare occasions I will go in to make sure he is ok, and will even pick him up. If this stops him from crying then I know he simply wants to be held. So, once he relaxs and is close to falling back to sleep I will put him back down. If the crying starts up again, I typically let him go until he falls back asleep. It takes 15-20 minutes and it's absolutely horrible but bad habits can start if you don't give your child opporunities to start to soothe themselves.
Good luck - I would try calling your doctor's office and talking to a nurse - perhaps they can give you some advice as well!

It may be a growth spurt. My little one did this for a about a week then went back to normal. Try upping his intake before bedtime and see if this helps. He will probably wake up again after this is digested but less wakeups is better than nothing.

T.,
Get this book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child
by Marc Weissbluth. The data in the front can be a little overwhelming, but interesting. The following chapters with instructions by age to help your child sleep are a MUST! It will change your life with your baby and is SO important for him now and in the future. BTW your baby is probably waking throughout the night more now, because he is becoming more social and he is learning that if he wakes up and calls for you, you come to him every time and it makes him happy. Long term and short term, this is bad for both of you, as you can tell by how tired you are.

I have one 16 month old boy and we have followed Dr. Weissbluth's recommendations since the beginning. My son sleeps from 6pm to 6am every night and naps from 12-2:30pm every day. This would not have been possible w/o the book.
I hope this helps.

Hi there! Just a couple of months ago I posted the same sort of question and this is what I think it could be:
At 8 1/2 months old he's probably starting to notice his surroundings more and realize that you're not there when he wakes up. At this age he's probably also learning more 'tricks' so he may be waking up and working on his new 'tricks' and getting more and more alert and realizing then that you're not there. My son previously would go to bed awake and get himself to sleep no problem. Around 8 1/2 months it became a screaming fest and would wake up a few times a night. I started to put him to bed, awake still, but would sit in the rocking chair next to him as he'd go to sleep. For a few nights he'd cry for a few minutes, then settle down and finally go to sleep. Now he seems to prefer me put him in his crib because he can get 'comfy' on his own. it's so hard to say at this age what could be causing night wakings, but that has helped us. He now sleeps from about 7:30/8:00 to about 5:30/6:00 (wish it was a little later, but we're happy w/this progress). We all have to find what works and I'm sure this is just one of those milestones you'll get through. good luck!

My kids did this when they had an ear infection.

My daughter goes through these stages and we try to blame it on gas or teething or a growth spurt but we never know. My daughter is a year now and she still wakes up once a night for a bottle, but it is progressively happening later, she can now sleep for almost 9 hours without a bottle which is a big improvement since at 8 months she was still waking up every 3 hours.

Personally I think every child is different with their sleep habits and you just have to find what works for you. With my daughter if she gets sick and her sleep is affected she needs to catch up before she can sleep well again. For example, last week she had a cold and was waking up more and not sleeping as soundly (we could hear her on the monitor moving around and coughing). After she was better she starting waking up more and crying for us. I brought her in bed with us when she woke up one night and she slept really well and the next night she slept the whole night in her crib back on her normal schedule of waking for a bottle and going back to sleep. I know a lot of people would say not to let her sleep with us, but it works for us and got her back on schedule without us losing a lot of sleep.

I read HSHHC by the way and it did not work for us. My daughter would scream for a very long time and would get herself more worked up as she went along. We have tried a few times. The last time we tried before her first birthday. We modified it slightly and stayed in the room with her. She didn't cry as hard as the previous times, and she mainly fussed with just a little crying or she would sit up and stand up in her crib and it took over an hour to get her to sleep for an week straight. She was definitely tired but just couldn't fall asleep. Then she would sleep poorly and wake up a lot at night. We went back to letting her fall asleep with us holding her and it went back to taking about 15 minutes to get her to sleep and she slept better. Again, a long post to say here is what works for us, hopefully you find something that works for you soon.

Good Luck.

D.