8 month old baby still restless at night
Discussion
ISO51200 said:
Hey all,
Not sure if I'm posting this for advice or more for moral support lol, but our 8 month old daughter wakes around 5-6 times a night, someone I was speaking to the other day said their 11 week old was sleeping through
The lack of sleep is starting to affect everyone in the house, it's testing our relationship to its limits
Is it normal for her to still be this restless?
I've stayed in the room to see if its noise related but there's nothing there to set her off.
Suck it up buttercup. Ours was just over 3 years old before he started to slept through the night, he's nearly 4 now and still often wakes around 11pm for a moment.Not sure if I'm posting this for advice or more for moral support lol, but our 8 month old daughter wakes around 5-6 times a night, someone I was speaking to the other day said their 11 week old was sleeping through
The lack of sleep is starting to affect everyone in the house, it's testing our relationship to its limits
Is it normal for her to still be this restless?
I've stayed in the room to see if its noise related but there's nothing there to set her off.
Just to add to this, ours has been better for past 3 nights, sleeping through. However last night, decided to wake at midnight, wide awake wanting to play for half hour, then screamed the house down for an hour, finally nodded back off around 2 ish, then woke at 5am all happy and smiley. I worship the coffee gods to get through the day now, strong strong coffee.
Our first (of three) slept through eventually after 8 months. The breakthrough came when we bought a book that guaranteed results in 14 days. It worked. We don't have it anymore as my OH gave it away years ago to someone else with the same problem. It would not take much imagination to guess the title if you want to searc for it. With the benefit of hindsight we also think the poor thing was being underfed a little and waking up hungry.
PapaJohns said:
Iv not read every reply....
Have you tried playing white noise. We used an app and it worked until 10wks (jabs) she's slept through ever since.
We used the white noise app (heart beat option) for the first few weeks to help the little one sleep during the day. It worked a treat as he's never been one for sleeping in daylight hours. Have you tried playing white noise. We used an app and it worked until 10wks (jabs) she's slept through ever since.
wiliferus said:
PurpleTurtle said:
"I go for a f
kboy"
Personal Trainer mate definitely dodged a chlamydia bullet there!
kboy"Personal Trainer mate definitely dodged a chlamydia bullet there!
I did wonder where my post had gone! As you were .... (above advice not recommended for 8 month olds!)
My Grannie's two remedies, I'm in my 70's now and fit as a flea. No 1, place an old fashioned loud ticking clock near the loon. this resembles the sound of heartbeat and works a treat. No 2, heat a small spoon to blood heat, dip in Drambuie and drain, let child suck the warm Drambuie wet spoon. ZZZZZZ. Ps spare me the sermon and mumsnet outrage, never done any of us any harm.
Just read the entire thread and thought I'd add my experience FWIW....
We have two; Girl now 4 and a 1/2 and Boy now 20mths. I love my own sleep and get proper narky if don't get a fair amount; I feel your pain! Definitely don't miss the first weeks where every movement THEY made woke me up and stress created some crazy dreams / nightmares!!
Both were in a bassinnette in our room at night until 6wks old; and had one downstairs when sleeping during the day. If they sleep; put them down and catch up on eating and jobs around the house - I had 3wks off work with both; Mrs had 12mths (lucky sod!)
Followed all the recommendations with no.1 and intended for the 3-6mth sleeping in our room plan but to be honest daughter used to burrow about while she was asleep and kept us awake! Son on the other hand has always slept like we've shot him!! Both went into their own rooms after 6wks. Creaky floorboards in our room used to disturb no.1 too so the move resolved that faff (trying to remember where to tread to not set one off and clambering over the bed posts in the pitch dark if I needed to get up!!) - good times!!
Routine - until a year old they both had a bath 1/2 hour before bed, last bottle (8ozs) and a burp or two then into cot around 9-930. Bedrooms have black out blinds and curtains in the room and central heating in the whole house set to 18C. Telly; if it's on downstairs stays at normal volume, if not, the radio is generally on in the house somewhere. If hoovering hasn't been done that day it gets done after bedtime; essentially, carry on as if they aren't there. Some evenings no.1 was unsettled for 10-15 minutes but I used to gently stroke her head and she'd fall asleep - a trick my Nan said used to work for her with my mum?! Can't argue with results!!
Generally in the first year we went to bed soon after - If I worked late I rarely woke anyone when I got in (around midnight).
After a year old both kids bedtimes have been brought forward to 7-7:30; formula dropped for normal cow juice but same routine - bath around 6:30 then drink / burp / bed - no.1 stopped having milk at 3yo.
We're firm believers that they respond(ed) well to dark = sleep. Both sleep with their door closed (always have); daughter likes a story (since about 2yo) and falls asleep with door open but it's closed once she is asleep; neither have an issue with the dark. No. 2 listens to no.1's story before going to bed depending on if only one of us is present for bedtime - M4 traffic tends to vary my hometime anyway if I'm not working late - I try to limit additional working to one or two nights a week getting home about 8ish.
(worth noting that niece and nephews have lights on inside/outside rooms - and seem to struggle with sleep / noise disturbing them).
The routine was (is) quite restrictive as parents; no more evening visits to parents / mates / parties as a couple but instead we invite same over to ours. Also, grandparents and siblings seem happy to babysit if we do go out as it's generally accepted that, barring illness or certain stage (teething); it'll be an uneventful evening (if known about then we don't go out) - with No.2 we knew a tooth was coming the night before - woke around midnight and had another 4oz bottle and nappy change then back to bed - generally I woke first so got the job! Lucky me! No.1 didn't have any teething issues at all - oh look; another tooth!!
I commute to work so sadly only see the kids for half hour to an hour in the morning if I wake them up before I go and for around 30-40 minutes in the evening but weekends are firmly for family time and I hate working the 1 in 5 Saturdays that I currently have to!!
My sister and BiL have 3 boys and literally haven't slept properly for the last 5 years - I would have topped myself by now and have massive respect for anyone that can survive that level of deprivation!!
Was always told not to make a rod for my own back - don't cuddle them to sleep; put them down to sleep; be noisy; make them fit your agreed pattern (is that still a contradiction?! I am a bit inflexible to change now I suppose??). However we now go to bed around 11-11:30 and the 4 hours in the evening are generally ours to do whatever (I still haven't rebuilt my Maserati engine though....!!)
We have two; Girl now 4 and a 1/2 and Boy now 20mths. I love my own sleep and get proper narky if don't get a fair amount; I feel your pain! Definitely don't miss the first weeks where every movement THEY made woke me up and stress created some crazy dreams / nightmares!!
Both were in a bassinnette in our room at night until 6wks old; and had one downstairs when sleeping during the day. If they sleep; put them down and catch up on eating and jobs around the house - I had 3wks off work with both; Mrs had 12mths (lucky sod!)
Followed all the recommendations with no.1 and intended for the 3-6mth sleeping in our room plan but to be honest daughter used to burrow about while she was asleep and kept us awake! Son on the other hand has always slept like we've shot him!! Both went into their own rooms after 6wks. Creaky floorboards in our room used to disturb no.1 too so the move resolved that faff (trying to remember where to tread to not set one off and clambering over the bed posts in the pitch dark if I needed to get up!!) - good times!!
Routine - until a year old they both had a bath 1/2 hour before bed, last bottle (8ozs) and a burp or two then into cot around 9-930. Bedrooms have black out blinds and curtains in the room and central heating in the whole house set to 18C. Telly; if it's on downstairs stays at normal volume, if not, the radio is generally on in the house somewhere. If hoovering hasn't been done that day it gets done after bedtime; essentially, carry on as if they aren't there. Some evenings no.1 was unsettled for 10-15 minutes but I used to gently stroke her head and she'd fall asleep - a trick my Nan said used to work for her with my mum?! Can't argue with results!!
Generally in the first year we went to bed soon after - If I worked late I rarely woke anyone when I got in (around midnight).
After a year old both kids bedtimes have been brought forward to 7-7:30; formula dropped for normal cow juice but same routine - bath around 6:30 then drink / burp / bed - no.1 stopped having milk at 3yo.
We're firm believers that they respond(ed) well to dark = sleep. Both sleep with their door closed (always have); daughter likes a story (since about 2yo) and falls asleep with door open but it's closed once she is asleep; neither have an issue with the dark. No. 2 listens to no.1's story before going to bed depending on if only one of us is present for bedtime - M4 traffic tends to vary my hometime anyway if I'm not working late - I try to limit additional working to one or two nights a week getting home about 8ish.
(worth noting that niece and nephews have lights on inside/outside rooms - and seem to struggle with sleep / noise disturbing them).
The routine was (is) quite restrictive as parents; no more evening visits to parents / mates / parties as a couple but instead we invite same over to ours. Also, grandparents and siblings seem happy to babysit if we do go out as it's generally accepted that, barring illness or certain stage (teething); it'll be an uneventful evening (if known about then we don't go out) - with No.2 we knew a tooth was coming the night before - woke around midnight and had another 4oz bottle and nappy change then back to bed - generally I woke first so got the job! Lucky me! No.1 didn't have any teething issues at all - oh look; another tooth!!
I commute to work so sadly only see the kids for half hour to an hour in the morning if I wake them up before I go and for around 30-40 minutes in the evening but weekends are firmly for family time and I hate working the 1 in 5 Saturdays that I currently have to!!
My sister and BiL have 3 boys and literally haven't slept properly for the last 5 years - I would have topped myself by now and have massive respect for anyone that can survive that level of deprivation!!
Was always told not to make a rod for my own back - don't cuddle them to sleep; put them down to sleep; be noisy; make them fit your agreed pattern (is that still a contradiction?! I am a bit inflexible to change now I suppose??). However we now go to bed around 11-11:30 and the 4 hours in the evening are generally ours to do whatever (I still haven't rebuilt my Maserati engine though....!!)
We have twins and being very small from birth they where on 3hr feeding schedules. We had to take it in turns to do shifts throughout the night so max about 5-6hrs sleep whilst being disturbed from the feeding schedule.
To add fun they rarely slept through the day at the same time, so no chance to catch up on sleep either. We didn't have any family help so did it all ourselves.
They didn't properly sleep through the night until about 3 and a half. Even now at 4 and a half years old my daughter still gets up maybe twice a night, luckily she can now sort her self out for toliet time.
You body clock adapts and you get used to lack of sleep, fun no, but you just manage.
To add fun they rarely slept through the day at the same time, so no chance to catch up on sleep either. We didn't have any family help so did it all ourselves.
They didn't properly sleep through the night until about 3 and a half. Even now at 4 and a half years old my daughter still gets up maybe twice a night, luckily she can now sort her self out for toliet time.
You body clock adapts and you get used to lack of sleep, fun no, but you just manage.
Pope said:
We're firm believers that they respond(ed) well to dark = sleep. Both sleep with their door closed (always have)
Same here. Wife and I had a bit of a Mexican Stand Off over this issue, settled by me just getting a cheap black sheet off Amazon for a couple of quid, hanging it at the window to provide total blackout, result = one sleeping kid. Point proved, we then changed the curtains for some proper blackout ones. Amusingly we have three streetlights visible from our son's room , he absolutely loves pointing them out last thing at night and first thing in the morning, it's a simple joy to watch. I'm stood there thinking "you weren't so happy with them when you were 6wks old, were you, sunshine?" Pope said:
The routine was (is) quite restrictive as parents; no more evening visits to parents / mates / parties as a couple but instead we invite same over to ours. Also, grandparents and siblings seem happy to babysit if we do go out
Unfortunately we don't have any family help, and whilst we've been strong believers in routine, we have also got our boy used to the routine of sleeping in his buggy from time to time. We went to a 60th birthday on Saturday in a smart London boozer - started 2pm, finished 10pm. Our boy went to sleep in his buggy at 7pm, let the party go on around him without waking, taxi to Paddington, train home to Reading, taxi home from Station, transferred to his cot - all without waking up. I think I'd have gone nuts if we were never allowed to leave the house with him! Hang in there dude, my first born is now 8 months , he use to wake up every 2 hours and take forever to go back to sleep , he moved into his own room 2 weeks ago and has slept through for 8 days solid now ,his routine is
Tea at 6 (finger food ,and a bottle )
Bath after tea
And straight to bed about 7
We have cut out breast feeding all together now and it took him about a week before we moved him upstairs to go down without crying now , he doesn't fuss and he knows it's bed time after a bath now he will sleep from 7 ish to 8ish so nearly 13 hours past 8 days have been great
It was hard at first putting him to bed crying but it's for the best
Good luck dude
Tea at 6 (finger food ,and a bottle )
Bath after tea
And straight to bed about 7
We have cut out breast feeding all together now and it took him about a week before we moved him upstairs to go down without crying now , he doesn't fuss and he knows it's bed time after a bath now he will sleep from 7 ish to 8ish so nearly 13 hours past 8 days have been great
It was hard at first putting him to bed crying but it's for the best
Good luck dude
Ours was 3 before she slept through (and by through I mean 8pm-5am) with any consistency. 6 months to 2.5 years was bad. Between 2-4 wake-ups per night (13 was the record) and we tried everything.
More settled now.
A friend has a daughter that first slept through at 9 (years).
They all vary.
Try every trick. When they start to walk you can find physical exhaustion helps, at least for the first block in the night to give you 5-6 hours, even if they crawl through to your bed at 3am.
Going to bed when they do can help, or at least one of you doing that? If one of you can function in the daytime..
More settled now.
A friend has a daughter that first slept through at 9 (years).
They all vary.
Try every trick. When they start to walk you can find physical exhaustion helps, at least for the first block in the night to give you 5-6 hours, even if they crawl through to your bed at 3am.
Going to bed when they do can help, or at least one of you doing that? If one of you can function in the daytime..
I must be very lucky with my little boy, he is coming up to 5 months, and goes to bed at 19:00ish and either wakes up around 4:00, but once or twice a week sleeps through until 6:00.
We moved him out of the moses basket in our room at 6 weeks old, as none of us were getting much sleep, he seemed to love the extra space in his cot and started sleeping much better.
We start his bedtime routine at 18:00, with a bath, then draw he black out curtains in his room and just leave the light from the landing coming in, give him his bottle - by this time he is normally dosing off, but burping him and putting him in his cot wakes him up. One, or both of us stay in his room with him until he has drifted off, sometimes he needs an extra cuddle or a story read to him. Other times he gets really upset, probably due to being too tired and we give him a dummy, this usually sends him straight to sleep (dummy is removed before we leave the room). AS mentioned above, the routine does restrict us a bit, we don't go out as a family in the evening, but it works for us.
We moved him out of the moses basket in our room at 6 weeks old, as none of us were getting much sleep, he seemed to love the extra space in his cot and started sleeping much better.
We start his bedtime routine at 18:00, with a bath, then draw he black out curtains in his room and just leave the light from the landing coming in, give him his bottle - by this time he is normally dosing off, but burping him and putting him in his cot wakes him up. One, or both of us stay in his room with him until he has drifted off, sometimes he needs an extra cuddle or a story read to him. Other times he gets really upset, probably due to being too tired and we give him a dummy, this usually sends him straight to sleep (dummy is removed before we leave the room). AS mentioned above, the routine does restrict us a bit, we don't go out as a family in the evening, but it works for us.
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