Please please please tell me why my 8 Months old is still waking up every 2 hours :(

[Littlefrenchmummy]

I dont understand. He eats so much food. He is teething but with nurofen or calpol, teething granules and bonjela its the same. He naps fine in his bed during the day. He is such a happy baby, laughs all day but night time he wakes up crying and wants milk every 2 hours. Nothing will do except warm milk. The only thing I havent done is control crying as Im living with my mother in law at the moment as we are in between houses, but could something be wrong? He eats everything, he is so healthy, never poorly. I dont get it !!

Any advice please please please Im so tired...

[SpiderTracker]

I'm sorry but I am going to say because he is a baby. And some babies just don't sleep, I have 2 DCs, 1 woke up to 3 or 4 times a night just for milk or as he got older a cuddle until he started school. The other slept through from about three months.

[Littlefrenchmummy]

Its crazy.. I understand that, my first son was/ is such a good sleeper and apparently I was a nightmare. I get that babies are just babies but how do I know for sure there isn't something else?
Like you know some people suggest osteopaths for realignments has anyone tried that?
Was your baby really content too during the day Spidertracker?
Isn't every 2 hours a lot? He must have such a broken sleep. I m wondering now, maybe if he is ready to sleep through the night, but he has such bad sleeping habits, i.e. waken up every 2 hours, that he can't not wake up. Like it can happen to grow ups too, do you see what I mean?

Maybe it exists some kind of gentle sleeping aid for babies that you give for a couple of days to try and give them a rythme. Might not work, but since Im giving everything a go....

How do mums survive on such little sleep without having constant breakdowns?

[keepitgoing]

personally I think he's got the habit of needing milk to get himself to sleep through sleep cycles. at this age he doesn't need milk at night so if you're fed up you can stop giving him milk. give cuddles etc then gradual withdrawal, and he will learn to sleep through.

lots of people here will tell you it's normal and to wait it out but it could take a long time going by threads on here...

[ellie3009]

If you want to try something gentle, you can email Nelsons Homepathic Pharmacy and ask for their advice on a homeopathic remedy.

My sister didn't sleep through the night at 3 years old, my Mum took her to a homeopath got some pills and she slept through every night after that! I know lots of people don't believe in it, but if you are desperate it might be worth a try. If you email them and they respond, you don't have to follow their advice anyway!

[PourquoiTuGachesTaVie]

Ds was the same at that age and the only thing that worked was cutting down on nightfeeds.

We started giving him water for one feed per night instead of milk, which of course he hated. But we discovered that if dh gave him the water for some reason he accepted it more easily than if I did it (clearly knew I would break easier than dh!).

Once ds stopped expecting milk for the 3am feed, we moved on to giving water for the midnight nightfeed using the same method.

We eventually got it down to a feed at 9pm and then sleeping through until 5am. Then we dropped the 9pm feed too.

It was the only thing I could do to save my sanity. Waking every two hours was manageable when I was on Mat leave but when I was back at work full time I couldn't carry on with it.

[ApocalypseNowt]

Is CC something you would consider trying? I'd recommend having a go at that or gradual withdrawal as a pp suggested. At 8 months he doesn't need milk every 2 hours so it is likely to be a habit/comfort thing.

Also have you tried white noise? Some people swear by it for settling little ones.

[ellie3009]

For some of the feeds, you could also try reducing the amount of milk each time if it's a bottle, or mixing with more water so it is weaker and weaker, until gradually it is only water. If breastfeeding, reduce number of minutes you let him feed for.

My baby is 8 months and I have just stopped feeding at night completely. He was only doing one feed, but after weighing him, he has piled on the weight so clearly didn't need it. It took a couple of nights for him to get used to it, but now he wakes once around 5am, and re-settles in 10 mins without the boob.

[Sootgremlin]

My ds was the same, I ended up co sleeping from one until two just to get some sleep. He started sleeping through when I night weaned at two.

He still wakes occasionally for comfort but has generally slept well since.

He is absolutely fine, think he was just a poor sleeper as a baby.

His sister is now similar, but doesn't wake quite as often. I will probably think about nightweaning when she is over one.

[kazza446]

I'm going through this too. My ds was cosleeping with me and feeding every 2 hours. Last week I was so exhausted and at breaking point I decided to put him in his own room. We tried controlled crying and within 3 days I could put him down in his cot awake and he will self settle. We are now down to 1 feed at midnight and 1 feed at about 5. Still not ideal but a million miles away from 2 hourly feeds. I'm having to return to work next week and will be away 2 nights, which I'm dreading. Not sure how he will receive a bottle rather than boob through the night!!

[SpiderTracker]

He was fine, he is 8 now and still doesn't seem to need much sleep. I just went with it and we came out the otherside.

[Littlefrenchmummy]

OK. I am going to do control crying. Im going to go and sleep downstairs with him and let him cry it out.

Its true a lot of people I have asked have told me its normal but I just can't accept that he would have the rhythm of a new born at 8 months old I must be doing something wrong. He is using milk as comfort Im going to stop giving it. And maybe Ill find a homeopathic pharmacy and get some information on that and see if that might help the process.

Thank you all of you for your suggestions really it has made me feel so positive I was so fed up when i wrote that post this morning !

Ill email back in 1 week and give an update, might help other mums out there.

Thank you !!

[Sootgremlin]

When we night weaned we did it gradually over a week so it didn't feel too tough on any of us. Can you enlist your dp to help too? As sometimes having someone else to comfort them back to sleep helps break the association.

We basically aimed for stretching it longer and longer without milk, replacing one feed at a time with a cuddle/shhing from DH until he slept through. Do what you feel is right, but I personally would have struggled with controlled crying as my ds didn't just grizzle, he got hysterical instantly. I found it much easier on both of us to replace the milk with a different kind of comfort.

[Sootgremlin]

I'm not criticising by the way, I know how tough it is, just another option if you find it is too much.

[Littlefrenchmummy]

Great idea Sootgremlin. I think Im just going to fwd this thread to my husband so he doesn't think Im making this up ha ha !
Thanks !

[keepitgoing]

yes it's a little unfair to go from feeding each time to leaving him to cry. I agree either you or dh cuddling/ patting would be a good place to start, though it'll take longer for him to sleep through at least he will be comforted even if he can't have milk!

[keepitgoing]

I'm not criticising either BTW! whichever way you do will work if you're consistent. that is the main thing, so you have to be prepared to stick it out and it will be tough for a while. we moved from feed every two hours, to one feed not before 1am, then not until 0630. then reduced the length of the feed (bf), then stopped all feeds. also took us a week. she didn't sleep through for a few weeks but did 8 hours within 3 days. and until she slept through I'd shh pat but not feed.

[ellie3009]

You don't say whether you are breastfeeding or bottle, but if breast and you go suddenly from feeding every 2 hours, to not feeding at all you will have really sore boobs!

I would try to cut one feed at a time - he shouldn't need them every 2 hours if he is getting enough food and milk in the daytime.
With my baby I decided that if he went to bed at 7.30pm, I wouldn't feed until after midnight. If he woke before midnight, we would rock/pat him back to sleep. If he woke after midnight, I would feed him, but then try not to feed him again for at least 4 hours. After a couple of days he stopped waking before midnight, then gradually his wakeup has pushed back so he now only wakes once early morning.
Unfortunately he still wakes once about 4.30am even though I am not feeding him anymore, and needs me to help him go back to sleep.

[Serendipity71]

Hi we used a sleep consultant for a very similar problem; she told us
If you just stopped feeding; it could be very harsh,
So we reduced it over 10 days then stopped.
Patted to sleep- took 3 weeks to sleep through. Worked for us.good luck

[TobyLerone]

We are having the exact same problem here, so I'm placeholding for the update :)

[BonnetDeDouche]

Hope you are having some luck. My DD is BF and waking 3 hourly at the moment. I'm back to work at the end of the month and will be doing nights. I need to try and spread the feeds further apart before then so watching with interest.

[Littlefrenchmummy]

I have been doing it for 3 days now. I have posted updates on another thread I started at 2am whilst a bit paranoid about how long I should let him cry. Its called something like its 2am, am I doing this right ?

I am dreading every single night ! Good luck to all of you doing the same thing !!

[Quodlibet]

My 8m old wakes at least every 2hrs when she is teething. I was despairing a couple of weeks ago too, but since then she has settled and we have many nights with only one feed between 8pm-5am. We didn't use CC. One thing I do think helped was that we swapped BF at each wake-up for DP with a bottle of milk, and discovered she wasn't really hungry and would have a couple of sips and drop off again. But every time there's a new tooth on the way, we have a few nights of her waking every 1-2hrs.

It sounds like you've decided on a CC plan now OP, but just bear in mind that it might all be teething related.

[Littlefrenchmummy]

MORNING !!

Just a little update on my CC, My little boy slept through the night last night ! Im so happy!

Put him to bed at 745. He woke up at 830 and cried for 30 minutes and then slept until ...8am. amazing!

Quodlibet I have tried everything... I kept saying it was teething and there was nothing I could do about it. But turns out it wasn't. He is so happy during the day he has had a few days where teething has been nagging and he wasn't himself but like my eldest son he copes quite well with teeth.
I tried giving him everything. Calpol, bonjela, teething granules, nurofen but no difference at all. He still woke every 1-2 hours every night. It was just a bad routine he was in. We needed in this case a tougher approach to break that habit.
I feel like a new person today :)

[TobyLerone]

Wow. That's amazing! Well done for sticking it out :)

[carolinementzer]

My DD was the same - milk addicted. There tummy's get used to being full of milk. My DD was the same up until 15 months up 8 x a night sometimes - then I had enough (or nearly lost the plot with tiredness). my husband set up a camp bed next to her cot, because she wouldn't settle with milk from me. It took 5 nights and a bit of crying but she was never alone - then she slept 9 nine hours straight. A few weeks later 12 hours straight. anyway, here's how we did it if you're interested - mydaughterwontsleep.com/2014/02/06/is-breast-best-when-it-comes-to-sleep-apparently-not/
Good luck!