Tips on getting 8 month old to sleep more...

Carrole

Hi ironman1,
Have you consult your baby's doctor?
I think you must play with your baby in evening so your baby will get exhaust and make sure to feed your baby before bed. It will help your baby in sleeping.

neneromanova

I'm one of these horrible mothers who's child sleeps from 6.30 til about 7/8. And I use controlled crying. I have to disagree with the letting the child go to sleep at 9/10/11 and letting them wake up about 8/9 in the morning. How do you get them out of this when it's time for school?

I read somewhere (can't remember where now) that children are weird. The more sleep they have during the day, the better sleepers they become at night. I have NOOOOOOOOOOO Idea how this works. But it's worked for me. my girls get 2 hrs sleep during the day then go to bed at 6.30 every night. Routine is so important for us though. My mum says I shouldn't let the childs routine rule my life, but it works for my girls so why change it?

OP, is your child eating solids yet? Could be that he's just getting hungrier and hungrier. Plus the teething really won't help with sleeping. Good Luck OP

mildred1978

neneromanova wrote: »

I'm one of these horrible mothers who's child sleeps from 6.30 til about 7/8. And I use controlled crying. I have to disagree with the letting the child go to sleep at 9/10/11 and letting them wake up about 8/9 in the morning. How do you get them out of this when it's time for school?

I was naturally a midnight till noon sleeper as a baby and don't remember being late for school once. Children adapt. School is exhausting for small children so I expect my son's bedtime to get earlier once he's at school naturally. You can't force a child to sleep at 7pm (not that I'd want to).

neneromanova wrote: »

I read somewhere (can't remember where now) that children are weird. The more sleep they have during the day, the better sleepers they become at night. I have NOOOOOOOOOOO Idea how this works. But it's worked for me. my girls get 2 hrs sleep during the day then go to bed at 6.30 every night.

That's true. My son naps for 2-2.5 hours a day and still gets his full 12 hours at night.

neneromanova wrote: »

Routine is so important for us though. My mum says I shouldn't let the childs routine rule my life, but it works for my girls so why change it?

And my son's later routine works for us, so why change that?

neneromanova

mildred1978 wrote: »

I was naturally a midnight till noon sleeper as a baby and don't remember being late for school once. Children adapt. School is exhausting for small children so I expect my son's bedtime to get earlier once he's at school naturally. You can't force a child to sleep at 7pm (not that I'd want to).

Yeah I understand that, But in my opinion (and this is only my opinion and not in anyway saying you're bad and shouldn't be doing that) all you're allowing your child to do is dictate things. When I was younger, my bedtime was set at a certain time. I had to respect that and respect what my parents said. Some of my friends I used to go to see were told to go to bed at say 8 and the child would turn around swearing that they didn't want to and would go when they chuffing well wanted. No respect for their parents and the stupid thing was the parents just rolled over.

mildred1978

neneromanova wrote: »

Yeah I understand that, But in my opinion (and this is only my opinion and not in anyway saying you're bad and shouldn't be doing that) all you're allowing your child to do is dictate things. When I was younger, my bedtime was set at a certain time. I had to respect that and respect what my parents said. Some of my friends I used to go to see were told to go to bed at say 8 and the child would turn around swearing that they didn't want to and would go when they chuffing well wanted. No respect for their parents and the stupid thing was the parents just rolled over.

Well, I certainly never did that!

Sammy_Girl

IronMan - How is your DS's daytime sleep? If he has good quality naps during the day then that should improve his sleep of a night-time.

My DD is 9.5 months. I appreciate that every baby is different, but mine does generally sleep 6.30pm - 7am. Anything prior to 7am is treated as a night time waking in this house. Touch wood, I haven't had to take her out of her cot since about 12 weeks. On the rare occasions that she has woken up upset, I go in and rub her chest and lots of shhhhhhhs until she's calmed down. I don't do Controlled Crying at all.

I am a firm believer of routines. DD will have a good 2-3 hour lunchtime nap. She dropped her morning and afternoon naps a while back. Dinner is at 5pm. Bath at 5.30pm. PJs and bottle at 6pm. Brush teeth and then bed at 6.30pm with 3 dummies, so she can find her own if she wakes up

We used to dream feed every night before I went to bed and we dropped this when she was around 7 months once she was established on solids. You could try dropping this feed but instead of cutting it out straightaway, reduce it by 1oz every couple of days. I did this, and after 10 days or so she was down to 2oz and sleeping fine, so then I dropped it no problems.

Maybe discuss people's experiences on here with your DW and see if there are any that you want to try. But whatever you choose, you must be consistent. I can vary the above routine if needs be from time to time for special events and holidays etc, but mostly it gets kept the same.

Good luck. Lack of sleep is a killer!!

liney

I always recommend the Babywhisper to anyone who has sleep problem - you can get a copy from the library.

4am isn't morning, so why are you allowing the baby to be up for the day? Change nappy, tuck back in and say goodnight. Repeat, until s/he gets the message. It won't be any more tiring then rising at 4am daily!

Mrs_Arcanum

Only suggestion I would add is to make sure your baby gets some fresh outdoor air time every day.