7-8 months olds - sleeping at night ... (and looking for some advice!)

Just wondering what your LOs are doing at night.

My DD is 7.5 mos and kinda driving us crazy with her inconsistency. She's been on/off sleeping through the night since 2.5 mos ... and here we are, 5 months later, still hoping for some consistency!

Her daytime schedule is very consistent ... she eats a TON (nurses 5-6x and has 3 solid meals) and has 2 good naps (anywhere from 1-2 hrs each, averaging at 1.5 hrs). She goes to sleep at 6:30 p.m. and is up for the day around 7 (give or take) ... but in between that is what is driving me mad! She has, on countless occasions, slept 12 straight hours. But, more often than not, she's up somewhere between 1:30 and 5:30 (that's a HUGE range - it's SO unpredictable!).

We had THREE WEEKS where I did not feed her during the night - I sent my DH down for her so she wouldn't want to eat (since I BF). It was great - we were finally making progress .. and then BAM, one night she was inconsolable until I fed her. AWFUL. And so here we are, back to me feeding her during the night at very unpredictable times (usually just once though).

We've tried CIO and it just does not work for her (I know how to do it properly ... and have ... and it works for a few nights and then it's over ... it worked so well for my older DD, this one, not so much).

Any advice? What are your 7-8 month olds doing at night??

7-8 months olds - sleeping at night ... (and looking for some advice!)

I have no advice but I wanted to say that I feel you!

DS has never sttn, so I have no idea what that feels like. But he goes down to sleep around 7:30 and is up anywhere from 3-5x! It used to be 2x, then for a while 1, but now it's all over the place that I've pretty much just brought him into bed with me after the second or third time.

Sometimes he'll be up as early as 10 pm and there are nights where I can get him back to sleep in the crib without nursing, and nights where I simply cannot because he's inconsolable. Yet he's amazing during the day, so I can't complain there.

Like your DD, he eats a ton during the day. So I think he's more of a social waker who likes to nurse since I'm there, lol.

So this is just me throwing in that you are not alone.

Message edited 6/3/2013 9:38:46 AM.

Re: 7-8 months olds - sleeping at night ... (and looking for some advice!)

Sorry no help, my DD is the SAME exact way. some nights she will sleep 8-10 hours without waking up... some nights she has done 12 hours... some night she still feeds 1-2x unpredictably. sometimes she is up for an hour in the middle of the night for no reason and won't go back to sleep. CIO does not work for us either when we have tried it. I heard it takes some babies 12-14 months to grow out of this. im tired just so exhausted so i hope she does it sooner but she is almost 10 months now and still has the same routine...

Re: 7-8 months olds - sleeping at night ... (and looking for some advice!)

My almost 7-month-old has been sleeping through the night (12 hours or more) consistently for a little over a month now. I EBF and was nursing her usually 5, sometimes even 6, times a day. Then I read The Baby Sleep Solution, which recommends only feeding 4 times a day. The idea is with fewer feedings, the baby will consume more at each feeding, so their total for the day will still be the same, but they will learn to go longer between feedings. We started following a 8am, 12pm, 4pm, 7:30pm nursing schedule and after a little while she stopped waking for a 5am feeding and now goes from 8pm-8am in her crib, most nights without a peep.

The other night, she woke up at 5am crying, so I thought maybe she had a dirty diaper (she didn't), I went in and changed her and put her right back in her crib. After a 10-minute bout of whining, she went back to sleep until 9am. And hasn't done that again since.

At this point she has shown me she is more than capable of going through the night without eating, so there is noway I'm going to feed her if she wakes in the middle of the night. I'll go in and comfort her if needed, but she's not coming out of that crib other than to be changed.

Re: 7-8 months olds - sleeping at night ... (and looking for some advice!)

DS gets up 1-2 times a night, the times are totally random.

7-8 months olds - sleeping at night ... (and looking for some advice!)

Thank you for all your replies! It's nice to know I'm not alone

Evenedan, I think I'm going to try to nurse her only 4x/day. I feel like I'm trying to squeeze in more unnecessarily. We'll see if that helps!!

Re: 7-8 months olds - sleeping at night ... (and looking for some advice!)

You arent alone. DS is 8 months and is up several times during the night. The reasons i havent done CIO is because 1.) we are living at my in laws so it will wake them (though this is only for a few more weeks) and 2.) because DS has had a lot of ear infections and is actually getting tubes tomorrow so i have felt bad about making him cry it out. Once we know his ears are better and we are in our new house, i'm definitely trying CIO.

Sorry, like others i have no advice, but you arent alone!

7-8 months olds - sleeping at night ... (and looking for some advice!)

My DS finally started sleeping through the night at 8 months. I too read The Baby Sleep Solution. If possible, try to increase how much he eats if possible during the feeding times. I'm so thankful!!!!!!