Please Help : 8 month old wakes every four hours

Hi all

I have an 8 month old son whom still wakes every four hours during the night, and just recenty neary every 2 hours during the night.
I can resettle him if he wakes 2 hours later, but if it is around 4 hours later he will not resettle. I have used all of the techniques in the sleep section on this website and do the eat play sleep routine.
So after four hours I will give him a feed.

He goes off to sleep really well, but he will not stay asleep any longer than 4 hours

Please Help!!


All the best

Dear Zac's mum,

I am not sure if this will help but I have a 6 1/2 month old boy Connor and he still wakes for a feed through the night. And just recently he has been waking every 2 - 3 hours..

I try and settle him but if he dosent well then I give him a bottle..

Do you feed Zac solids??? How much does he have in his bottles????

Has he only just started doing this or has it been an ongoing thing???

I am sorry that this prob wont help you and your prob? Maybe you could speak with your clinic nurse?

Hope that Zac gets better.

Let me know how you get on as I would be interested in what tech you would try to help...

My email is mickandtan77@bigpond.com

Good luck

Tanya

Hi ZacsMum

Maybe he wakes up because he knows you will give him a bottle? I am having the exact same troubles with my daughter.It is very rare for her to sleep more than 3 hours during the night. As you know, it makes for a very tired and grumpy bum mum the next day. I really think we just have to get tough and cut out those night feeds. It is only out of habit that they are waking, and eventually they WILL get used to the fact that its sleep time NOT eat time!!
Does Zac drink enough milk during the day to cut out the night feeds? Have you tried a dream feed before you go to bed? Just a few options for you.
Trust me i know what youre going through, i have not slept through the night for 9 months now.....

Hi lara and tanya
Thanx for your responses

Zac has never really slept that well. He has only ever really slept for 5 hours at the most and not on a regular basis.

He has 3-4 bottles during the day which are 200ml and eats 3-4 solid meals a day.

I have started giving a 10pm rollover feed, but still wakes every 4 hours.

I too think you just have to have persistance and keep resettling durimng the night and eventually they will learn.

I hear that it takes a week to break a habit.

Let me know how you are going.

All the best

Hi Zacs Mum

Dunno if this will help, but I know exacty what you're going through.

We had heaps of trouble with Alynta when she hit about 5 1/2 months and stopped sleeping through. As a result of this and me getting tired I got lazy and started pulling her into bed with me then we'd both fall off to sleep. The problems really started when she wasn't able to go back to sleep without being in bed with me andwithout a feed. The tireder I got, the worse the problem got and she began waking even more (anywhere from 3 to 8 times in a night) Both she and I got tireder and grumpier until finally a friend loaned me a book called 'Babywise' when Ally was about 8months.

What a Godsend, it guides you through what they call PDF or Parent directed Feeding and within 1 1/2 - 2 wks, she was not only sleeping through, but was also having structured daytime sleeps aswell. Oh Happy family!

Alynta is now just over 12months and everything is still going great because the book helped us learn and lay some basic foundations. Her grandparents are amazed at the difference in her and our sanity has been saved. It also solved our clinginess problems.

You may need also to check out the second in the series which is Babywise 2 and deals with 6 - 15 month olds more specifically, but the first one will give you all the foundational info you need.

Hope this helps, would love to know how you go. If you want anymore info, let me know.

Hi ZacsMum

If its any consolation I know exactly how you feel!! I have an almost 9month old (12/1/04) who goes to bed really easily, but then wakes 1-2 hours later and refuses to go back to sleep. He still wakes every 4-5 hours during the night looking for a feed (breast not bottle). He eats 3 solid meals a day plus snacks (more than his almost 3yr old sister). I'm just about insane from lack of sleep, but keep telling myself its going to improve. I hope you have some luck soon and will let you know if I have any

Catch ya

Cindy

Hi everyone,
I have had no luck with any method of getting Paige to sleep, she is up so many times a night I've lost count!.
Shanna where did u get that book from?, it sounds great, how much did it cost?.
thanks
Elz

Hi Elz,

The book was loaned to me by a friend. I've been checking into availability for a couple other ladies though and you can get it thru both Angus & Robertson and Collins booksellers(both sourcing from the US) which isprobably a fairly good indication that it isn't too hard to come by.

I also found it on a national Christian bookstore site and they had it a fair bit cheaper than the others ($16.95 comp to about $24) 'cause they seemed to have it in stock. The link is: www.word.com.au (not currently working)then do an all products search for the full title (On Becoming Baby Wise). The authors are Garry Ezzo & Robert Bucknam.

I have also found a few copies on E-Bay US (they are mostly the '98 revision as opposed to the 2001 revision) and they are VERY resonsbly priced.

If you'r interested in checking it out, the site specifically for the book series it www.parentwisesolutions.com, they don't retail from there, but there's a bit of a run down on them all.

I hope you find this helpful and that things improve with Paige, grin I know it doesn't feel like it, but there really is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Would love to know how you go. Take care.

Thanks for that Shanni, I am now on the hunt!
& will let you know how it all goes, I have been up every 2 hours this week & I think my eyes are about to fall out of my head.
I haven't had a good night sleep since I was about 6 months pregnant & Paige is nearly 9months!
Thanks again
Elz

Hi,

I can very highly reccomend 'Sleep Right Sleep Tight' written by Rosy Cummings, Karen Houghten and Le Ann Williams. Most good book stores will carry it. if not, they can order it in for you. I am told it is the book that the Riverton Centre uses.

This book is a god sent.

I can relate to this as well - I am still fully breastfeeding as my son is not too interested in solids yet - I know he can go longer sometimes but unsure why. I keep thinking that he will only be little for a short time so I can handle it (sometimes! hehe) Good luck

Hi,

Have you thought about ringing Tresillian? I just spent 5 days in their residential home trying to teach my baby to sleep, and for the last week he has slept through the night (with the exception of last night!) when he spent the previous 3 weeks waking every hour or so. I still havent got his day sleeps much longer than one sleep cycle but we are working on it and it is much easier now I am getting sleep at night. There were 12 other babies there as well, and I think the success rate of the week I was there was around 80% of babies sleeping through the night so that is pretty good!
I was very worried about going and leaving my baby crying etc, but it isnt as hard when you have the support of their nurses and staff who are always there to help you. And you dont leave them crying longer than 5 minutes.... They are very routine orientated though so you have to be committed to getting your baby into a routine - which is hard as i havent left the house hardly for the last week!!!
Good luck.