Any day sleep hints for an 8 month old who fights sleep....

[lotti]

Hi

My little boy has fought sleep since the day he was born, especially during the day, despite (loosely) following EASY from an early age. I do everything in my power to try to get him to nap/extend his naps but this is usually futile. He looks so tired all of the time and recently his nighttime sleep has become worse than ever, I think his refusal to nap during the day has a lot to do with this. He has also just cut all 4 of his 1st teeth within a 3 week period! He is 8 months next week.

His typical day goes something like this:-
6.30 Awake, breast feed
07.30 Solids
09.30 Sleep of between 30 mins - 1 1/2 hr
11.00 breast feed
12.30 Solids
13.00 sometimes (rarely) 20 mins - 30 mins sleep
14.30/15.00 sleep 30 mins (very occasionally he may go up to 1 hr)
16.00 breastfeed
17.00 Solids
18.00 Bathtime & bedtime routine
19.15 Asleep

I have moved house recently and since this, he will not fall asleep independantly, although he is gradually becoming more comfortable being alone in his cot. He usually naps in his pram  if I am out and about or in the living room. The only other place he will sleep is in the car. I am working on the "No-cry sleep solution" and things are looking up - apart from the daytime!

Does anyone have any hints ? It seems impossible to get him to sleep more, he will just not do it if he decides not to - he is a very "Touchy" baby and knows his own mind!

Thanks

Charlotte

[chell]

Hi, my lo was part touchy and I had to really watch for signs of overtiredness and overstimulation, as it was so easy to miss that window.
major events such as moving and teething are likely to affect sleep. You mention that he will nap in the car and pram and I am just wondering if you have unwittingly done some accidental parenting. It looks as though he would be overtired and yes you are right the lack of sleep during the day will affect his nightime sleep. I am wondering what his  what his nightime sleep pattern is like? Has he ever been able to fall asleep in his cot on his own? Your routine looks OK, but it may be worth trying to bring forward his bedtime to say 6.30. For an 8 month old the average awake time is about 2 hours.

Try bringing bedtime forward.

I think you will need to persevere with pu/pd, for naps and bedtime, naturally after checking that your lo does not need pain relief for teething.

Make sure that you do a wind down and catch him before he gets overtired.

I think it is very important that you show him you are not going to leave him and give him lots of reasurance during the day and time to get used to just being in his new room and cot, to build his confidence.

Lastly I think you will need to concentrate getting him to nap in his cot only for a while (couple of weeks), to break the habit of sleeping elsewhere. (Not easy I know!)

Hope this helps a bit ( love the piccy!)

[Jenn©]

Just adding that I love the picture.  What a cutie!!!!!!!!!! 

[lotti]

Thanks for the hints. I am desperately trying to get him used to his new room, we play in there several times a day but despite perservering with the daytime naps in his cot, he won't co-operate! I think I will leave it a week and try again.

Catching him before he gets overtired is a toughy. He doesn't give away his tiredness very easily until its to late! If I do catch him in time, we have better naps, better night times, better eating, and so on ... his clues are quite subtle though ... !

Thanks again, will give the hints a try

Charlotte

[chell]

That says it all really - Jacob is the same. If I keep him on trackwith his routines and make sure he gets his naps, the day goes like clockwork, if I don't.........then watch out!! The only other thing I can suggest is that you make an asserted effort to record nap times, and awake times, so that you get to know how long he can tolerate being up for, and then to get him to nap using pu/pd, before overtiredness sets in. As they get older you can base the routine more on a timetable, than looking for cues which can be much harder in an older baby.