Help! Need to get my touchy 8 month old back on track...

[mimi80]

Hi! I'm a long-time follower, first-time poster. Thanks to a dear friend who introduced me to this forum, DS has been on an EASY routine since he was 3 weeks old! DS is 8.5 months old and touchy. From about 3 months to 8 months, he was STTN with a very consistent EASY routine during the day. As soon as we hit the 8 month mark, his sleep went completely wonky. I'm not sure if I should credit this change to the "8 month sleep regression" I've read about, or the fact that my father-in-law came to stay with us for a bit (he lives in Vietnam) and created a major change in his routine. I'm absolutely attributing developmental leaps, teething, and SA. In order to help deal with this, DH and I decided to allow DS to sleep with us, as a temporary fix to the problem. It also ensured that everyone got some sleep! It's been 2 weeks, and this has to stop. Neither one of us ever intended on letting DS sleep with us at night, but we were desperate. He always starts off in his crib, and then when he wakes up crying for no apparent reason, we bring him into the bed with us. 

So I guess I have 2 issues here: breaking the habit of co-sleeping, and getting DS back on track. Here's an example of his current EASY routine:

A time of 3 hours
Two naps of 1.5 hours
Total daytime sleep: 3 hours
Total nighttime sleep: 9.5 hours

5am bottle/then back to sleep
8am wake up
9am bottle
11am nap
12:30 wake up
1pm bottle
2:30 solids
3:30 nap
5:00 wake up/bottle
7:30 solids
9:30 bath
9:45 bedtime bottle

I'm aware that this is a very late bedtime. DH and I struggle with this. DH feels that if DS went to bed at 7pm, he would hardly ever see him. We want to do what is best for him, just not sure if an earlier bedtime is the only thing he needs. I'm worried that he's not getting enough sleep at night. He used to sleep 10-11 hours straight until he turned 8 months. What gives?

Thank you so much, in advance. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[jessmum46]

Welcome! 

I'm not sure if I should credit this change to the "8 month sleep regression" I've read about, or the fact that my father-in-law came to stay with us for a bit (he lives in Vietnam) and created a major change in his routine. I'm absolutely attributing developmental leaps, teething, and SA.

(((Hugs))) - all these changes can really mess with sleep.  Hopefully we can help you get back on track soon

Has your LO ever been an independent sleeper in the past (as in, put him down fully awake in his crib and he goes off to sleep on his own with no help from you)?

Looking at your routine, I think you're right on track with the main problem here - his bedtime is really too late at the moment and he's almost certainly OT with less than 13h sleep in 24h.  With an 8am start, I would think that BT around 8/8.30pm (probably closer to 8pm in the short term until he catches up a bit) would be better for him.  What time does your DH get in in the evenings?  Would that sort of BT work?  Or would DH be able to spend time with him in the mornings?  I know it's a tough balancing act but if your LOs sleep (or lack of) is affecting you all, something needs to give somewhere IYKWIM?

If it were me, I think I'd work on getting the routine back on track first with an earlier bedtime, then work on stopping the co-sleeping once DS is caught up on some sleep - WDYT?  Sleep training is always easier when LO is better rested   I think PUPD (or just PD if your LO is pulling to stand) is probably the way to go but if you let me know what you think, we can go from there.

Hope that helps

[mimi80]

Thanks so much for your response! 

Yes, DS has been an independent sleeper since he was about 11 weeks old. We didn't start having sleep issues until about 2 weeks ago.

I was thinking that 8/8:30 might be a better BT for DS, as well. I think it's a BT we could work with! The question is, how do we implement? Should we start moving up BT by 15-20 minutes every 2-3 days? WDYT is best?

On another note, I think I also need to start adding in solids in the morning. The way he's been downing his formula leads me to believe I need to increase his caloric intake.

[jessmum46]

I'd just go for it at the new time - he should be tired enough but stick with it for a week at least to give him time to adjust to the earlier time