8 month old frequently waking at night suddenly

[Aria2010]

My lo is 8.5 mo. For the past 10 days he's been waking frequently throughout the night. He's in bed for 7pm and usually falls asleep pretty fast (within 10 mins). He used to wake once in the night for a feed somewhere between 2 - 4am but now he wakes at (approx) 12.00am, 1am and 4am. I can usually get him back to sleep pretty quick at 12am by popping the dummy in his mouth but at the other two wake ups the only way to get him back to sleep is for me to breastfeed him. I'm going a bit crazy because I struggle to fall back asleep and recently I've been unable to get back to sleep after the 4am wake up and I'm exhausted as I work 3 days a week now.

Last night when he woke at 4am I tried to settle him without feeding him, my husband also tried. He stops crying momentarily when we pick him up but then he starts again (while still in our arms) so we put him down and he cries even harder. Eventually after 40 minutes I fed him - I only gave him a few minutes on each breast and he cried a bit when I took him off but then went pretty much straight to sleep when I put him back in his crib.

His days are ok. He's transitioned to two naps a little while ago and sleep about an 1.25 hrs in the morning and 2hrs in the afternoon. He's eating 3 little meals a day and he's not constipated or anything. He just suddenly isn't seeping well. I've noticed on the baby monitor that he is tossing and turning a lot. I don't think he's too hot or too cold because we keep an eye on the room temp and dress him accordingly. I've read that there is an 8 months sleep regression so not sure if it's that but I feel like we've gone backwards and it's starting to make me panic.

Any insight or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[lily_layne]

We hit some similar bumps in the road at that age so it could be developmental. Honestly, I did mostly just feed DS and pop him back down. With DD, I had a bit more stamina and I did sh/pat for the extra wakings. I just rubbed her back while she cried until she went to sleep.

How long ago did you start working? It could be related to that?

Do you want to post your routine with times? Maybe something just needs a little shift to set things right.

[Aria2010]

Thanks for the reply  . I started back at work 6 weeks ago. My mil looks after lo for 3 days a week mom-fri. His routine goes a bit out the window with her and she struggles to get him to nap for any decent length of time but on my days he's ok with naps.

Our day on my day off looks like this:
7.30 wake up and feed
8.00 - 10.15 play (bit of breakfast during this time)
10.15 - 11.30 nap
11.30 feed
11.30 - 2.30 play (with a bit of lunch during this time)
2.30 - 2.45 small feed (to tide him over for nap)
2.45 - 4.30 nap
4.30 - 6.00 play (bit of dinner)
6.00 - 7.00 bath, feed, bed

He was waking once a night for a feed which is fine, he's breastfed so I know it's common to still require a feed in the night but he'd wake anywhere from 2.30am - 5am for a feed before and now it's 12, 1 and 4am. I do t think he's hungry for those first wake ups but it's the only thing that settles him.

[lily_layne]

Your routine looks good and if it's been working for a while, I would likely think the extra NWs are due to change in his life of you going back to work. Both of my LOs woke more often at night when I returned to work. If he's not napping well with MIL he may be accumulating some OT which could also make him wake more. Do you put him to bed early on the days he doesn't nap well?

If it doesn't improve in a week or so I would maybe look at pushing BT out a bit on days he naps well. He may be ready for a slightly longer day.