Days are great, nights are bad for 8 mth old...any advice?

[~Lori~]

My little guy will be 8 mths this week.  Our nights have not been fun for a long time.  He gets a minimum of 1 NF a night which I am fine with, but sometimes it's 2 times.  He is also waking early and/or having long NW between 1-2 hrs long.  Yes, he is teething, yes, he is learning so much so I know developmental plays a part, but it has been like this for about 3-4 mths now.  If you could please take a look at an example of our routine and see if anything stands out to you.  Our days have been going really well consistently for a month or so now.

6:30 BF
7:30 Solids
10-11:45 Sleep (usually sleeps between 1.5-2 hrs here)
11:45 BF
12:00 Solids
3:15-4:45 Sleep
4:45 BF
5:30 Solids
8:00 BF (top up)
8:15 Sleeping

Wakes up anywhere from 12-3.  I am  not usually successful with settling him without feeding at this time.  Occasionally I can reinsert paci and pat him and he can go back down.  Typically he wakes around 1ish and I feed him and he goes right back to sleep.  Then he wakes up anywhere from 3:30-5 am and it is sooooo difficult to get him to sleep.  He starts off either talking (so it seems UT to me?) but usually turns to fussing then crying (when i intervene).  Usually he is awake for 1-2 hrs.  I have tried feeding him at this time.  Sometimes he will go back to sleep, sometimes not.  I don't really think it is a hunger thing.  I am just exhausted after months and months of this!  Any suggestions?

I know our day is long, so i am not sure if i should just cap a nap at 1.5 in the am?  It's hard because 2 days a week our morning is broken up with school runs so he usually gets a shorter am nap those days (45min-1hr)

[Charjanemom]

We are going through ew times too!!

Have u noticed that his nights are better on the days you cap the am nap?

[Erin M]

With those wide awake times in the middle of the night, the culprit usually is too much day sleep.  I probably wouldn't cap the first nap though if it's a good solid one.  I'd actually try capping the second nap down to about 45 minutes or so, which will hopefully make your last A time shorter and get him in bed a little bit earlier. 

I'd be interested to know this:

Have u noticed that his nights are better on the days you cap the am nap?

too. 

[~Lori~]

To be honest, I don't see much, if any difference at all on the nights when he gets less sleep during the day, or if I cap a nap.  Tomorrow is a day when he has to have a short am nap due to picking up my other son from pre school, so I'll see how it goes with a shorter nap and then hopefully a longer one.  Today he ended up having a nap of 1hr50min in the am and then only 50 min in the pm. So we'll see how the night goes

[~Lori~]

Well, true to fashion, DS woke up this morning at 4am, but was crying a lot.  We did give him teething tablets which seem to help when it's teething related.  but it really didn't calm him much at all.  DH ended up sitting with him for awhile and he fell asleep in his arms.  But after he laid him down, 20 min later he was back up.  Not sure what the deal is?  It's just been a long season of this

[Erin M]

OK, I'd probably focus on letting him get a good first nap (on the days when you can) and then capping the second at 45 minutes.  On the days when he gets a shorter first nap, see if you can get a longer second one in. 

[~Lori~]

Ok, will try that.  Thanks!!  I know with my other 2 kids as well, this time between 7-9 mths was harder for night sleep so I know it will pass.

[~Lori~]

Actually had a great night last night!

He was sleeping by 7:45, I heard him cry out at 9:30 and fuss for a minute but settled himself.  Then he slept all the way til 4!  Right back to sleep and then up at 7:10.  Haven't had a night like this in forever.  Even if it's one night, I am thankful for the extra sleep I got

[Erin M]

Yay!  Even one night goes a long way towards making you feel like a human being again!
Just out of curiosity, did you happen to track your day to see what it was like?

[~Lori~]

I did track it.  Here is how it was

7:10 Wake up and eat
8:15 Solids
10:35-11:45 Sleep/Eat (I had to wake him to leave to pick up my other son)
1:00 Solids
3:10-4:15 Sleep/Eat
5:30 Solids
7:30 BF
7:45 Sleep
(stirred at 9:30 but settled himself)
4:00 NF
7:10 Wake up

That said, I think we are "in for it" tonight b/c we've been travelling to Canada today and he slept a total of 30 minutes from 11:45-7:45 in the car!!  He already has woken up once at it's only 10...oh boy

[Erin M]

A decent day -- you got two not terribly long, but longer than 45 minute naps in, so that might have helped. 
Hope your night was ok, traveling always messes us up here.