My baby slept great until he was about 4 months old. From 4-8 months he woke about 3 times in the night. At 8 months things got terrible. He started waking up 4 or more times and not going back to sleep without nursing. Our doctor told us to let him cry it out and not go in. We did this, increasing the time between going in and laying him back down in his crib- didn't work. We tried not going in at all- he would cry for 2-3 hours before he fell asleep(i feel like a terrible mom just for trying this). We tried each of these methods for at least 2 weeks for consistency. In those weeks their was no improvement at all - I would have stuck with it had i seen even the tiniest progress or improvement. I've read and tried methods in The Baby Whisperer, Crying baby, Sleepless Nights, and The No-Cry Sleep approach. We've tried co-sleeping, sleeping next to his crib, classical music, crib aquarium, air purifier (for noise). He is now 10 1/2 months old. He goes to bed between 6:30 and 7:30 in the evening and wakes between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m. During the night he sleeps for his first stretch for about 3 hours, then wakes every 1-2 hours all night long! Our newest approach is going in before he gets too worked up (usually about 2 minutes after he wakes and starts crying), and laying him back down, patting his back for about a minute. Sometimes he'll go back to sleep, sometimes he won't. And even if he goes back to sleep he wakes up an hour or two later. He is overtired and cranky during the day. He will only sleep one half hour nap and one- one hour nap during the day. He still nuses about 3 times during the day and I'll feed him once at night, usually around 2a.m. He eats three big meals a day and 2 snacks. My four year old was a bad sleeper as a newborn, but all of the advise and tips in these books I read helped and by the time she was about 8 months she was waking up only twice a night and returning to sleep easily( pretty sad that I would be happy to be waking up twice a night now). We have very consistent routines and schedules. Also, he never plays in his crib when he wakes even in the morning or after a nap , he only will cry until I come and get him. If anyone has any advise, I really would appreciate. Our whole house is tired and I want to enjoy my baby again.
