Author Topic: 8 month old started having night wakings  (Read 1487 times)

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Offline becky1969

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8 month old started having night wakings
« on: September 08, 2006, 22:43:04 pm »
My LO is 36 weeks old/8 months 1 week. He's always been a pretty fabulous sleeper. We got rid of the dream feed about amonth ago, and he's now down to 4 bottles (generally about 8 oz each) and 3 meals of solids (usually a total of 6-9 oz. per day).

We've rarely had problems with night sleep. Even as a newborn, he'd wake for abottle, eat, go right back to sleep. No staying awake. Then when he turned 5 months old, we started having trouble with him waking 30 minutes after being put to bed, and occasionally (4-5 times?) waking in the night and having trouble going back to sleep until 1-2 hours later. We finally got that all straightened out about 4-6 weeks later by extending awake time. I think another factor was that he was having a bad reaciton to cereal, adn therefore was very gassy and perhaps his reflux acted up.

anyway, at 8 months old the same thing started happening again! He's waking anywhere from 12-2 am and staying awake for about an hour. I'm noticing though, that he WANTS to go to sleep, but his little body is jerking and jolting. He'll close his eyes as if he wants to sleep, but all that jolting is waking him up. When he first wakes up though, it's usually with a little cry and then he starts babbling/chatting to himself. He doesn't continue to cry.

I've been letting him lay in his crib chatting until he starts genuinely fussing/crying (usually about 30 minutes). Then I'll go and shush/pat or rock him a bit. It only takes a few minutes for him to close his eyes, but if I want him to stay asleep I have to hold him until those jolts go away.

What's going on here? Is this an habitual waking? Or is he overtired? Or is there something else going on - gassiness, food problem, reflux acting up. I just can't figure it out! It's driving me CRAZY! I've noticed this happens whether he's had 2 hours in daytime sleep or 4, or anything in between.

Help!
« Last Edit: September 09, 2006, 17:14:14 pm by becky1969 »
Owen, 12/28/05 7 lb 2 oz

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Offline skibbit

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Re: 8 month old started having night wakings
« Reply #1 on: September 09, 2006, 02:45:49 am »
sounds to me like youve got a big problem!  ??? i dont know what to say other than that it seems like he wants you to hold him to sleep. maybe he wakes up because  when he jolts he notices that hes not in your arms and doesnt know how to go back to sleep. perhaps you need to help him learn to fall asleep after he jolts awake at night by himself by doing pat shush or pupd.
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Offline Kimberly®

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Re: 8 month old started having night wakings
« Reply #2 on: September 09, 2006, 03:18:16 am »
Its does sound like holding and rocking him may be starting to become a prop, does he need to be held or rocked for naps or bedtime?
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Offline First Time Mom

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Re: 8 month old started having night wakings
« Reply #3 on: September 09, 2006, 03:47:17 am »
Has he reached any new milestones or is he teething (this could cause wakes)?

You mentioned that it happens regardless of wheither he naps 2-4 hrs in the day, my guess is that his naps are inconsistent and this could cause his wakes. 4 hrs of naps at his age are perhaps too long and this could be why he stays up for an hour when he wakes. I would try to work on getting him consistent in his day naps first to see if it impacts his night sleep and reduces the wakes. See if a more set routine for wake time, naps, and bed helps.
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Offline becky1969

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Re: 8 month old started having night wakings
« Reply #4 on: September 09, 2006, 17:13:27 pm »
His naps used to be VERY consistently 3 hours. I mean, to the minute! But, lately he's been VERY tired. I've been thru this before (around 4.5 months), and I believe it's teething. I learned then not to monkey with his sleeping. When he's tired, he needs that sleep. If I wake him early from naps during these phases, he just goes to bed overtired and can take over an hour to fall asleep and then can have frequent night wakings. If I let him get as much sleep as he needs, he goes to sleep fine and sleeps his normal 12 hours. Go figure.

Last night I really watched him when he woke up. It was at 10:30 - the earliest time yet. I shush/patted him in the crib, and he went right back to sleep immediately, but jolted awake. This happened about 3 times, and then I took him out of the crib and held him tight and walked him. He'd arch his back several times, and finally he tooted. So I'm now convinced it's gas that's bothering him. He's been an EXTREMELY gassy baby since birth, but with Gentlease, gripe water, and Mylicon we've mostly gotten it under control. However, I introduced applesauce last week and i think it's making him gassy. I stopped after 3 days b/c I could see it was disagreeing, but we're still dealing with constipation from it.  ::) Anyway, I'm hopeful that in a few more days the gassiness will pass and he'll go back to normal. Other than that waking at 10:30, he slept great until 7:10 this morning. He's fussing pretty hard this morning, so I believe either teeth or gas are making him unhappy. Poor love!

And he goes down for naps and bed with no problem, sleeps through with no intervention at naps. I think he can put himself back to sleep normally, but when that gas starts acting up, he just can't get comfortable and gets irritated with his body arching and jolting in his sleep. I think holding him is the right thing to do. If I don't, it takes it longer for him to get into a deep sleep. I used this method back at 5 months and was worried I'd become a prop. But as soon as we stopped oatmeal and got it out of his system, he went right back to sleeping like normal without needing me as a prop! So I'm not worried about that part at all. He's angel/textbook, so really adaptable.
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Offline First Time Mom

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Re: 8 month old started having night wakings
« Reply #5 on: September 10, 2006, 00:34:51 am »
Poor little guy! From what you describe it does sound like gas from a certain food. If he's uncomfortable from it I personally would hold/pat/ whatever needed to comfort him (I know, some may cringe and worry about it becoming a prop) but for me, their comfort comes first and you really shouldn't have a problem if he falls asleep fine at other times. I always remember that we only have the one chance to hold them like this as babies before they grow up so fast.
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Offline becky1969

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Re: 8 month old started having night wakings
« Reply #6 on: September 10, 2006, 16:02:14 pm »
Thanks First Time Mom!

Last night went MUCH better. He slept thru, with just periodic fuss-fussings - he was rolling all aroudn the crib, so I think the gas was making him uncomfortable, but not enough to wake him up. That's a good sign - I think it WAS the applesauce, and we're finally getting it out of him the rest of the way. He slept 12 hours, and then laid quietly in his crib for an hour while mommy got a little more shut-eye.  ::) Normally I get up when he wakes up, but I was exhausted from all the night wakings this last week! What a sweet boy!
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Offline Kimberly®

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Re: 8 month old started having night wakings
« Reply #7 on: September 10, 2006, 16:09:47 pm »
I'm glade to hear things improved, keep us posted ok :)
Kimberly