8 Month Old Won't Sleep Through the Night Anymore! Why?!!!

Hello B.,

My daughter is 7 months old and her sleeping habits have recently changed too, although we don't feed her a bottle in the middle of the night. She has been sleeping through the night since 8 weeks old, but the last couple of months she has been waking up several times a night. She will get fussy but after we give her the pacifier she goes back to sleep. We took her to the doctor thinking it might be an ear infection, but that was not the case. Her ears looked fine. The doctor thinks it might be due to teething...two of her bottom teeth have finally came through. We've been giving her infant tylenol as needed, especially before bedtime. Hope this information helps!

I found that when my 2yr old son was teething he would wake of 1-3 times a night. It will pass. It doesn't really sound like you need to change things with her feeding schedule. Keep up the good work!

I am a mother of 4. I ended up feeding my babies cereal right before the last bottle of the day and that seemed to keep their bellies full thru the night. Good luck! T.

A lot of babies at that age stop sleeping through the night for several reasons. 1) teething; 2) growing spurt; 3) they're learning so many new things their minds are so stimulated it's hard for them to rest.

My guess for your daughter is teething, especially since she doesn't have any yet. You can try to give her Tylenol or Motrin before bed and see if that helps. Ask your pediatrician for the correct dosage.

Try not to go in her room when she's just fussing, let her try to soothe herself back to sleep for a few minutes. Now, if she starts all-out crying and screaming, then of course, go in and comfort her. When you go in to soothe her in the middle of the night, just let her lay in her crib and rub her back or tummy to calm her down. Don't say anything, don't turn on any lights, just quietly soothe her without picking her up, just to let her know you're there. You might have to stand there for a while. As she calms down, take your hand away and just wait for a minute or two. If she stays calm and quiet go ahead and quietly leave her room. If that doesn't work and she still cries you can pick her up and walk with her or rock her, but try not to talk. I don't think you should be changing her diaper, that just wakes her up even more.

Not sure if this was mentioned (I just skimmed the first few answers), but it may be that she's having a growth spurt. Our 8mo. old daughter sleeps pretty well through the night most of the time; but every so often she'll start waking up in the middle of her sleep pattern (around 1am-3am) and I'll change her diaper and give her a bottle. When that happens and she eats a full 6-8 oz., I know she really was hungry. That usually happens three or four days in a row and then she's back to her regular sleep schedule. And we feed pretty much the same that you do. Good luck.

As she grows it's going to change. Your just going to have to monitor her a little more. It could be that your giving her too much sleep & now she's growing it's too much for her so she wakes up for a couple of hours. Try feeding. bathing & rubbering her down before you put her to bed for the night....add cereal to that bollte (rice). Good luck & God Bless!

Try feeding her cereal, the baby Gerber rice cereal, just before bedtime. That always works for me. Good Luck and sweet dreams.

These are the things that usually wake my kids up
1) It could be teething
2) It could be seperation anxiety (she wakes up and nobody is there)
3) Or it could be an ear infection

Feel her gums and see if they feel swollen. You might try giving her some tylenol or those teething tablets. Is she having trouble with taking her naps too? Also does she have any kind of runny nose or something like that then I would say it could be an ear infection.

Good luck.

M.

It may sound weird (but we went thru this exactly with my son).

It sounds like she's getting plenty of food. Just not on her schedule! We sleep on an empty stomach and we're all just fine. I would suggest that you reduce the qty of the bedtime bottle. If she's having "dinner" and then also having a large bottle her body's working to digest all of it thru the night. There's no break in digestion and when she runs out of fuel she wakes hungry.
When we reduced my son's bottle to 4 ounces, he slept much better. He tried to wake for a bottle for a while, but we reduced that too (and started making it cold straight from the tap) 2 cold ounces aren't much incentive to wake up! :)

Funny thing is - he started to actually eat a real breakfast instead of just munching on cereal and having a sippy cup of milk! Applesauce or yogurt and bread/bagel. It's much better for all of us to be on the same schedule!

We did the one wake-up bottle for a long time - so if you decide it's a slight inconvneinence because you think she needs it - go for it. It's all about what works for you.

Hope that helps you!

T.

I agree with a lot of the other moms on this one teething, growing spurts, ear infection. Also as they get older I noticed with my youngest that he does not need as much sleep as he used to, he will not go to sleep tell almost ###-###-####pm and we get up at 630 every morning and he has a 1-2hr nap durning the day. He went through the same thing and it took me awhile I was always putting him down at 730-8 and around 1-4 he would wake up wanting his cup of milk and now that he goes to bed later he is back to sleeping all night waking up usually right before the alarm goes off. So think about the others and then maybe think about maybe she is not needing the 12hrs any more try cutting down to 9-10. And now weather is looking good try lots of fresh air oh it really helps us all sleep more peace full after getting out and playing in the dirt. Good luck

Teething could definitely be a possibility. You could stick your fingers in and feel around to help determine if that is what's wrong. When my daughter was teething she would always wake up several times a night if we didn't give her something for the pain before she went to bed. I usually use ibuprofen and also rub baby orajel on her gums. The combination of the two seem to get her through the night pretty well. Good luck!

I went through the exact same thing you're experiencing, and am still going through it! My daughter started doing the exact same thing around 8 months old...she's 11 months now. Not long after she started waking up, a tooth popped through the surface of her gums. I talked to my pediatrician and she recommended I use Motrin for her rather than Tylenol because it helps with the pain a little more. Although it does seem to help, my daughter still wakes up and no matter what I do I can't seem to get her to go back to sleep without giving her a bottle, so you're not alone in your struggle! Hang in there, and just keep doing your best. This too shall pass :-)

Sorry to be so brief, but I swear by the "No Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Panley. It solved all our sleep issues with the first. Can't wait to see if it will prevent them with the second!

Try feed her pudding before she goes to bed, worked for me

Hey B.
It really could be multiple things however, if she has no teeth yet and is 8 mos. old it could very well be teething. I would try giving her motrin right before bedtime and see if that helps. I know it did with my son anyways. As for the feeding... when babies teeth, a bottle of warm/cold anything feels good to them on their gums. This could be why she feels the need to eat/drink more. Specially at night. If the motrin doesn't help the issue then it could just be that she is going through a bit of a change (they do that alot). My son is 9 and his eating habits change constantly as well as other things. It's hard when they change what is usually "normal" but don't worry. I'm sure she's fine. Let me know how the motrin things goes if you decide to try it.
Good luck!
L.!

She may be in a growth spurt which will may her hungier. Try feeding oatmeal at bedtime with bottle and see if that gets her through the night.

Good luck,
D.

It may be a growth spurt? I would give it a week or so.....and see if she goes back to sleeping at night. She may be needing the extra feeding.....but I think she should go back to normal in a few days.

She may just be thirsty. If the baby is not under waight then they should only be given water after bedtime, and you can leave a bottle of water in the bed so they can find it (as soon as they can retrive their own bottle that is) If a person eats at 2 or 3 am they are going to be hungery at that time every nite, don't get them use to eating then or they will need it then. A

I think most of the responses are right. I would lean toward teething cause we have had lots of trouble with sleep/teething. I found motrin works best for that. My daughter is small so I usually give her a bottle when she wakes up and she will eat it and then go right back to sleep. We also put cereal in her bottle.

Hi B.. I'm pretty new to Mamasource and this is my first response but I hope it helps a little. I also have an 8 month old (a boy who is actually almost 9 months) but he started doing the SAME thing about a month and a half ago and it turns out that he was just thirsty not hungry. He loves juice and during the day he normally drinks it from a sippy cup. When I first tried giving him the sippy cup at 3:00am he would wake up and want to play with the cup so then I tried juice in a bottle and it worked! He lay in the crib (with me standing there supervisor of course) and would drink just a couple ounces and would fall right back to sleep. This might not be the case with your daughter but its worth a shot :)

Welcome to motherhood. Right when things are going great, everything changes! She could be having a growth spurt, teething, all of the above. Just keep checking to make sure she is okay, then put her back to bed. Don't second guess yourself. You did a great job getting her to sleep thru before, you can do it again, and again, and again!

Best wishes!

I would assume that your child is either going thru a growth spurt right now, and/or they are teething. There is nothing you can do regarding growth spurts...often they will just eat more and sometimes I've heard their bodies can be achy from 'growing pains'. As far as teething...I highly recommend "Hyland's homeopathic Teething Tablets"...because they are natural and don't have side effects or have to worry about use with other medications. You can find them at Walmart (either in the vitamin aisle or baby aisle normally). Either way, more than likely she will start sleeping through the night for you before long.

Do you put rice cereal in her bottles? It sounds like she is hungry, since you say that she continues to fuss until she gets a bottle, then she falls asleep. Perhaps she is going through a growth spurt. She could be teething, but a bottle would not sooth that so I am reluctant to believe that is what is going on.

Growth spurts. That's all I can think of.