My baby is 8 months old, and still wakes up at night. It’s not just waking up to suck, but also to play. She just doesn’t want to sleep! Falling asleep during the day is not a problem, but when night comes, she wakes up every two hours, and she can be awake for several hours. I’m losing my strength and the will to get up and I’m afraid I’ll lose my patience, even though I know I should be thankful because she’s a healthy and happy baby. My husband have more patience but we both are tired and Im beginning to worry for our mental health and relationship.
I tried few sleeping techniques but none of them was useful to me
Do you have some advice?
Is she sleeping in her own room yet or still with you? We transitioned to being in their own room at around the 9 month mark, and that helped a lot. Before then, sleeping was a struggle, and the sleep training really helped around this time. Maybe consider this sooner rather than later if it’s this much of a problem.
With regard to the playing in the middle of the night, I’d just cut that and endure the whining for a few days until she realizes that she can’t play at night.
Assuming you’re bottle feeding, if you and your partner can adjust your sleep schedules to compensate for the 2 hour wakes, that could at least sort out your sanity. For example, if one person went to bed from 10pm - 7am and the other stayed up later and slept from 1am - 9am, then ideally the later sleeper could handle any wakes until 1am. The early sleeper could take the 3am wake, and the later sleeper could do the 5am wake. This way everyone gets about two 4h stretches at a time, and can get a full REM cycles.
She still sleeps in our bedroom, but I think thats not a problem, because she can sleep well anywhere during the day
I am breastfeeding, and that can be one of the reasons for frequent waking up (many parents told me that babies sleep better when bottlefeeding), but we definitely need to be more persistent when putting the baby to sleep
How educated are you on the biomechanics of breastfeeding? This is absolutely perfectly normal for a breastfed baby and like any other things there are disadvantages and advantages.
The advantage of bottle feeding formula is that formula has an incredibly high amount of iron which slows the digestive system, leading a child to feel fuller longer because things are moving more slowly which in turn delays hunger waking. The downside is that formula does not contain melatonin or induce serotonin production so doesn’t assist in making a child drowsy nor does it allow the parent to have the most restful night feeding experience possible.
The advantage of breastfeeding is that breastmilk does contain melatonin. If you sleep topless, your partner can latch the child while you stay essentially entirely asleep. The act of nursing induces serotonin (and oxytocin) production which allows the body to get rested on lesser sleep. I am a breastfeeding Mom and peer counselor and often joke that during the day, nursing is full service, but at night, nursing is self-service. I will be topless, but kid has to do all the rest. And they do. I doze during the nursing sesh. I nurse flat on the bed in the side-lying position so that if I do fall deeply asleep, my child is in the best possible circumstances vs falling deeply asleep in a chair or on a couch where kid will fall and be trapped between me and an arm or something.
There are, of course downsides to breastfeeding and the fact that breastmilk is digested more quickly than formula means there is a shorter time to hunger returns vs formula. (However, the quick digesting is super helpful when they have a tummy bug as you won’t have to worry about dehydration.)
The least advantageous feeding setup is to have Mom bottle feed breastmilk during the night. Mom misses out on those useful hormones which multiply rest benefits as those only come from nursing, the pumped day milk doesn’t have melatonin so won’t induce sleepiness in kiddo, but will still digest quickly.
I did not know half of the things you mentioned here, thanks a lot!
I did not sleep toples because I had too much, in first few months everything was wet, and couldn’t breastfeet flat in bed because baby had reflux, but thanks for advices, I can try with next baby :)
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Is she sleeping in her own room yet or still with you? We transitioned to being in their own room at around the 9 month mark, and that helped a lot. Before then, sleeping was a struggle, and the sleep training really helped around this time. Maybe consider this sooner rather than later if it’s this much of a problem.
With regard to the playing in the middle of the night, I’d just cut that and endure the whining for a few days until she realizes that she can’t play at night.
Assuming you’re bottle feeding, if you and your partner can adjust your sleep schedules to compensate for the 2 hour wakes, that could at least sort out your sanity. For example, if one person went to bed from 10pm - 7am and the other stayed up later and slept from 1am - 9am, then ideally the later sleeper could handle any wakes until 1am. The early sleeper could take the 3am wake, and the later sleeper could do the 5am wake. This way everyone gets about two 4h stretches at a time, and can get a full REM cycles.
She still sleeps in our bedroom, but I think thats not a problem, because she can sleep well anywhere during the day
I am breastfeeding, and that can be one of the reasons for frequent waking up (many parents told me that babies sleep better when bottlefeeding), but we definitely need to be more persistent when putting the baby to sleep
How educated are you on the biomechanics of breastfeeding? This is absolutely perfectly normal for a breastfed baby and like any other things there are disadvantages and advantages.
The advantage of bottle feeding formula is that formula has an incredibly high amount of iron which slows the digestive system, leading a child to feel fuller longer because things are moving more slowly which in turn delays hunger waking. The downside is that formula does not contain melatonin or induce serotonin production so doesn’t assist in making a child drowsy nor does it allow the parent to have the most restful night feeding experience possible.
The advantage of breastfeeding is that breastmilk does contain melatonin. If you sleep topless, your partner can latch the child while you stay essentially entirely asleep. The act of nursing induces serotonin (and oxytocin) production which allows the body to get rested on lesser sleep. I am a breastfeeding Mom and peer counselor and often joke that during the day, nursing is full service, but at night, nursing is self-service. I will be topless, but kid has to do all the rest. And they do. I doze during the nursing sesh. I nurse flat on the bed in the side-lying position so that if I do fall deeply asleep, my child is in the best possible circumstances vs falling deeply asleep in a chair or on a couch where kid will fall and be trapped between me and an arm or something.
There are, of course downsides to breastfeeding and the fact that breastmilk is digested more quickly than formula means there is a shorter time to hunger returns vs formula. (However, the quick digesting is super helpful when they have a tummy bug as you won’t have to worry about dehydration.)
The least advantageous feeding setup is to have Mom bottle feed breastmilk during the night. Mom misses out on those useful hormones which multiply rest benefits as those only come from nursing, the pumped day milk doesn’t have melatonin so won’t induce sleepiness in kiddo, but will still digest quickly.
I did not know half of the things you mentioned here, thanks a lot!
I did not sleep toples because I had too much, in first few months everything was wet, and couldn’t breastfeet flat in bed because baby had reflux, but thanks for advices, I can try with next baby :)