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What can I do to make my baby sleep through the night again?
My baby will be 8 months old next week. Since birth she has slept between 8-12 hours a night, but for the past 2 months she is up Every Hour! I've been through everything! She's not hungry, she doesn't need changed, she's not too hot or too cold, the house is not too quiet or too loud. She is teething but it hasn't seemed to bother her lately, and a few times I've given her some teething stuff in the night just in case. She's fine for actually going to bed. I put her down while she's still awake & within just a couple minutes she's sound asleep. She'll usually sleep about 2 - 2 1/2 hours, but after that she's up every hour. And screaming! The second I pick her up she settles right down, but if I put her down again she screams even louder. And if I don't pick her up at all, just go in to soothe her, oh boy does she freak out. And it doesn't stop! The only thing that makes it stop is if I pick her up & I can't keep doing that all night long!
2 Answers
- ?Lv 71 decade agoFavorite Answer
It sounds like it might be a separation anxiety issue. This starts around 6 months, when babies become aware that you sometimes disappear from their world. Since you can't be right by her side 24 hours a day for the rest of her life, now is the time to help her learn to comfort herself.
We use a transitional object to help our daughter self-soothe. She has a small blanket (about the size of a washcloth) that's fuzzy on one side and silky on the other - we call it her lovey. I put it in my shirt when I rock her during the day, so that it smells like me at night. My pediatrician says that as soon as she can roll over and lift her head up, a small blanket is okay, so we hand it to her at nap time and at bed time. Then, when she is in lighter stages of sleep, she has something soft and my smell close to her, and she rarely even wakes up. It can take a couple of nights for this to work.
Try to wait a couple minutes before you go to her when she wakes up. Some babies will cry during lighter stages of sleep, but fall back to sleep within 3 or 4 minutes. If you pick them up during this, you wake them up, which stops the crying, but makes it harder for them to fall back to sleep. This is not the same as letting her cry it out - set a time limit that you're comfortable with, and go in after that.
- Anonymous1 decade ago
The only thing that I ca recommend is "cry it out" go to he at first make sure all is ok then sooth her and leave the room go in after 1 min then after 2 then after 3 then after 4then after5 dont leave her longer than 5 min. dont pick her up she will scream as she is not getting what she wants a cuddle from mummy. you are keep going in and trying to soother her without picking her up just to let her know you have not abandoned her. this may take an hour or 2 the first night but with in a couple of days u will see an improvement and within two weeks she will be back to sleeping well.
Source(s): Mother of 10 month old baby.