8 month old refuses to sleep

[jhf...@yahoo.com]

Hi everyone,

Well my little guy still wont sleep. Only now he seems to be rebelling
even more. In the last week he will not go down and seems to fight it
off even more. Sleeping in the same bed doesnt help. Even benedryl has
no effect. He has always been a horrible sleeper but its just getting
worse and worse. He was colic and a bit high need but this is
rediculous. When he starts to drift off he actually jolts himself
awake. Hes extremely curious and active. There has got to be a way to
get him to lay down. Any ideas?

[Jo]

Have you tried swaddling? When my baby is overtired, he jerks a lot -
he just can't wind down. I have a muslin wrap I use to keep his hands
nice and firm into his body, and then I put the dummy in. Sometimes
stroking his forehead down from his hairline to his nose helps his eyes
to close, too. Will is 3 months old though, so I really don't know what
to do with an 8 month old!

Good Luck

Jo

[Stormlady]

My Stinky is 10 months and sometimes with her I actually have to hold her
still. She will be tired but not stay still long enough to go to sleep, so
I lie down with her and hold her down. She usually nods off in about 2
minutes.
<jhf...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1124851977.9...@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...

[jhf...@yahoo.com]

We did swaddle him until he was strong enough to get out of it. Im just
wondering why the shift in behavior in the last 2 weeks. Hes eating
better than ever and even learned to scoot backwards, hes almost ready
to crawl. By all accounts everything is getting better but the
resistance to sleep gets worse every month. Holding him down is tough
because hes a kicker, he never stops moving those legs.

[hobbes]

<jhf...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1124898935.8...@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...

I think you've answered your own question here. When kids reach major
milestones--rolling, crawling, walking, etc. they often keep practicing in
their sleep, and it inevitably disturbs what was formerly a nice, happy
sleeping pattern. Once he masters the skill, chances are he'll start
sleeping better on his own.

There were times when I did actually hold my kids down--as gently as
possible of course. They were both co-sleeping at the time, so I'd generally
just pretend to be asleep and drape my arm over their backs. The extra
weight helped them resist the urge to move, and eventually they'd just fall
asleep. It doesn't hurt to start (if you haven't done so already) some
things that will be helpful sleep associations as he grows. Stuff like
lullaby music or white noise, a nice, calming bedtime routine, maybe a
lovey.

But in all honesty (and this is as a parent who has never yet bred a good
sleeper, though we're hoping for one this time), I think it's probably just
something he's going to have to grow out of. Neither of my kids slept
through the night until around age two, and DD still wakes up most nights,
though she actually goes back to sleep easily. It does eventually get
better, but it may take a while. Good luck.

--
Jodi
SAHM to Oliver (4 years),
Arwen (2 years),
and ?? (edd May 2006)

[Jamie Clark]

I agree with Jodi. This is likely just a phase. What exactly is his
sleep/wake/nap pattern right now, and what was it a few weeks ago before
things got tough? It sounds to me like he's just going through a growth
spurt. I would never give my kid benedryl to try to force them to sleep.
Whatever it is that is going on will pass. The kid won't "not sleep"
forever. Eventually he'll be so exhausted that he'll pass out.
--

Jamie
Earth Angels:
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sting! : (
Addison Grace, 9/30/04 -- Little Miss "I'm On My Way!", who has taken her
first unassisted steps, and has two new teeth coming in!

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"hobbes" <nos...@toast.nospam> wrote in message
news:11gpdi3...@corp.supernews.com...

[jhf...@yahoo.com]

He's never really slept well. Its only gotten worse. He gets benedryl
for stuffiness every now and again. Not on a regular basis. There is no
pattern, he can go down at 8 or 12. letting him cry is useless, he
usually cries so hard he chokes himself. He just doesnt sleep and its
killing us.

[Ericka Kammerer]

How routinized in your life overall? Is there a consistent
rhythm to his day? Or is every day different? If you haven't
already, I would look to institute a consistent rhythm to the
day. It doesn't have to be everything by the clock, minute
by minute, but some children need a lot of structure to
thrive. You might start with something like:

7:00am - get up, eat, play
9:00am - rest time--make it dark and quiet and uninteresting,
but stay with him and don't wig out if he doesn't sleep
11ish - back up, eat, go outside for a walk or other active play,
run some errands
2ish - eat, another rest period with it dark and quiet
4-ish - back up, eat, play, more active time outside
6-7ish - start winding down, eat, bath, cuddles
8-9ish - dark and quiet for the night

You probably won't be able to get him to sleep during sleep
periods yet, but get the rhythm established. During what
should be rest times, keep everything dark and quiet and
unstimulating. You don't have to put him down and fight
to get him to sleep if he doesn't want to sleep. Just cuddle
with him or lay down with him or rock him or whatever keeps
him relatively calm. During times when he should be awake,
keep things bright and stimulating and noisy. Get him active.
Get him fresh air. Be predictable--e.g., always a bath before
it's time for bed at night and always a walk or errand outside
before the afternoon nap, or whatever works. Be really
consistent for a while to give him a chance to get into the
rhythm. If things improve, then eventually you might be
able to back off of some of the rigidity and still maintain
the basic rhythm, but give it a really solid chance to work
before you loosen up. Kids certainly don't *need* a bath
every night to be clean, but it can be very useful as a
predictable element of the day. If you have a baby who needs
a lot of structure to thrive, then the more "signposts" you
have throughout the day, and the more predictable your
day is, the better off you'll be. The rhythm of what follows
what is more important than whether things happen at
precisely the same time every day, though you'll want
to keep times in the same ballpark to be successful.

Good luck,
Ericka

[Jamie Clark]

"Ericka Kammerer" <e...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:AbSdnb0w0vR...@comcast.com...

Yeah, what she said! : )

[jhf...@yahoo.com]

Ericka, his day is very routine. He knows when its time to go to bed
and he goes bezerk at even the thought of it. He goes to daycare during
the day and does nap there but not very long. He was like this even
before his daycare days. I've tried to wear him out before bed or just
hang out with him for awhile. As soon as he goes in the crib (or our
bed) he goes nuts. He just doesnt want to sleep. Im sure teething isnt
helping either.

[Ericka Kammerer]

How many naps does he get at daycare? If he's only doing one
short nap, he may not be getting good enough daytime sleep to foster
good nighttime sleep.
What does he do when he gets home from daycare? I hear from some
people that one of the ways their babies cope with daycare is by requiring
more time with their parents afterwards, by co-sleeping or lots of night
nursing or whatever. It may be that he feels he wants more time with
you. You might have some success by *really* *really* focusing on him
right when he gets home and keeping him very close so he can get his
fill of your time. I'm sure that's hard to do, as you must get home with a
thousand and one things to do, but maybe a sling or other carrier can keep
him really close and you can put off doing anything non-essential until
later so that he has that time to really feel connected. Might be a long
shot, but it's *something* to try!

Best wishes,
Ericka

[Nikki]

He sounds a little over tired. Sometimes when mine were over tired they
settled only if I really moved them a lot. I would make then stay in my
arms but I would either do a fast dance in circles with a lot of up and down
movement, or I would hold them against me and sit on a hard chair and rock
my body back and forth (towards the ground and then sit back up) rather
fast, or I would literally bounce them up and down in my arms. When I get
over tired I get jittery and can't fall asleep. I of course know to just
lay there long enough but I think an over tired baby that is jittery really
needs that movement.

My only other thought would be to try some sleep training but if he is over
tired that will be a bit hard on him.

I didn't really have any trouble with my second son but one thing we did
with him is this. My mattress happened to be on the floor so I would lay in
bed and read to my older son and Luke would just crawl (or walk when he was
older) all over the place. I just kept reading to Hunter until he fell
asleep and by then Luke had either crawled over and fell asleep or was ready
to nurse and go to sleep. Had I tried to put him to bed at the same time I
started reading to Hunter I'm sure I would have had problems. Perhaps
totally babyproof his room and have yourself a comfy place to sit on the
floor and read to yourself, or out loud books to him so he hears your voice,
and just let him move around. Start about 30-40 minutes before his actual
bedtime. I'm not sure if that will be helpful for you or not? That wasn't
really a solution to a problem for me, just how things worked out.

Good luck

--
Nikki
Hunter 4/99
Luke 4/01
EDD 4/06