8 Month Old "Practices" Developmental Milestones Instead of Sleeping

I have an 8 month old as well and luckily he has learned our routine very well. I do feel for you, as my first son had colic. We drove and we walked the floors and I thought I was going to loose my mind!

I was just wondering, when you go in to check every 10/15mins, do you speak to him?

I share a similar routine with my 8 month old. I do my best to have him in the bath by 7pm, he has a bottle while I read him a story (this is since he can hold his own bottle now), we may snuggle for a bit after the book and bottle and then bed by 7:30 or 8pm latest. If he cries I return to the room in 10 minutes, I will straighten him out (that is if he's in the crawling/standing position) and then tell him “it’s bedtime”, give him another kiss and leave for 10 more minutes. If he continues to cry, I would return every ten minutes to put him back to sleeping position and I DON'T SAY A WORD to him. It seemed to be the key for him and now he knows the routine very nicely, tho it wasn't easy to to not speak to calm him. At first sometimes I would have to pick him up to calm him down because he would be crying so hard but I still would make it a point not to say a word. (the first night i went in at least 4 times, second night 3 and by the 3rd night i went in only once. now i usually don't have to go back in at all. once in a while i will but it's never more than once)

I don't know if this will be any help but it might be worth a shot since you are doing basically the same thing anyway.

Again, I do really feel for you; I wish I had some better advice. Good luck.
Sincerely,
S.

Mine all did the same thing. When they were on the cusp of new and exciting milestones, they wouldn't have time to sleep. They were so driven to acheive the new goal that it was the only thing they wanted to do - sleeping and eating just got in the way. It would usually last a couple weeks and we'd all be tired and usually we resorted to whatever worked to get them to sleep so we could. Once they mastered what it was they were working on, their sleep pattern would return to normal. Sometimes they would even sleep more because they were so extra tired from not sleeping. At 8 months you are getting into a busy time with lots of milestones on the horizon...crawling, pulling up, walking, talking, climbing.

The only thing I can suggest that may help on 2 levels is to provide as much time to "study" or work on the skills while he's awake. Try to maximize the time he can be on the floor to just play and move about freely. This isn't a good time for walks or shopping when he'll be stuck in a stroller or cart. Lay down on the floor with him and encourage him to do anything active and do it with him. He'll enjoy the time together and he'll be developing muscles that will help him to reach his goals. At the same time, he'll be getting physically tired so that when it's time to sleep, his mind will have less of a chance of winning out the staying awake vs. sleep battle. If he's stuck in contraptions most of the day, he will need to use the only time he has free -- in the crib -- to work on those skills and tire himself out.

Good Luck - it's a fun and exciting time, but also disruptive to your sleep.

Oh L.--take it from O. (OK--two!) who made the mistake of driving around--don't do it!!! It was a nightmare. My husband & I used to be like a tag-team of night driving and it was ridiculous!
Sounds like you have a great and regular nighttime routine. Definitely stick to that.
I think anytime a baby (or child) reaches new milestones, it is reflected in their behavior. So frustrating for us but Hooray for them that they are growing and learning new stuff :)
Personally, I would keep doing the 10-15 minute checks and let him go and do whatever he is doing until he drifts off. But--do you have a video monitor? If I were you, I'd get O. asap. They really ARE worth every penny especially at times like this when you know he's performing! Plus if he's fine and not screaming, you don't need to keep going in and checking him, which may actually be disrupting him.
Good luck!

This may sound a little weird, but turn on your vacuum! I've never tried it (no kids), but I've heard it is somewhat like driving the little one around to get them to go to sleep.