Any suggestions from anyone on how to transition an 8 month old to sleep in his crib throughout the night. I just recently started trying to get him to sleep in the crib as he is getting more mobile. I can get him to start the night out in his crib, but he will only stay for an hour or two and then wakes up crying. I am usually unsuccessful in consoling him back to sleep in the crib. He's not a "great" sleeper anyway even in our bed, but will always fall to sleep quickly when cosleeping. Typical night consists of 8:30pm -5am, but has never been much better than this. He does wake up a couple times during the night, but uses his pacifier to comfort himself back to sleep in the family bed. When he awakes at 5 am, I feel that he is hungry and I feed him a bottle in which he immediately goes right back to sleep thereafter. Total time awake for me is around 15/20 min. He naps really well during the day both in crib or in big bed. Any help or suggestions welcomed as I would love for him to sleep an additional hour or two before having to feed him. Any suggestion on how to teach him to comfort himself to sleep in his crib?
My friend gave me the book "Solve You Child's Sleep Problems." It is loaded with great advice.
Good Luck!
My #1 advice to you is consistency, consistency, consistency. If you're letting him come back to bed with you in the middle of the night when he wakes up, this is what he will come to expect. If you are making the decision to have him sleep in his crib from now on, you cannot allow him back in your bed anymore. It may be rough for a few nights, but he'll get used to it and he'll likely sleep much better once he knows that the crib is for sleeping. But you can't let the crying/protesting get to you until you "cave" and let him sleep with you again because you're exhausted.
Best of luck!
K.
Hey -
My baby is 7.5 months old and goes to bed at 7PM and still gets a bottle at 1AM. So, I think your son sleeping from 8:30 to 5:00 is GREAT.
My daughter also slept with us to start with, but at 3 months, I started transitioning her to her crib. I would put her in her crib at the beginning of the night and then at the 1:00 or 3:00 feeding, I would bring her into bed with me because I was still breastfeeding. I'm not breastfeeding any longer, so she is 100% in her bed.
I think the idea with sleeping is that they should always sleep where you WANT them to sleep (i.e. he should no longer sleep in the big bed at all). Consistency is the key. But again, I think your child is sleeping GREAT. I can't keep my baby up until 8:30 (and I don't want to), so I accept that I have to get up in the night.
L.
omg i have almost the same problem. i've found that my son gets thirsty during the night, like i do and he wakes up. when he wakes up i have juice or water ready in his sippy cup for him so i don't have to trot him around the kitchen and whatnot. that has seemed to help. i have also limited his napping during the day. it gets hard to listen to them fuss but give it a few days or a week and your child will be used to getting less sleep during the day. good luck.
Hi,
I think it's great that he sleeps that long, and at 8 months, I do believe that he is hungry at 5:00 am. Have you considered moving his crib into your room? It might help ease the transition to sleeping in his bed if he's still near you and in his familiar sleeping environment. Then you can gradually move the crib further away from your bed and back to his room if that's what you decide to do. I also agree with the post on having Daddy go to him - that's worked for us too.
Blessings!
K.
One suggestion I have is to put one of your night gowns or a shirt that you have worn in the bed with him (as a blanket). Sometimes the scent of mom is soothing to babies of any age (I STILL think of my mom when I smell certain things.)
Hope it helps.
Blessings,
P. <><
Interrupt those daytime naps. Only let him sleep 1/2 the time. Babies are creatures of comfort and they want to be cuddled so the interruption of those naps may not help but you just never know. He will grow out of it but maybe not as soon as you would want him too. Enjoy this beautiful time with him for as long as you can. It will fade away and you will wish you had them back. Patience is a virtue.
Good luck.
My son slept in our bed until he was eight months old, and had pretty much the same schedule that your does now. When he became too mobile to be with us, my husband started going to him during the night to comfort him IN the crib. After my husband went in and checked on him, the baby would go back to sleep after 5-10 minutes. Since my husband had never put the baby in bed with us, the baby didn't expect to get out of the crib. This is still working for us two months later, but I cannot go in my son's room at night. If the baby sees me even for a second- the water works start. The baby goes to bed closer to 6pm now, and still wakes up around 5am for the day. He is a good napper, as well. I don't think this transititon will take long, if Daddy can help you. Good luck!
Hi I'm S.
Try leaving the TV on, babies like music, and they like to hear voices especially 8 month or older babies.
