8 month old constantly exhausted due to restless nights

Gmail

So as the title suggests I have an 8 month old who is a very restless night sleeper & is then exhausted throughout the day.

Posting here just to see if anyone has been though similar or can offer any advice.

So at present the baby goes to bed exhausted every night at about 7. Tonight she was asleep for about 10 to 7. She physically cannot stay awake past that time. We don't try and keep her awake we just follow her lead.
She will mostly stay settled for about two hours and then the moving around starts. She will still be asleep but will move constantly all night until her current 'up' time of 5am.

She will either roll around or get up on all fours and do circuits of the cot - eyes closed for the most part. We probably go into her 10 or 15 times per night. She has a soother so we do give her this but she's not always interested in it. She will cry if she hits off the bars or gets a hand/foot stuck like all babies in that regard. But I don't think all babies move around constantly all night do they?

This has been happening for about 4 months now - more or less since this 4 month sleep regression. Some nights one of us will bring her into the spare bed with us but the moving continues there. She has been in her own room/cot for about 5 weeks now but was the same in our room before she moved in there. She was the same on holidays in a travel cot, same in parents house in her cot there. Basically it's anywhere she sleeps.

Myself & my husband are exhausted from this. Husband works shift/nights so there can be 3 or 4 days in a row where I do not get any sleep at night as I'm home alone. He gets very little sleep too.
Whatever about the adults, the baby needs her sleep. Due to all this moving around she's exhausted all day long, rubbing eyes, yawning, cranky.

Recently took her to a paediatrician after a few visits to GP and treatment for reflux (Zantac) which didn't show any improvement after two weeks. Paediatrician is treating her for lactose intolerance now....I have my doubts.
She does have the signs of silent reflux - hates car seat (although getting slightly better with this), hates lying down for nappy change, not a huge puker but it does happen and I do see her swallowing a few times throughout the day.
She hasn't taken to food too well, it's a struggle to get her to feed.
She does seem to suffer with teething but surely this is not causing all the movement at night...every single night?

Oh just to add also, daytime naps are terrible too. Normally 3 X 30 mins on a good day. She will never fall asleep by herself, needs to be helped to sleep.
She has never been a great sleeper to be honest.

Sorry for the incredibly long post.....if anybody has any thoughts or went through something similar I'd love to hear about it. Thanks

Zizigirl

Hi Gmail, not sure if you've heard of them but the Dr Udos Infant probiotics are brill for silent reflux if that's what it is. I had a very unsettled sleeper and these probiotics really helped. I still found my little boy could be unsettled around leaps but once we got through the leap we would get back to settled sleep. Worth a shot! They take about a week to work.

Gmail

Thanks for this zizigirl I will try anything at this stage! Delighted to hear your little man settled a bit after trying this. Is it something you give continuously now?

Zizigirl wrote: »

Hi Gmail, not sure if you've heard of them but the Dr Udos Infant probiotics are brill for silent reflux if that's what it is. I had a very unsettled sleeper and these probiotics really helped. I still found my little boy could be unsettled around leaps but once we got through the leap we would get back to settled sleep. Worth a shot! They take about a week to work.

Zizigirl

Gmail wrote: »

Thanks for this zizigirl I will try anything at this stage! Delighted to hear your little man settled a bit after trying this. Is it something you give continuously now?

I do give it on and off, he is three now so just after antibiotic or to get us through colds/vitals. I stopped the continued use at about 14 months.

LegacyUser

Do you go into her just because she's moving ,or only when she cries?
Is she in a sleeping bag or under blankets?

Gmail

BusyIzzy wrote: »

Do you go into her just because she's moving ,or only when she cries?
Is she in a sleeping bag or under blankets?

She's in a sleeping bag busyIzzy. We only go to her when she cries, or if she's flapping like mad. We let her move a bit but she gets up on all 4's and travels around the cot continuously.

heldel00

I have a 9 month old and have used the Dr Udo since day one. Just the tip of the spoon mixed in with one of his bottles every day as a newborn and now I give him nearly a full teaspoon in one of the bottles. Can't say it ever helped with sleep or reflux but then he never suffered problems with either (maybe it might have been different if I hadn't ever given it to him... We'll never know!)

We did have a bit of sleep regression at 5 months and it started just as I was about to go back to work after mat leave. Thought I was gonna go insane. Eventually tough love kicked in. I would listen to his cry and if it sounded like he was in pain/leg stuck/sick I'd creep in on all fours and stick the dummy back in but otherwise I let him cry. When he was able to put his own dummy in it was a godsend and he goes down every night with about 10 dummies in the cot!
It's so hard to know what is the right thing to do OP. What works for us might not work for you.

With regard to the feeding would you ever try a combination of Baby led weaning and spoon feeding (the die-hard BLW mammies would kill me for suggesting the spoon feeding as well but it works here).
So for example yesterday evening he took stew off the spoon but I left steamed carrot sticks and cauliflower in the tray. He was so busy with the carrots he was opening his mouth without realising and finished the little bowl of dinner. He usually takes a bit of whatever we're having -pasta, fish, veg, spud and some goes in but lots goes on the floor too!

TMM12

Gmail why does your doctor suspect lactose intolerance? It's actually very rare for a baby to be lactose intolerant, could baby have a cows milk protein allergy/intolerance.
My little boy had silent reflux which was treated with a milk thickener. At 5 months we still weren't getting any sleep and he developed bad eczema along with other symptoms. He was put on to a milk free formula and he improved drastically.
We found Dr Udos great aswell until he developed allergy as it is grown on a milk culture.

Sciencemaster

Hi, When mine were small, I used homeopathic medicines for when they were teething or had problems sleeping, particuar at night, i could always cope during the day, but we all need a few hours sleep. have you tried Chamomilla drops or if very restless one of mine did very well with Calc. carb. health food shop will have it if chemist does not keep them.

Baby4

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