At eight months old, most babies need 12 to 16 hours of total sleep per day, including 9 to 12 hours at night and two daytime naps. If your baby is fighting sleep, waking constantly, or refusing to settle, you’re likely dealing with a combination of developmental changes and habits that can be adjusted. The good news: this is one of the most common and fixable sleep challenges in the first year.
Why 8-Month-Olds Struggle With Sleep
Eight months is a busy time in your baby’s brain and body. Many babies at this age are learning to crawl, sit up independently, and pull themselves to standing. These new physical abilities create restlessness at night. Your baby may wake up, practice pulling to stand in the crib, and then not know how to get back down. This alone can cause multiple night wakings that have nothing to do with hunger.
Separation anxiety also tends to start or intensify around eight months. If your baby cries or becomes irritable the moment you move away from the crib, that’s a normal emotional milestone, not a sleep problem in itself. But it can make bedtime feel like a battle. Teething is another common disruptor at this age, causing enough discomfort to wake a baby who would otherwise sleep through.
These three factors, new motor skills, separation anxiety, and teething, often hit at the same time. Sleep specialists call this the 8-month sleep regression. It’s temporary, but how you respond to it shapes your baby’s sleep habits going forward.
Get the Schedule Right First
Before changing anything else, check whether your baby’s schedule matches what their body actually needs. At eight months, wake windows (the time between the end of one sleep and the start of the next) should be 2.5 to 3.5 hours. Most babies this age are on two naps per day. Some naps last 30 minutes, others stretch to two hours, and both are normal.
A too-short wake window means your baby isn’t tired enough to fall asleep easily. A too-long one means they’re overtired, which paradoxically makes it harder for them to settle. If bedtime is a struggle every night, try shifting it 15 to 30 minutes later and see if that changes things. Many parents discover that an overtired baby at 6:30 p.m. becomes a much easier baby at 7:00 p.m.
Build a Predictable Bedtime Routine
A consistent bedtime routine signals to your baby that sleep is coming. It doesn’t need to be elaborate. About 20 minutes is enough. A simple sequence might look like this: a warm bath, a clean diaper and pajamas, a feeding, a short book or quiet song in a dimly lit room, then a cuddle and kiss goodnight before placing your baby in the crib.
The key is doing the same steps in the same order every night. Repetition is what builds the association between the routine and sleep. One important detail: try to keep the feeding early in the routine rather than last. If your baby always falls asleep while nursing or taking a bottle, they’ll need that same feeding to fall back asleep every time they wake at night. The goal is for your baby to go into the crib drowsy but still awake, so they learn to bridge the final gap to sleep on their own.
Sleep Training Methods That Work
If your baby can’t fall asleep without being held, rocked, or fed, sleep training helps them learn to self-settle. There’s no single right method. What matters most is picking one approach and sticking with it for at least a full week. Switching strategies every two nights just confuses your baby and resets the process.
Timed Check-Ins (Ferber Method)
Place your baby in the crib drowsy but awake, say goodnight, and leave. Come back to briefly reassure them (without picking them up) after three minutes, then five minutes, then ten minutes, gradually increasing the intervals. Each night, stretch the wait times a little longer. The first two nights are typically the hardest, but most families see significant improvement within three to four nights.
The Chair Method
Put your baby in the crib drowsy, then sit in a chair right next to them. Stay until they fall asleep, then quietly leave. If they cry, come back and sit in the chair again. Every few nights, move the chair a little farther from the crib until you’re eventually outside the room. This is a gentler approach, but it takes longer to complete, often one to two weeks.
Pick Up, Put Down
When your baby fusses, go in, pick them up, and soothe them until they calm down. Then put them back in the crib and leave. Repeat as many times as needed. This method offers the most physical comfort but can be exhausting because some babies need dozens of repetitions in the early nights. It works best for parents who feel strongly about not letting their baby cry alone.
Nighttime Feeds at 8 Months
Whether your baby still needs a night feed depends partly on how they’re fed. Formula-fed babies over six months are unlikely to wake from genuine hunger, since formula digests slowly and they’re getting solid food during the day. For these babies, night feeds are more of a comfort habit than a nutritional need.
Breastfed babies are a different story. Night weaning before 12 months can reduce your milk supply, so most experts recommend continuing to offer breastfeeds at night if your baby requests them until at least their first birthday. That doesn’t mean you can’t reduce the frequency. If your baby wakes four times but only truly feeds twice, you can work on settling them back to sleep without a feed for those other wakings.
Set Up the Room for Better Sleep
Small environmental changes can make a noticeable difference. Keep the room between 68°F and 70°F (20°C to 21°C), which is the range most comfortable for infant sleep. Humidity between 30% and 50% helps prevent dry nasal passages that can cause nighttime fussiness.
A white noise machine can help mask household sounds and create a consistent sleep cue. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends keeping the volume below 50 decibels (about the level of a soft conversation) and placing the machine at least two feet from the crib. Darkness matters too. Even small amounts of light can interfere with sleep, so blackout curtains are worth the investment if early morning sunlight or streetlights are an issue.
Keep the Crib Safe and Simple
At eight months, your baby’s crib should contain a firm mattress with a fitted sheet and nothing else. No blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, bumper pads, or weighted sleep products. These guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics apply to all babies under one year. Products not specifically designed for infant sleep, like lounger pillows and baby nests, should never be used for sleep even if they’re marketed to parents of infants.
If your baby seems cold without a blanket, a wearable sleep sack is the safe alternative. Choose one appropriate for the room temperature, and skip any weighted versions.
When Teething Disrupts Sleep
Teething pain tends to be worst in the evening and overnight when there are fewer distractions. If your baby is drooling heavily, gnawing on everything, or has swollen gums, teething is likely contributing to their sleep trouble. A chilled (not frozen) teething ring before bed can help numb the gums. If your pediatrician has approved an appropriate pain reliever for your baby’s age and weight, giving it about 30 minutes before bedtime on rough nights can help them settle more easily.
The important thing is to avoid creating new sleep habits during a bout of teething that you’ll have to undo later. If you start bringing your baby into bed with you or rocking them to sleep for a week of teething, they may expect that arrangement to continue once the tooth breaks through.
Managing Separation Anxiety at Bedtime
Separation anxiety peaks between 8 and 10 months, and bedtime is when it hits hardest. Your baby now understands that you exist even when you leave the room, but they don’t yet trust that you’ll come back. A few strategies help. During the day, play short games like peekaboo that reinforce the concept of leaving and returning. At bedtime, keep your goodbye brief and confident. Lingering or sneaking out tends to increase anxiety rather than ease it.
If you’re using a sleep training method with check-ins, those brief visits actually help with separation anxiety. Your baby learns that when you leave, you do come back, and eventually that knowledge is enough for them to settle on their own.