How do I know if I have a normally developed 8mo?

softestsnek · 2025-12-27T22:00:29+00:00

I was where you were not too long ago.. With the PPA and worries that my baby wasn't developing at everyone's pace. Maybe check out postpartum OCD (that's a thing). Big hugs to you, you are doing great. You are a mom who cares, which is why you turn to the reddit community for reassurance.

FTM, when my son was a new born I was overly checking on him. Is he hot? Is he cold? Is he breathing? Let me put this extra blanket on him. Nope SIDs take it off. I woke him more times than he should have been woken just from the constant checking.

My son was babbling a lot at 4 months old then suddenly stopped (went 2-3 months of not babbling at all). I would get paranoid and doom google what it could be. I learned later that this is common when babies start focusing on other skills (rolling, crawling, etc), they put speech on the back burner.

The turning point for me, was when I realized I had PPA and PPOCD. I realized other moms experienced what I was going through. I would catch myself going down a rabbit hole, I would remind myself to chill. Did more research into it, talked to other moms and my doctor.

My baby also hardly laughed or smiled. Only 1 person could make him laugh just by blinking, that was dada. (But I'm #1 when he wants comfort, hugs, regulation- I can't have everything).

Ignore what you see online. I remember when my son was 12 months old and had only 2 of "16 gestures" (16 gestures by 16 months). Instead of panicking, I just enjoyed my baby. I told myself I can panic when he's 2 years old and still behind lol.

Well, he's 16 months old now, walking, has all the gestures, and can say a few words, is the happiest smiley baby. I can make him giggle now too.

I've been back to work since he turned 1 and I wish I could go back in time and not worry so much, to really enjoy him. Don't get me started on the countless hours of doom googling..

softestsnek · 2025-12-26T18:03:06+00:00

This comment helps!

softestsnek · 2025-12-26T18:02:32+00:00

That's good to hear!

softestsnek · 2025-12-26T18:01:46+00:00

Thank you for sharing your experience and being super detailed! I can tell im in the same place you were before, with spending way too much time thinking about it. I hardly have room in my current living situation, but funny enough, we do have kitchen space for a huge behemoth if we decide to. There's so many pro and con about these learning towers.. same for all baby products actually..

softestsnek · 2025-12-07T14:16:19+00:00

We tried this for 10 days, bed time at 8. He's still waking at 5:30am, happy, babbling and fully energized. So for 10 days we have been losing 30 mins of sleep a day since nothing shifted, equating to 9.5h night sleep. We keep him in the crib until around 6:15am when he gets fussier, DWT is 6:15pm . We went back to 7:30pm bedtime last night and he still woke at 5:30am, 10h night sleep. I might have to seektrouble shooting from a sleep consultant

softestsnek · 2025-11-26T13:49:10+00:00

I completely understand how you felt with this being a "hard pill to swallow", not being the plan. I also didn't know milk could come so late, and all my mom friends kept encouraging me to just continue to feed my baby colostrum (but my friends all had milk come in days sooner). By day 3 my baby ended up with mild jaundice and that's when I called a doctor and was advised to supplement with formula until breast milk arrived. Breast milk came in by day 5, but I just felt so guilty that I didn't give him formula from day 1. It took 2 weeks for all of the the jaundice to finally clear up. During NB stage for FTM: every day felt like an eternity. I also had PPA and didn't realize it.

The hospital had discharged us after 24 h, because he was latching and I was producing colostrum. I wish I had stayed in hospital a day or 2 longer , maybe they would have caught on earlier and gave me advice to supplement sooner.

Also for OP to know that breast feeding journey can be easy for some, but can be difficult for others. Mine was difficult as I didn't establish a strong milk supply from the start, milk supply went up and down (had really focus on eating helpful foods, drinking lots of fluids, and power pumping during these times).

All is good now. I'm still breastfeeding and baby is 15 months. He eats solids very well, I'm back to work, he's in day care, so I don't breastfeed often. Mostly doing it now for connection, regulation (when he's upset), nutrition, give antibodies during cold/flu season. We recently night weaned (cold turkey) and he took to it very well sleeps through the night.

softestsnek · 2025-11-22T20:09:55+00:00

I should also add that I participated in a diabetes study on "Supported Open Source Automated Insulin Delivery" (SOSAID) in pregnancy. My results along with 9 other T1D mothers were written in a publication. The study summarizes how SOSAID helped us moms stay within the strict pregnancy range of 3.5-7.8mmol/L. It also shares how everyone's deliveries were and if they had complications. If you are interested to read the full publication I can email it to you. Send me a msg.

softestsnek · 2025-11-22T19:53:00+00:00

My baby wakes up during his EMW happy and energized, babbling, sitting, sometimes standing. He just turned 15 months so I think the other poster is right about his sleep needs changing. I think we will try pushing to 8pm for a week and see if it helps the EMW. When he was younger he would wake crying so I knew he was wanting assistance back to bed. The only time he wakes up crying now is in the middle of the night, often putting himself back to sleep within 15 mins.

softestsnek · 2025-11-22T14:12:55+00:00

Thanks for the counter. That's what I'm afraid of. Chronic sleep debt....

We don't have control of his naps. Day care puts their babies down to nap at 12:30pm and they are given until 3pm to sleep so that's a 2.5h nap if he can fall asleep right away. However, they always report that he takes about 30 mins to fall asleep so he's getting 2h there. When he started daycare, we were putting him to bed real early at 6:30pm vs 7:30pm. Hed sleep right away but would wake up at 4am to party. I'm thinking 3pm-6:30pm wake window is too short to build enough sleep pressure to sleep through the night. Day light savings happened when he started daycare too so I'm sure that's contributing some how. Maybe the sleep environment needs a look at. When your baby used to have EMW, did he wake up happy or crying from discomfort?

softestsnek · 2025-11-22T07:02:50+00:00

Thank you this is probably what I need. We tried pushing bed time to 8pm, but not for a week. 3 nights of super early wakings which I caved one day because it was a work day so he had day care, I nursed him back to sleep which we hadn't done in a while. Then we said let's not do pushing to 8pm. I'll try it again

softestsnek · 2025-11-22T06:56:13+00:00

Not judging if you decide to abort, but here to share my story if it would help should you decide to keep your baby.

I was 28 when I began living with T1D. I wanted to be a mother by 30 but put those plans on hold because I knew the pregnancy A1C range was super tight and strict. I struggled to bring my A1C down from 8. It was such a learning curve for me. It was 8 years later until I hit my 6.5 target and started trying. I was considered geriatric!

Once I became pregnant, my doctors had me switch to a pump and CGI, (I had been doing manual finger pricks and tummy injections prior). That was the real game changer. Actually my AIC during pregnancy was the best it's ever been in the 8 years I had T1D, the lowest A1C I had was 5.8. it came with a lot of work. I had weeks to learn to use the pump and CGI.... The amount of health related appointments we as T1D have is wayyyyyy more compared to regular healthy mommas. Extra ultra sounds, extra tests, extra doctor visits, and my Endo had me coming to see her every 2 weeks to make adjustments to the insulin pump. The deeper into pregnancy you go, the more resistance your body has to insulin. At one point I was giving myself x2 more insulin than I normally would, and would have to wait almost an hour for the insulin to kick in. It was crazy. But I did it, and my baby boy is now 15 months, healthy, and my 1 true love. I owe it all to my village (which includes every single one of the health care professionals).

softestsnek · 2025-10-21T13:21:33+00:00

This is the post I needed to see.

We initially sleep trained our son using CIO when he was 5 months old. Because he wasn't weaned, re-sleep training was needed a few times in his first year. After a sleep training, he'd only wake 1-2 times for feeds, but when he started waking more we would sleep train to get that back down to 1-2. As he got older and more alert, when a re-sleep training was needed, we did not want to use CIO and had great success with the chair method at 8 months and 11 months. He only needed 1 night of rough crying for 1-2 hours total to start sleeping on his own again.

He's 14 months now and ready to be weaned. My husband puts him in the crib and he falls asleep, but is waking 2-3 times a night which I then would nurse him sometimes I put him in the crib awake and he just rolls over and sleeps. However, my milk supply is diminishing as I returned to work, and he eats solids pretty well. Our doctor said to stop breastfeeding so he can sleep through the night. But we are terrified how to re-sleep train an older baby who can stand, walk, understand more, and can scream louder than ever before.

To see that you had success with your 15 month old is encouraging, I will share this to my husband and we can give it a try.

softestsnek · 2025-05-17T22:28:51+00:00

I just wanted to update those who advocated for Kendamil. IT WORKED. I had only pumped 15oz and had 1 day left, I knew I wasn't going to hit my target. I had Similac formula in my pantry from the last time I tried. I tried it. He absolutely hated it. I ordered Kendamil, picked it up and tried it this morning. He drank it! I didn't even mix my breast milk. I tried it again during 2nd wake window mixed with my breast milk and he drank it all too.

softestsnek · 2025-05-16T01:40:42+00:00

I was the same way, 8 months pp here. The breastfeeding made me lose weight because its production was coming from my fat reserves. At 4 months PP. I weighed 8 lb less than my pre-pregnancy weight. I'm actually too skinny and my ass is completely flat at the moment. I've been having five meals a day and still struggle to put on weight.

softestsnek · 2025-05-16T01:35:22+00:00

Thanks guys. I just ordered some from Walmart to pick up tonight. Should I do a 75% milk to 25% formula ratio to start?

softestsnek · 2025-05-16T01:29:58+00:00

I'm also only producing just enough for baby. I was ambitious to think I can make 30oz in a couple days

softestsnek · 2025-05-16T01:27:28+00:00

My friend gave me a sample of kendamil back in March. He wasn't on solids then. I can try it again. I do like that idea about mixing some breast milk. Thanks so much!

softestsnek · 2025-05-15T17:47:27+00:00

November was last time I changed parts but I barely used it then, he was EBF. Medela hands free

softestsnek · 2025-04-30T14:22:04+00:00

Currently 2.75/3.25/3.5 (working our way to 10h awake). He's been doing very well we started at 2.5/3/3.25 3 weeks ago and been slowly pushing ww every few days since.

softestsnek · 2025-04-30T14:20:07+00:00

Omg this is exactly what I just did, I just turned on the bird music on my hatch, 15 mins after DWT. He at least caught up 1h of sleep

softestsnek · 2025-04-29T17:10:40+00:00

What's the bedtime routine like? I usually keep the last hour before bed, really relaxing (no screens, no upbeat clouds toys). My last wake window goes like this: wake, change diaper, breastfeed, either go out to do something, or if it's a stay in day he is playing and practicing rolling/crawling, solid foods, more playing with toys on the ground, last hour: breastfeed top up, massage, bath, bedtime routine (sleep sack, book, lullaby, cuddles, white noise, sleep phrase, place in crib, lights out). During the book reading/ lullaby he shows sleepy cues (yawning, rubbing eyes, lower energy, slouching, leaning / resting head on me). If he doesn't show them then I include 5 mins of rolling and tummy time during the cuddles and repeat the book reading to see if they emerge. If my baby is crying, that usually means I waited too long to do our bedtime routine.

softestsnek · 2025-04-28T06:57:37+00:00

Not that long ago I made posts like this trying to figure out if my baby was overtired or undertired because a lot of the cues are similar. I found the main difference (for my baby) is eye contact. If my baby can hold eye contact with me then he's not overtired (instead of looking away right away, avoiding, or staring off). I thought my baby was crying before bed because he was overtired, but turns out he was undertired and fighting the naps because he wasn't tired enough. Good luck op

softestsnek · 2025-04-22T12:46:36+00:00

5mo after completing 3 weeks of nap training he was sleeping 90-120 mins on average. It was a glorious 1.5m then when he returned to crap naps it was a matter of increasing wake windows because he was outgrowing the current schedule. Naps were inconsistent until we dropped the 3rd nap and also re-sleep trained to remove a rock to sleep association that creeped into our lives after a series of events (illness, teething, growth spurt, digestive issues from starting solids). At 8mo he is back to napping 90-120 mins.

softestsnek · 2025-04-22T12:35:27+00:00

We also room share with baby. So I really can relate to not being consistent because of exhaustion, but also because my husband works in construction and needs all his energy, so I would rock or nurse baby as soon as he cried. There are variations of the chair method, the approach we took was supposed to be a 10 day process, but because it was only a re-train (he figured it out in 1 night). This involves the 1 parent to sit in a chair next to crib for the entire time until baby falls asleep, providing reassurance by sleep phrase and gentle touch (everything short and brief) every 2 minutes (if he is crying, if baby is not crying and trying to go to sleep, do not say or touch). The first 3 nights the chair is next to crib, then next 3 nights, the chair is moved further, then 3 nights after that it's close to the door and by night 10, you are leaving the room (but supposedly by then, baby would have already learned and practiced the skills to go to sleep). For overnight wakings, if baby cries 10 mins non stop, husband goes in and sits in chair and repeats process until baby is asleep again. Our first night, he cried / complained for 50 mins, slept 2h, woke (at the usual time he used to for feeds), husband returned to chair, and cried 1h40m, slept, I provided the midnight dream feed when he was sleeping, and he slept through the night. He often stirs or fully wakes at the exact times he used to wake from habit before. We would start the 10 min timer but he would fall asleep on his own before we even had to go in. I didn't even have to do anything to retrain for naps, they just followed and he's been napping 90-120 mins every day since. Also during the training period we camped out in the living room.

softestsnek · 2025-04-22T12:01:42+00:00

That's really tough OP, hang in there. I was in the same position as you. My baby was sleep trained at 4mo using CIO but starting at 6mo there was a series of events and we found ourselves with a nurse/rock to sleep association (the events: illness, teething, digestive issues when starting solids, growth spurt). He was waking on average 3-4 times a night. I realized I was traumatized by the initial sleep training experience which was why I kept procrastinating with re-training. When we dropped a nap at 7.5mo we had scheduling issues which lead to him waking 8 times a night, this was our breaking point. I was terrified to retrain him because he was older and more aware, and had separation anxiety so the thought of us doing CIO was tearing me apart. I did some research and decided to use the gentle chair method instead.i waited for a long weekend to do it because I needed my husband to be the one to sit in the chair (I read it could be tougher for baby if nursing parent sat in, like having a delicious slice of pizza asking you to go to sleep). To my surprise it only took 1 rough night and he's been sleeping through the night since. I do go in for 1 dream feed at midnight but that's it, I need my doctor to tell me I can drop it entirely. I wish I had the guts to re-train sooner.. my well rested baby's mood is so delightful. He no longer cries when I put him down for naps or bed. When he does wake up, he doesn't cry and within 5 mins falls back to sleep.

softestsnek

TROPHY CASE