My 8 month old has been having more extended night wakings lately. Like waking up at 3:30 and not going back down for a couple of hours. He goes into his crib awake at bedtime and naptime, and on nights where he doesn't have an extended night waking, sleeps well, so it's not that he doesn't know how to fall asleep. I'm pretty sure it's not that we're expecting him to sleep too long at night, because when this happens if I let him he'll sleep a couple of hours later than normal. He is not that into eating while awake either, so that doesn't seem to be the issue. He basically is determined to get up and play, crawling all over the place, trying to pull himself up, squealing and babbling in delight... We keep all lights out and minimize talking to him, besides to periodically softly say that it's time to sleep.

It's really killing my ability to feel like a functional human being. Anyone have similar issues at this age? I'm really hoping it is a stage - my husband often wakes up in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep for a couple of hours. Of course, I worry that LO has inherited this and I'll never sleep again