I don't believe you can spoil a child while responding to their needs.

Apparently 8mths is the time when babies start to feel they are seperate from their mother so may be tiring period for you and bub.

 Enjoy the closest while you can sweetie.....I'm with you I could never stand my babies crying for to long. But when I needed to do something, I found lying down with them till they were asleep....then putting them into their cot....worked for me.

Enjoy that bond you have.

Cheers Janice

well i am finding this topic very reassuring to read about because my 9.5mo is my first child and she used to go to bed and sleep by herself in her cot since she was born till she got a slight flu at 6mo.  then i had her with me to help her settle and monitor her breathing and she has stayed with me in my bed since and some people react like this is a sin or something but i have to get her to go to sleep on the boob even for the rare nap during the day and then just pat her back to sleep or put her back on the boob for a couple of minutes again if she wakes during the night.  she mainly wakes during the first few hours that i put her to bed before i go to bed too but when i'm with her she rarely wakes up.  i dont know what is so bad about it really, it is quicker and easier for me to get her to sleep and she is happy and i dont see her being dependent on falling asleep on my breast when she is 12 haha so surely things will sort themself out at her own developmental pace yes?  i say whatever keeps you both happy healthy and bonded without putting out the rest of the family or hampering their independant growth, yeah right like i know how to do all that haha..... i cant stand the crying way either, in my life situation i dont see the use in it but it might help some people, my sister uses it so its a personal choice just dont let anyone push you to do something that feels not right in your heart

My little one, now three, would only goto sleep if I held her, and that was at times for 2-3 hours (no joke). I, of cause got very frustrated, and even more so when I tried different ways that would just not work, so I thought a bit about it and decided to do nothing (pretty much). I thought what would be best for both of us, so instead of me holding her, I would have her lay next to me, head only on my lap, while I read a book or watched tv. I then progressively over a few weeks, got my daughter to lay next to me, without contact (other then my hand on her and later no contact). Even now with both my daughters (the elder 6yrs), I let them fall asleep on he loung and put them to bed later. Needless to say, the only delema I have is to get them to slow down (quiet time), in other words I only have one task in front of me not several i.e. get them to calm down, get them into their rooms, get them to goto sleep, dont have to keep going to their calls, dont have them constantly coming out of their rooms etc..... the list goes on.

My main point here is, find some way that is the least stressing for you and your child.

Ask yourself, What wolud be less stressful for me?. And, What would be less stressful for my child?

Be consistant and set limits. Children settle with daily routine, and a routine is not just, WHAT is done daily, but HOW it is done. 

If it was me I would turn it into a snuggle time and enjoy it while it lasts because they arn't little for long and as they get older they don't want that anymore if Derek hasn't grown out of it by the time he is 2.5 years then I would try the controled crying