What's Sleep...I live with black under my eyes

[Elise's Mum]

How old is your child?
9 Months on the 22nd

What’s his/her daily routine?
7-7:30 Wake
7-7:30 6 oz formula
9:00 3t cereal and fruit
10:30 4oz
11-1 nap
1 One 3.5oz jar solids (fruit or veg)
2:30-3:00 4oz
4-4:45 nap
5:00 One 3.5oz jar of solids
7:00-7:30 Bath
7:30 6oz forumla
7:45-8:00 bed
11:00 5.5oz formula

What’s nap routine?
See above

How long are naps?
they vary but typically 2-3 hours total

What's bedtime routine? Time?
7-7:30 bath/bottle/bed/df(11)

Do you bottle or breastfed??
bottle

How much? or how long?
see above

How many wakes per night?
this varries. some nights a couple. but many nights it is 5 or more total

What’s your LO like when waking at night? How long is he/she up?
many times its a big cry..not just a whine. needs dummy or soothing. generally goes back down quickly. past couple days have had very early wakings (4-5am) and ate 6oz then back to sleep

When you go to him/her is she fussing or crying? Or is it a mantra cry?
crying and unsettled. i typically wait to make sure it is crying and not just a single/couple cries

What have you tried to settle??
yes and she generally settles

What do you do for A time and how long is it?
varies. lots of floor time. trying to crawl.

Are there developmental issues such as teething or milestones?
crawling. she has 5 TEETH and i have no idea is more are comming.

Have you introduced cereal? Why, how much, and how many times a day? (for LO’s under 6 months)

Do they have a prop? If so what is it?
No

Do they have a lovie?
yes, a glow worm she just holds and rubs the tag

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Basically, it's night after night of restless sleep for all of us. She's not awake long necesarrily...but just often. It's been going on for so long now, it can't be teeth. Or she would have 10 million. It's likely been over a month. I am just trying to work out what could be causing the restless sleep.

Tonight, for example. We put her down and she woke 3-4 times without settling herself. We had to give her dummy over and over. Her cries we're piercing. Sounded like pain. But that is not always the case.

I know we should take out the df. But with so much going on (holidays) I have put it off. She naps well durring the day, just restless at night.

Based on her eating routine above, is she eating enough? I try to take ques from her. She seems ok durring the day.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

[Peek-a-boo]

It sounds like she's prop dependent and that the dummy is at the root of your problems.     Have you considered weaning it?  She's probably loosing it once she gets into a deeps sleep, then having a little partial awakening, finding it missing, so she doesn't go back to sleep, but calls to you to put it back.   

Bethany

[Elise's Mum]

Perhaps. But my gut is telling me no. To me, it seems like she wakes from something else...as I have seen her sleep many times without the dummy. She only gets it at naps and bed time. She has no interest outside of that. And even then it is just to soothe. She uses it just until she falls asleep and then it pops out and she's out. Additionally, this routine isn't happening each night. She may have one night where she only stirrs once, or not at all. But 5-6 days a week, her sleep is poor.

I was reading about growth spurts and also milestones. I was wondering if anyone thinks this may be it. See link below.'
http://moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/2006/02/qa_what_are_sle.html

[Peek-a-boo]

How long have the wakings been going on?  Once the dummy is replaced does she go back to sleep quickly?

I hope some one comes a long with a suggestion that rings more true--for your sake I do hope it's something else, as I bet weaning the dummy would be rough.

Bethany

[Lucysmom]

Hi -

The light, restless sleep makes me think of overtiredness.  Also, looking at your routine there is a long awake time first thing in the morning (from 7 to 11).  My dd is older but I know that at 9 months she could not handle 4 hours awake and this was not unusual.  I think she was doing 3 hours awake time and I would make sure she did not sleep much past 4 in order to preserve her 7:30 bedtime.  Maybe take a look at the EASY forum and look at sample routines for babies the same age.  I would bet that overtiredness is the culprit along with developmental issues. 

[Elise's Mum]

The long awake time happened to be that one day. She just didn't want to go down. She is doing heaps better with naps durring the day now. Total (between the two) likely 3-3.5 hours. She still wakes at night a bit. But she just cut another tooth and it looks like another is directly behind that one. She now has six, nearly seven.

She does seem to settle after she gets her dummy. But sometimes, lately, she doesn't even need us to give her that. And for that matter, most of the time if I sneak a peak, she doesn't have it. So I think most of the night it is out.

[Jenny_Jen]

From the looks of your schedule it seems that that last 45 min nap is way too late in the day & lunch looks a bit late.  Have you tried:

7 bottle
8 solids
9:30 nap

11ish solids
1-1:30ish nap
3:00 bottle

4ish solids
7ish bottle & bed

I would also drop that DF as well.  I would expect it's affecting her night sleeping at 9 months.

The rule is my house is no sleeping past 3 pm no matter what until bedtime so my DS has had 4 hrs awake time & is tired enough for sleeping at night.

If your DD still needs that 4th bottle squeeze it in before lunch

[Elise's Mum]

We have been discussing the DF. She IS teething. Two at once I see. Both have started to cut the gums.

After that finishes, we intend to ween the DF out. And we plan to adjust her bedtime now to a bit later.

The schedule I am trying is one someone else had suggested earlier. I do think it needs a bit of tweaking.

[Tobysmum]

Hi,
Teething sounds likely.
My baby is a similar age to yours (he'll be 10 months on 13th March).  If you are interested, my new routine is as follows (approximately).  I've recently been doing pu/pd to try and stop his night wakings.  I've also been trying to follow EASY which I wasn't really doing before.  If you are interested here is my routine:
I try to get a total of between 2.5 and 3 hours naps in the day (he doesn't always sleep the same amount of time in the morning/afternoon - and I try not to wake him generally as he seems to self-regulate how much sleep he needs in the day).  Times are approximate below:

E 7.00/7.30 milk (breast)
ACTIVITY
E8.00/8.30 - pureed fruit/cereal
ACTIVITY
S 9.30/9.45am - nap
E 11.00/11.30 - wake up and milk (breast)
ACTIVITY
E 12.00/12.30 - solids (veg, chicken/fish or turkey and fruit)
ACTIVITY
S 1.30/1.45 - nap
E 2.30/3.00 - milk (breast)
ACTIVITY
E 5.15 - solids (veg, chicken/fish or turkey and fruit)
A 6.00 Bath/Activity
S 6.45pm Sleep

[Elise's Mum]

She is still having trouble. She has plenty of activity time between naps. Nap times vary greatly. Some times 30 mins, sometimes two hours. I never know what to expect. Though she never seems too bothered when she wakes from a 30 min nap.

Last night was the worst. Waking SCREAMING the worst I have ever heard. Nothing soothed her. And this went on all night. She certainly seemed in distress.

She just had two teeth come in, I am wondering if there is another? One of her eye teeth has been swollen now for around a month. Perhaps that is finally starting to break the surface. I don't know.

All I know is I stay tired and feeling bad all the time, as she has been cutting one tooth after another with no breaks.

[aisling]

Ziolla,

Big, supportive and understanding (((((HUGS))))).  Our DS is an angel, but teething wreaked havoc on our lives and also seemed never ending.  The only good thing is we are on a break now very early compared to others and have only the 2 yr molars to contend with.  Pain relief just seemed to never work and like you said the screaming...was awful and no sleep leads to over tired baby and miserable Mum.  It also effects eating therefore sleep is off a well.  I can only offer hugs and that this passes quickly for you and you get a bit of a break.  We had a 3 month break from 9-12 months, so i hope that is for you too!  Good luck with your routine tweaking and aren't these lovely BW ladies great to have as support?

Aisling x

[Elise's Mum]

Thanks for the support aisling. It's gotten worse in fact. Last night was dreadful. It seems that now we are dealing with something else entirely. She will wake and seems like she is afraid. She will be sitting up in her bad crying her eyes out. PIck her up, and she might calm slightly...but fights hard to not go back to sleep. Reaching out for toward the doorway wanting to leave her room. The screams are the worst ever. This has happened past few nights.

Typically she is awake so long we have to feed her in the end, though I am pretty sure this isn't what wakes her initially. She eats well all day.

Last night, for the first time, I put her in bed with us. We just couldn't take it. Once she fell asleep, I watched her. After about 15 mins or so, she started shaking her head violently and throwing her arms around a bit. It was almost like watching someone have a nightmare. She wasn't like, pulling at her ears or scrunching up like she had gas pains.

Is it possible she *is* having bad dreams now and is scared of sleep?

[Elise's Mum]

She's cutting *another* tooth. That brings us to number 8 at 9 months old. And she seems to have separation anxiety at night. She will scream and scream when put down and sits up in her bed and just refuses to lie down.

[saydsh]

I know how you feel DD has 6 teeth and another one pushing through and she is only 8 months. She has been teething since October and I think she handles it pretty well. I know when it is too much because even when I told her she cries - then I give her Tylenol. Have you tried giving her anything to take away the pain before bed? That may help.

[Elise's Mum]

If I know it is a tooth, then I give her Motrin. She gets some at 5pm and then at 11pm. Yes, she still wakes for a df. We had totally hoped to have this feed gone by now. But with ALL of the teething, it has seemed impossible. We have cut it back. We need to try to do so again. It's so much to handle all at once. And at 12-18 months, you are suppose to wean them entirely. We'll never make it hah.