9 month old routine gone haywire - suggestions please!

[jenniewren]

I'm not sure if I'm posting this in the right place..I posted a week or so ago re fighting sleep under 'Is this normal?' but thought I'd start a new thread...

Things are going slightly haywire... my 9 month old is fighting both morning & afternoon nap unless rocked til sleepy. I try to put him down awake but sleepy, but I don't really want this to become a prop - I worked so hard with ssh/pat etc in the early days to help him be independent and he was for months- I'd put him down & he'd be asleep within 5 minutes. He has also had his 3rd tooth break through this week - running a temperature, very clingy & miserable - totally unlike him as he never usually cries much at all. 3 teeth in 6 weeks.

Last night I decided I wasn't going to rock him off whatever happened and it took nearly an hour for him to go to sleep. I can deal with this though, it's the daytime sleep that concerns me most as he is getting OT - we had 2 EW at 5.30 this week - which could have been due to teething/feeling unwell I suppose

So I guess my questions are;

what should I try and aim for routine wise?
how do I deal with him fighting daytime sleep when it is taking up to an hour for him to go to sleep?

His routine on a good day is:

E 6am BF, solids an hour later
A
E 9am BF (not to sleep)
S 9.30am for 1hr 20-30mins
E 12pm BF, solids within an hour
A
S 2.15pm for 1.5hr-2hrs
E when wakes BF, solids at 5pm
A
E 6.30pm BF
S 7pm

I also am still feeding him in the night x2 which isn't an issue for me at the moment - he has had weightgain issues & feeds better in the night etc so am happy to continue this for now. Also this is why he is BF every 3 hours in the day.

My other challenge is that I work part time, and he doesn't sleep well at all when with his childminder (2 days a week) - some days 20 mins only until I pick him up around 3pm, so he has a late sleep from 3.45-4.45ish just to try and keep him from being too OT. Up until now he's coped with it. I don't really know why he doesn't sleep there, more going on I guess as there's lots of other toddlers there etc. He often wakes after 15-20mins which he never does here - not since he was tiny anyway. I think he may be jumping awake due to tiredness, and then they cannot settle him back whatever they do.

Also there are at least 2 mornings where he is at church with me and either goes down in a travel cot (have to rock him off for this one as he can crawl out of it and I have 15 minutes to feed & settle him as I'm working  - I'm a children's worker), or sleeps in the buggy. So things can't be as consistent as perhaps they could be.

I've got 2 weeks off over Christmas so am hoping to get things back on track then so would value some suggestions...

Thanks for reading!

Jenx

[sherry lynn]

Hi Jen -
9 months is a really common time for things to go haywire.

I think your first issue is you are not giving him enough A time anymore. Many moms find that around 9 months old the A time is close to 3 hours.
So I would try increasing that first A time by about 15 min. So try putting him down at 9:45 for 3 days in a row. Hopefully, that will help. If you are still getting resistance, or short naps, try increasing it again by 15 in in 3 more days. That should help.

Also at this age it if very common to start having to cut one of the naps. PM nap resistance become very common at this age. And it is the very first step to starting to drop to one nap. You are still several months off from that, but the beginning sings tend to start around 9-11 months.

Here are some links that should help: http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=64158.msg476652#msg476652
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=95670.0


It does sound like he is going down OT or OS at the child minders. I imagine there probably isn't too much you can do about that, but if you could get him back on track the other days, then maybe he will start to cope again.

At this age you also want to be mindful of AP. They are really learning cause and effect at this age, and it might start impacting his ability to sleep independently.

[jenniewren]

Hi thanks for your reply.

Re activity time - he is already on 3hr 15, (he's up at 6 usually) but I'll extend to 3.5hrs & see if that helps. He's always been on the high end of activity time & has been at 3hr/3hr 15 for ages. If that doesn't help the pm nap I'll cut his am sleep to 1hr.

Last night was better  - he only stood up 2 or 3 times and was asleep within 20 minutes - he's almost walking & has been crawling/cruising since 6.5 months & had started getting up repeatedly when put to bed. So he had an 11hr night with a few NW due to coughing waking him up etc - better than it has been in the last week or so.

Thanks again
Jen

[sherry lynn]

Sorry, I misread that.
Glad to hear things went better yesterday/last night.

Yeah, still try to increase the A time and see if that helps. I think once you increase the A time you will find that you have to cut one of the naps.

If you keep getting EW then the morning nap will probably be the nap to cut because that usually helps EW.

Good luck. Let me know how it goes or if you need any other help

[jenniewren]

Well naps today have gone really well -  he went down this morning easily without rocking after 3hrs 20 A time & slept for 1hr 10 mins (full of cold so very ready by then), and he's just fallen asleep for his pm nap after 3hrs40 mins - started wind down at 3hrs15mins. I did do a much longer wind down both times than I usually do, walking round the house, a story then cuddle + singing - I wonder whether this has helped? I did have to stay in the room but it's better than rocking or him fighting for an hour!!

I think the EW were due to OT - Sunday & Monday we'd been out & about & he'd slept in car/buggy after much longer A times than usual. He can usually cope with one day like that but 2 in a row seemed to have an effect. Plus his 3rd tooth was coming through. It's a hard balance sometimes to stay flexible so we can do things as a couple - e.g. out for Sunday lunch & Christmas shopping - and making sure he gets his sleep!

Jenx

[sherry lynn]

Jen - I bet you are right and he was OT and probably OS after so much excitement. Hopefully you are back on track