9.5 month old keeps waking crawling and standing!

[bevsteress]

Hi,

I'm getting really frustrated. By 8 months we had finally managed to stop the night feeds and managed to settle our DS with just a pu/pd but forward 1.5 months later we're still not STTN I don't have total control over his whole day anymore since he goes to daycare in the morning. However he still manages to get between 1hr to 1hr 40min naps there and another 1 - 1.5hr nap in the afternoon. Also even on the weekends if he's had a perfect easy day with a 1.5hr nap every 3 hrs and then bedtime he still woke up at night (if not even more!)

He keeps waking up with a start and pushes himself up from a tummy position to sitting, sometimes just starts crawling very quickly and then bumps his head against the cot (that's the worst coz he gets a fright obviously) and sometimes he even gets himself to a standing position. Most of the time his eyes are still closed so he must be still 'sleeping' and when this happens usually a quick pu/pd works. However sometimes he totally resists the PD part and we have to just hold him while standing still till he calms down and practically sleeps again on our shoulder and then put him down. Sometimes this has to be done several times. Settle him down and about 5 mins later he wakes screaming again and we start again - this goes on for up to an hour sometimes. (he still sleeps in our room due to this happening as he's never STTN yet...or at least I can count the times he did on one hand! ).

Things started going slightly downhill after he spent a good month being sick with a cold and cough so we ended having to let him sleep on our shoulders for a while as it was the only way he didn't get blocked. Then when he got better and we got him back in his cot the waking up sitting down started happening. Last week I think he was teething as they were sheer shrieks of pain and he had some fever too....though not even 1 tooth has popped out yet!

Anyone have any ideas as to what is happening or what we can do to help him? Are they night terrors..that frequent and every night?  Or constant teething pain? Even though he settles so quickly on us? Most times he holds on for dear life when we pick him up. Oh and settling him in the cot no longer seems to be an option as he just pushes our arms away or else grabs on so we pick him up.

Help 

[becj86]

Separation anxiety is a possibility: Tips for seperation anxiety

Night terrors tend to happen early in the night and can be related to overtiredness or LO being hot - are these a possibility?

Routine could be an issue: 10/11 month old sleep gone wonky? Read this first!

[bevsteress]

I don't think separation anxiety is an issue because he happily goes to daycare or stays with his dad or my mum without a fuss. Body temperature could very likely be an issue because since the weather has been changing alot lately we're trying to get him with the right amount of layers so he's not too warm or cold ....which isn't always easy and varies at night sometimes!

I read the post about the nap transition. Should I slowly start increasing his A times by 15mins every few days to get it to 4 hours in order to start getting him closer to 1 nap then eventually? He has sometimes gone with 4 or even 5 hrs before his first am nap when he is at daycare (since although they have my schedule as a guideline they put him to bed when he seems tired and wouldn't know what time he woke up). His NT is never very long (in total) however. Generally BT by 8.15/8.30pm and he's usually up by 6/6.30am....sometimes if he has a long EW at around 4/5am then he will remain asleep till around 8am (by which time I have to wake him to get to work). When we used to put him to bed earlier he was waking at 4.30am wide awake. Is 10hrs enough for his age? He doesn't wake up cranky or anything so I guess it probably is (unfortunately for me!)

[becj86]

10hr is on the short side at this age. That's when he should really be reducing day sleep and having a longer night. What's his typical day look like?

[bevsteress]

Ideally I try to aim for the following:

Wake up 7am
Breastfeed 7.30/8am
Breakfast - 8.30/9am
Nap - 10am
Wake up - 11.30am
Lunch 12/12.30pm
Milk - 1/1.30pm
Nap- 2.30pm
Wake up - 4pm
Snack - 4.30pm
Dinner - 6.30pm
Milk - 7.30pm
Bath - 7.45/8pm
Bed - 8.15/8.30pm

Due to the early wake ups sometimes we end up with a long stretch till bedtime. If he has 2 short naps I sometimes used to let him take a little catnap at around 5.30 (usually by taking him out and he sleeps in the car....although lately this doesn't work anymore so I figured he is extending his A time. Although by 7 he starts rubbing his eyes already. However, earlier BTs never seem to work as he just wakes up earlier too :-/  We used to try starting the BT routine at 6.30/7pm but he used to wake up at 4.30pm. Then last month we took the opportunity when we moved the hour forward and kept his routine the same so his BT became 8.30pm.

[becj86]

Although by 7 he starts rubbing his eyes already. However, earlier BTs never seem to work as he just wakes up earlier too

When you were going earlier, how much earlier? Really you need to make sure you're going early enough that he will tack on. If you just go 30min earlier and he needs 1hr earlier, you will get an earlier waking rather than an extended night.

If you get him down after 3hr A time in the morning, does he sleep 1.5hr? Are you waking him? Are you having to resettle?

[bevsteress]

Hmmm...generally I never tried more than 30mins earlier because if I try earlier it means he would go to bed without his dinner or milk. The last 2 nights we only had about 2 night wakings and then he woke up on his own at 6.30am after going to bed at 8.15 the previous night and 8.45pm last night (because I tried extending his second A time but then got a 30min nap only so gave him another nap from 5.15pm and woke him at 6.15pm).

Morning naps are always good generally. He goes down easily after 3hrs and usually sleeps anywhere from 1hr15mins to 1hr 30mins with no wakings or resettling needed and he wakes up on his own then. Same for afternoon naps unless I miss the timing to get him to sleep.

[becj86]

Ok, so the 1:15 indicates he's undertired. The 30min waking from the nap is going to happen if you push the A times, not because its too much for him, but because he is so used to going to sleep UT. The nights of around 10hr - that's likely OT building up slowly from the shortish naps, nights and long A to BT. If you increase his A times by about 10-15mins and resettle with HTTJ, he should settle into the new A times in a few days and you'll have an indication as to whether you need to increase further. My guess is that you'll get to at least 3:30, if not 3:45 or 4hr A times before the routine stabilises.

[bevsteress]

Ok thanks I will give it a try and start increasing his A times slowly this weekend and see how things go!