Help! Can't get A time right (9 month old)

[slumberbaby]

We are having lots of NW at the moment and I think there's a little bit of SA going on when he wakes at night so it's becoming increasingly hard to get him to settle....it's not happening every night but on the bad nights I'm trying to settle him for over 2 hours then usually giving up and putting him in bed with me.

One of the problems is that when he's in his own room for the whole night I don't actually know what time he's waking so I can't get his first A time right which then messes up the whole day. If I happen to be awake I might be able to tell he's woken up by a subtle change in his breathing but it's really hard to tell. He's really quiet when he wakes  and then gradually starts making more noise as he starts playing-as it's contented noises it doesn't wake me up for a while. I've tried setting my alarm to wake before he does but I still can't really tell for sure!

I'm still getting erratic naps even when I'm sure I've got the A time right tho- this morning was 3hrs 35 mins and we got a 30 min nap. But he woke making happy noises, not as if he was still tired....I'm so confused!!!

Can anyone offer any suggestions? Not even sure I should be posting this here as it's not just a NW problem, it's EASY and Naps too I think!

X

[*Nicola*]

Hiya

Sorry you are having lots of sleep issues.

With regard to the NW'ing issues I wonder whether he has come to expect to be taken into your bed at night?  Does he ever resettle in his own bed or do you always end up taking him in with you.

I think this is key here.  By trying to resettle for 2 hours and *then* allowing him to come into bed with you I think he is confused as to what is happening and is used to settling with you.  If you are happy to bring him into bed with you then it would be sensible to do this as soon as he wakes.  However if you decide that you want to resettle him in his cot then I think you need to come up with a plan and stick to it It will be hard of course, but if you decide to resettle him in his cot then that must be the way otherwise things will continue as they are.

Have a look at these links, they might give you some ideas.

http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=62612.0
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=65193.0

As for the morning wake up, it might help you to keep a sleep diary for a few days which will help you to identify any patterns etc with his A times and wake up times.  If a baby is awake in the morning before we are then it does count towards their total A time but it is much less stimulating than normal A time for a 9 month old so they are unlikely to be AS tired kwim?  Saying that, some babies are really sensitive with A times, so perhaps a diary would help here.  Or switch the monitor up louder for a few days to help you suss things out

I think you will probably get better advise with this if you pop a post in either Naps or EASY forum

HTH x

[slumberbaby]

Hi , thanks for the reply. There are a couple of threads on the naps board from mums having the same problems re wake-up times which were really helpful. Our monitor is on the most sensitive setting and really I still can't tell when he's woken. It's good to know from those other threads tho that I'm not alone!

I know what you mean about sticking to one thing or another with the NW, I usually re settle him in his cot and tho some nights I might have to do it a few times it doesn't usually take that long. On the bad nights recently it just didn't feel right to keep trying to get him to sleep in his cot when he was getting so upset. After I wrote my post yesterday he pulled up to standing for the first time ever which was right after our worst night in a really long time so that must have been at the root of it, plus a bit of teething and some snuffles thrown in too. And he slept thru last night yay!

I'll have a look at those SA links now, thanks xx

[*Nicola*]