9 month old new NWing issues

[Jdowloew]

My 9 month old has started waking 3+ times a night & will only settle if I give him a BF.  Sometimes he is inconsolable & pushes us away.  My hubby does try to help, but when we give up & give in to a feed obviously I have to take over.  He has always been easy to feed & put back to sleep until now, even after feeding him he will sit up & start crying again as soon as I put him back down.  I can't keep doing this....it's making me crazy!!  He doesn't seem to be teething at the moment, he has had a bit of separation anxiety, but nothing major.  He had been on a very good routine for a while, meaning waking not at all to only once a night & not always for a feed.

His wake time in the morning varies from 6:00 to 8:00.
Then I BF, both sides.  A for 2 hours then nap for anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours.  An hour seems the most consistent time.
His next nap comes 2.3-3 hours after that.
I BF every 3-4 hours depending on where we're at with naps & solid meals.  I try to fit in a solids meal about 2 hours after BF for lunch & dinner.  He has had a variety of new foods but I keep to the same thing for about 5 days or so.  Right now we're doing yams, peaches, blueberries, and cereal.  He's not having any tummy trouble.
Bedtime is between 7:30 & 8:30, depending on his last nap.  And I BF before putting him down for the night.  We have a fairly consistent routine with bath & story time.  Usually he will go down with no trouble.

He does not use a soother or have a favourite lovie. 

Any insight or feedback would help, Thank you!

[PaulsMom]

Hi there! 

Hugs for the nw's.  how long has he been waking this frequently during the night?  Also, at what times is he waking or is it completely random each night? 

A couple of things come to mind that may be the cause of his nw's.
There is a gs that commonly occurs at 9 months so he could be waking and be genuinely hungry.  Is he taking a full feed at night or just sucking for comfort?  At 9 months, I would consider increasing solids a bit more.  Milk is still very important but he's starting to make the transition from a liquid diet to a more one.  Regarding solids, what type of proteins is he getting?  Is he eating finger foods or purees?

SA came to mind since he wants to be held by you, even after a feed.  Here is some info Separation Anxiety.  I would def play peek a boo during the day.  Try to reassure him as much as possible at night.  It is important to be really consistent about this as it will help in the long run. 

Regarding his routine, I would consider increasing his A times.  Most babies this age are awake for 3-4 hrs so his morning A is too short.  I would try to increase his A by around 15 min every 3-4 days until hes up for at least 3 hrs and see how he does. 

HTH

[Jdowloew]

Thank you so much for the advice....

He's been waking for the last 3 weeks or so & fairly consistently at the same time (12am & 4am).  He does seem to take a full feed, from both sides.

He is starting some finger foods but mostly thick purees right now.

I did some more reading of other posts yesterday & picked up on the same thing about his activity time.  I will try to extend it in the morning :-)

On a good note, when he woke @ 4am this morning I just left him & he was able sooth himself back to sleep (no crying!).  Small victory for both of us.

[PaulsMom]

Yay for the SS!  Wrt foods, if he accepts finger foods, I would start to give him those so that he's getting more calories in him.  Usually finger foods will have more calorie than purees.  Keep us posted on how he does with the longer A time.

[Jdowloew]

I'm beginning to wonder if he's having nightmares or night-terrors...?  He woke up at 10:30 last night with a panicked cry, this is really unusual for him.  But when I picked him up he just pushed me away & would not calm down.  I finally turned on the lights to check him over to see if he was hurt or something/anything.  He then seemed to calm down a bit.

Other than that we're still all over the place!  I have extended his A time & his daytime naps have actually improved.  We had a night two ago where he only got up for a 2:30am feed after going down at 7pm!  Why can't every night be like that!!!???

I'm increasing his finger food intake too on your advice & he's at least enjoying that & it gives me a bit more time to sit down, phew!

I appreciate the advice & support 

[PaulsMom]

I do think that babies can have nightmares or scary dreams so it is possible that the one nw was due to that.  I'm glad naps are improving.  How long are his As now? 

I agree about the finger foods.  It does make things a bit easier for you.  Hugs!

[Jdowloew]

His first A time after waking is now 2.25 hours & his subsequent A times through the day are up to 3 hours...for now I'm going with his cues as I don't want to extend them too much at once.

[PaulsMom]

Definitely go slowing with A time increases.  It may take a week or two to get him up to where he needs to be.  Hang in there!