9 month old NW and EW

[arcticparents]

HI there. My nine month old has been waking roughly 1-2 times a night and then in the morning between 4 and 5 :30. 
Here is what yesterday and today looked like:

Yesterday
5:30- up for the day (BF when she wakes)
7:00- solids
9:00- asleep for first nap
10:30- awake and BF
12:00- solids
2:00 - asleep for 2nd nap (this was unusually long)
4:20- awake and BF
5:30- solids
7:00-asleep
11:00-12:20 awake with patting and PUPD (calm with patting, and crying without) seems to be a bit of a habitual waking
4:20-wake up and pat for 40 minutes, then resorted to nursing to sleep for half hour
6:00- up for the day…
7:30-solids
9:00-1st nap
11:00- up and bf
12:00-solids
2:00-2nd nap
3:20-wake up and bf
5:00- solids
7:30- asleep

*my husband has been going in at night to pat her down as we have just weened her off nursing her to sleep a few weeks ago and she's doing great in the nursing to sleep regard.
*I also nurse her right before all her naps and bedtime and then put her to bed awake and pat her for a few seconds before she quietly falls asleep.
*last week she was waking up at night and it only took 5-20 minutes of calm patting for her to get back to sleep, but now it's taking a long time each time…maybe more teeth though so I think we may try tylenol.

Anyways, thanks for any advice !!

[cathyandivy]

Morning - I am certainly no expert but read your post and immediately thought the following having just gone through a very similar experience with my daughter:

1. 9 month growth spurt? She needs the extra calories so is now waking from hunger in the night?
2. Has she learnt a new skills recently? My daughter started crawling at 8 months and sleep went out the window for a while...
3. Try to keep A time around 3-4 hours throughout the day? For the first day routine you have listed the A time was only 2 hours 45 before bed - I know you said that this was unusual, but we found that keeping that last A time around 3-4 helped improve her nighttime sleep

Just some thoughts from a sympathetic mum 

[arcticparents]

Thanks very much for the thoughts:) I think I'll try to bump up her A time to 4 hours and see how that goes…good idea.
I was also thinking that maybe I should be capping her naps? As at least one of them is about 2 hours and then another 1-1.5 hours.
Yes, she has learned a lot of new skills…she is crazy about crawling and pulling up onto furniture, and starting to furniture walk, so maybe that's another reason (there's always something, hey?!).
She is eating a ton too, and just started eating whole boiled veggies/toast/bites of fruit/finger food on her own which she is loving the new challenge and I think she's pretty proud of herself too.
Anyways, last night was actually worse than many with 3 wake-ups (10:20, 11:20, 2:30 and 5:00 up for the day) (anywhere from 10-30 minutes to resettle) .
So yes, lots happening and add teeth to her list. Hopefully the increased A time helps. Thanks again for any isights:)

[cpowell05]

HI

I too am no expert just started following Whisperer
and we have a lot of the same things going on!! I also nurse at naps and bedtime and am having a really hard time cutting that out so kudos to you! I've found Motrin at bedtime helps us with teething. (1.875mg for 20# baby) I have been able to realize now after almost a of month of night wakings at 3am that it was habitual and not hunger. If its at same time every night its labeled habitual not hunger-if random times then its thought to be hunger. My 8.5month old also learned how to crawl and stand/take steps in the same week and so we've had to teach him  how to sit down after standing and that has made his self soothing at night nonexistent.. however PU/PD is slowly working for us at night time. it takes 40-50mins of laying him down right after standing up. PU and doing cradle hold is helpful then placing him down and just placing my hand on his back saying "its bedtime go to sleep" I've found my words are more calming than my hand sometimes he wiggles with my hand being there. Try to go back to just pu/pd and not BF I know its hard as I've just done this in the last 2 weeks but if baby does wake at random times then I too believe he could be at the growth spurt and need the snack. Good Luck Hope some of my rambling has helped :S

[Sarah - Enfys' Mum]

Hi - I think that you should cap one of the naps.  He's probably making up for his poor nights by taking long naps. My dd would do this too, so I have to limit her daytime sleep. Of course, teething and developmental leaps could be an issue as well.

Because he's ew, I would cap his morning nap, maybe at an hour or even 45 minutes and see if that helps. You'll need to decrease his a time before the next nap, say by half an hour, so he doesn't get too tired before his pm nap.

[ewabear]

Agree, cap the first nap otherwise you will soon run out of time as you will not be able to fit everything into your day especially that your A's will be extending and you will have to start moving towards 2-1 transition. As per early wakings try for a while move BT to earlier time but only if you cap the first nap:
Example: 5:30 wu
       Try:  9:15 s
               10:00 a
               1:30 s
               3:00 a
               6:00-6:15 to be asleep no later than this
 HTH, I have just been struggling with the same problem, it took about 2 weeks, but it worked.

[arcticparents]

Thanks so much everyone for the great advice!! I will begin to cap her first nap. She seems to be managing very well with the 4 hour A time adjustment, but you're right, I run out of daytime. Like today, she woke up at 5:30, napped at 9:30-11:30, then if I wait another 4 hours, it's 3:30 for about an hour at least and then she's up until 7:30 or 8 but not totally tired. She's been waking usually once a night where we'll have to go in for a bit and pat her and then up for the day around 5:30.
Hopefully we can get her early wake-ups and night waking under control without too much disruption:) Thanks again for the help and I'll keep you informed on how it goes!