9 mth old - Rolling onto tummy and getting up at naps, + tummy sleeping at night

[Canadian Nat]

Hello.  My 9 month old has slept on her back up till now. She has just started twisting to one side and getting herself up and sitting up. This happens only in naps so far and makes it difficult to put her down for a nap. Tonight she did the same, twisting on her side and going onto her tummy but she didn't get up. She just stayed on her tummy and went to sleep.  She is in a grobag at night and also has a soother.

My concern is how do I deal with this? I'm worried it might make her wake up more often as she suddenly wakes in the night, finds herself on her tummy and doesn't know how to deal with it. Should I turn her back onto her back when she wakes in the night-if she does? Or turn her over in her sleep? Or just leave her on her tummy?

Will this tummy sleeping affect the effectiveness of the soother?

My biggest problem is that she gets herself up in nap put downs by doing this twisting over and getting up. I tried to keep going in and laying her down again on her back but she just kept getting up. It felt futile to keep going in and doing this with her until I thought that well, she can't be that tired if she keeps wanting to roll over and get up, so I just gave up after about 12 times of doing this resetting with her and brought her down. When I  tried putting her down later she eventually went down for a nap after rolling over and getting up after only a couple of times.

Should I just leave her when she rolls over and gets up and just let her play in the cot?  It's just that she won't put herself down I wouldn't have thought so I've never just left her to it.

I'm just also worried that she'll start trying to get up at night too and then what do I do? I can't treat it like I do in the day (I.e. get her up and let her play!).

As I typed this message she got disturbed by a noise downstairs and started to wake up, and grumble as she found herself on her tummy and couldn't get herself over on her back. She also did a poo! I've noticed she has a habit of doing a poo when she sleeps on her tummy! She did this to last night at 1am!

All new territory to me. She's been happy enough on her back all this time and now she's changing that.

She is also crawling and cruising around furniture- a bit of general info.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

[ZacsMumme]

Oh yes, I remember these periods of sleep...they do pass I promise they like to practice at bt and nap time.

I found my first if I kept him up a touch later with lots of practice during A time it helped a lot. So maybe try a 10 min A increase? Also try popping her in her cot during A time to get it out of her system.

My second, nothing worked. I just had to ride it out. If the naps end up a bit of a bust then I did EBT and tried some apoping.

Unless she is crying in the night I would leave her to it. I know it's hard to do, but it's the best way forward really. She will work it out. Particularly in a sleep sack. My boys have pacis and are in sleep sacks and came out of it fine. Maybe put 4-5 pacis in the cot if she is all over the place so she can find them in the night.

What does her day look like ATM, maybe a routine tweak will help x

[Canadian Nat]

Sounds a good idea to try and put her in her cot in A time to get it out of her system.  I could see if that works.  As for extending her A time, it's a bit tricky to judge but I'll try that too.  It may just mean she's really not in a good mood when I get her up there for a nap - i.e. overtired, but I'll try that.

When you say just leave her to it unless she's crying, do you mean just let her sit there and look around and do whatever she wants?  How long do I let her do that for until I think that she really should be sleeping?!  Cause as I mentioned, I don't know if she'll have the ability or think to just lay down again.  Maybe I'm too scared to give her a chance to show me!  If she is crying then I could go and put her down and put the soother in, is that what you mean?

Her day is something like this:

wake - 6am
E - 6.15am (breast feed)
E - 7.15am (breakfast)
A
S - 9am

wake - anywhere from half an hour to 1.5 hours later
E - 10.30am (formula 150ml)
A
S - 11.30am (or sometimes she just rides it out until after lunch and doesn't nap here)

wake - 12.30pm
E - 1pm (lunch)
A
E - 3/3.30pm (formula 150ml)
S - 3.45/4pm (sometimes she doesn't do this nap if she's had a long morning nap)

wake - 5pm
E - dinner
A
E - 7.15pm (formula 260ml)
S - 7.30/45pm

DURING THE NIGHT- she can wake (until last two nights) from between 2-5 times a night. Don't know whether this is teething or wanting the soother which has fallen out or cold or hot or who knows...I'm totally sleep deprived and have been for 9 months.  But the last two nights she's shown that she can sleep almost all through (the first night of the two she did a poo at 1am, again, I found her on her tummy when this happened; the second night she did a poo early in the night at about 8pm, then didn't stir until 6/7.30am this morning, unheard of until now. What's going on?!

[ZacsMumme]

When you say just leave her to it unless she's crying, do you mean just let her sit there and look around and do whatever she wants?  How long do I let her do that for until I think that she really should be sleeping?!  Cause as I mentioned, I don't know if she'll have the ability or think to just lay down again.  Maybe I'm too scared to give her a chance to show me!  If she is crying then I could go and put her down and put the soother in, is that what you mean?

I would give her a good 15 mins to try to settle/resettle during the day and 30 at night. Babies all wake in the night, and often stay awake for periods of time. But it's learning to settle back to sleep without needing us that we are teaching them yk? How do you know she's awake? Can you hear her or are you watching her in a video monitor?

Her waking less in the night the last few days can be her adjusting to the new routine, with the longer A times.

Looking at her routine she is on too many naps...even if you only get two short ones at 9 mths I'd be pulling bt a bit earlier and working on resettling rather than offering a third nap. LOs drop that third one around 6-7 mths and by 9 many are doing a shorter and longer nap with 11-12 hrs at night.

I would work towards Something like this gradually.
WU 6
Nap 9.30-10.30
Nap 2-3.30
Bt 7

[Canadian Nat]

Hi

Yes, I think she is doing something similar to your suggested plan now.  About two naps.  But sometimes she does one long nap (2hrs ish) and so she doesn't really sleep the rest of the day...I suppose that's OK?

As she's still having milk in between her meals (that's another question I have but I'll put that on the feeding boards), I find it hard to know when to give her a nap, as I still try and fit the bottle's in as well...But generally, I think she's dropping the 3 naps,i.e. that little cat nap in the morning.  I am tiring her out by keeping her up longer in the morning and she has a nap before lunch most times, then probably another late afternoon.  Bedtime starts at 7pm so I think I'm on track with your suggested plan?

Thanks.

[ZacsMumme]

Yes, really your looking at 2 naps, one will likely be shorter than the other if your fitting into a 12-12.5 hr day. For a while you may be between 2-1 naps as well. This can go on for a bit till they are ready to completely drop to one nap (usually over 12 mths)

Sounds like your on track

[Canadian Nat]

Hi

Thanks for your view.  Yes, I'm finding that sometimes she won't manage to nap two times in a day.  Today is an example.  She only had just over an hour (disturbed by my two year old who was crying because she was ill...).  And although I offered the usual afternoon nap, she wasn't happy, just wanted to be with us!

Thanks for your help.  It's good to know it is normal to swing between 1 and 2 naps for a bit.

Nat