Author Topic: 9 month old cot parties and/or early wakings  (Read 1017 times)

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Offline Lycheewaves

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9 month old cot parties and/or early wakings
« on: March 06, 2015, 10:17:38 am »
Hi everyone, I love these boards and have been using them religiously for advice from everyone's posts.

I'd really appreciate some advice on our 9 month old and his sleeping. We have been following baby whisperer since he was 3 months old when a load of accidental parenting was causing him to wake every hour and killing us both.

 Happily with a combo of shush pat, PU/PD, wake to sleep we eventually got him to settle himself to sleep and get himself back to sleep when he wakes at night. I can even happily report we cracked naps so I can put him down after his sleep routine and walk out whilst he's still awake.

However our consistent problem has been both cot parties where he wakes up at 2 or 3am smiling at us wanting to play. He's not crying, so there's no need to PU/PD he just wants to be awake and play. For 2 or 3 hours. I've usually taken this as a sign to extend his wake times and cut his naps which has worked. I habitually wake him from his naps as have learnt if I let him sleep how much he wants we have a cot party at night and we are now at about 3 hours 50 mins wake time with 1 hour 50 mins in total of naps (taken across 2 naps).

When he does sleep through the night he has been getting up before 6am sometimes even 5am, again bright as a button and wanting to play. He is nowhere near getting the supposed 14 hours a day of sleep (naps + night time sleep) for his age and is instead averaging about 12 hours.

Do I keep cutting back the naps and extending the awake times? He is a big 9 month old, he's often mistaken for a much older baby so is that he just needs more awake time? Even if that means we get to a 13 hour awake day? I know he might be beginning his one to 2 nap transition.

His usual EASY is:

530/545 Awake
930ish Sleep for 50 mins
10.10 awake
14.00 ish sleep for 1 hour
15.00 awake
19.30 bedtime

In an ideal world I would love him to sleep till 7am or even 630am giving him an 11/11.5 night time sleep but anything that doesn't start with a 5 would be great right now!!

I'd appreciate any advice!

Offline newkidontheblock

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Re: 9 month old cot parties and/or early wakings
« Reply #1 on: March 06, 2015, 12:53:36 pm »
Hi there:) I have a 9 month old too. Let's see if I can help you out. Firstly, I completely agree that he is not getting much sleep at all during the day. Due to these early wakings, your day is also very long- nearly 14 hours. It is best to aim for a 12-12.5 hour day, and on days with such little sleep and EWs, i would go for an early bedtime. So basically, if he wakes at 5.30, i would get him into bed by 6 latest.

What I think might also help is distributing that sleep a little differently. Around this age, babies start the 2-1 transition, which in itself is a long process, and it is not possible to fit two long naps in the day, without extending it too much. So a better option is to go for a long nap + CN. You can either do short morning, long pm nap or vice versa. Eventually you can drop the CN and go for one nap with an EBT.

If it will help, our routine is
7- WU
11- 1--nap 1. ( anywhere between 1.40 to 2 hours)
30 min CN after 4.10 A
Bed 1.5 hrs later ( she needs a short A to bed)

Bedtime changes depending on CN but usually between 6 & 7






Offline Lycheewaves

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Re: 9 month old cot parties and/or early wakings
« Reply #2 on: March 06, 2015, 14:32:26 pm »
Thanks for this! I can easily do this as he often wants to sleep longer on his first nap I just don't let him. So to clarify for the afternoon it would be say, awake from 1st nap at 1pm and the catnap at 5.10pm (to give you 4 hours 10 awake time) and then bedtime 1.5 hours after awaking from catnap would be bedtime at 7.10pm?

Thanks so much for replying!

Offline newkidontheblock

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Re: 9 month old cot parties and/or early wakings
« Reply #3 on: March 06, 2015, 15:24:21 pm »
Yes, that's what I'm doing right now. As I said BT varies. Till recently, I was capping the am nap at 12.30. CN from 4.30 -5 & BT 6.30, making it a 11 or 11.5 hour day. But now since it is brighter for longer, I am back to 7 as BT. You can change things around as it suits you. The main thing is knowing how long does he need between CN & bed, and adjust the rest of the day accordingly.






Offline Lycheewaves

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Re: 9 month old cot parties and/or early wakings
« Reply #4 on: March 06, 2015, 16:09:27 pm »
thanks again, i'm going to give this a go over the next week and let you know how it goes :D happy to try anything right now!