Author Topic: 9 month old NW- 9 month sleep regression? Under tired? Sep Anxiety? Sleep props?  (Read 2309 times)

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Offline asvbloch

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Greetings. 


I just wrote a lengthy post and can't  find it so I'll make this one direct and to the point. My 9.5 month old has started getting up MULTIPLE times a night.  She falls asleep on her own but can't seem to get back to sleep without assistance all of a sudden.  She has been an independent sleeper for naps and at bedtime since about 5/6 months.  She had only been waking twice a night to BF and then right back to sleep in her crib no problem.  Now it seems she can't make a single transition at night.  Could we be dealing with some accidental parenting from a recent trip? a 9 month sleep regression? Separation anxiety?  She cries until I come in and then stops but if my husband comes in instead of me she cries louder.  I thought originally it could be teething she has 8 teeth. If I give her motrin though it does not help her NW.  I don't want to give her medicine if she isn't in pain.

EASY
7am wake and fed (BF & solids)
10    Nap (falls asleep on own)
11:15  BF
12:00  Lunch (solids)
2:30   Nap (depending on how well she eats at lunch I may BF to top her off so she doesn't wake)
4:00  BF
6:00  Dinner (Solids)
7:15-7:30 Bedtime

Lately her night wakings are
10:30/11
2:30/3
5:30 - this has been a pretty consistent NW for months - so I know this one is habit


She does eat a TON of solids, mostly finger foods and is getting better at that and more interested every day.  Should I stretch her morning wake times?  She usually falls asleep for naps within 5-7 minutes without my help.  Right now her wake times are at 3 hours except the final wake time which we stretch to 3.15-3.20.  Could all her night waking be because she is undertired?


Thanks so much!


Offline newkidontheblock

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Hey there. Your routine seems fine ( A times are a bit low TBH - at 9 months they should be closer to 4 hours) It's possible that you'll are in the early stages of the 2-1 transition and that is the cause of this situation. You mention a holiday  and accidental parenting -- can you elaborate? We recently were on holiday and for various reasons, it was necessary to quiet DD down immediately at her NWs (which also started as a result of our reaction) so I would nurse her and we had a wonderful prop created. It took a day once we were back to break this. We had to go in and sit next to her bed soothing  her with words but refusing to react the way she expected. She got the message and we got to sleep:p






Offline asvbloch

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2-1 transition already? I thought that came around a year... I guess I am creeping up close on that.  Our recent trip that we took her routine was quite off since we were in town for a weekend it was two days of napping on the go and later bedtimes also then if she did wake up at night I had to quiet her quickly so I nursed her back to sleep.  Also the week before the trip when she woke I would put her pacifier back in for her... we have since stopped that (bad habit to get into I realized quite quickly). 

Yesterday was much better at night.  Two nights ago we started comforting in her crib with words and touch and the first night was rough but last night was MUCH BETTER. 

Her routine yesterday was

6:30am  Wake
7:00       BF & Solids
9:45  Nap
11:00  Awake & BF
12:30  Solids
2:30 Nap
3:50  Awake & BF
6:30 Solids (which was later than normal) 
7:20  Placed in crib
7:30  Fell asleep on her own
9:00 Awake - quieted in crib with words and touch in 5 min without picking up
1:20am Awake (she whimpered a bit than sat up and just kind of sat there for 20 min before starting to cry)
1:42am  Crying started (I fed. Full feed. I said I would keep one night feed if she woke after 2am and then in a couple weeks drop it since we were already dropping one feed now.)
1:53am  Placed back in crib awake and went to sleep on her own by 1:55am
5:30am   Awake and crying quieted with words and touch prob 10 min (habitual waking. She has always woken up between 5-5:30 there have maybe been 15 or so nights that she has not done this) 
7:00 woke up and started day BF

I'm working on stretching her A times we are currently holding at day 3 at 3hr 15 min.  With her A time lengthening should I cap her morning nap at an hour so her afternoon nap isn't so late that it pushes her bedtime?  Or should I cap her 2nd nap? I am going to go check out the 2-1 nap transition page.    Should I be shooting for a 12.5hr or 13hr day instead?

Thanks so much for your help!  You've been a lifesaver before and I really appreciate it.

Offline asvbloch

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Could it be OT from our trip?  I know that sounds so silly but she just has gotten bags under her eyes this last week for really the first time ever especially ones that don't seem to really be going away.  I know that sounds crazy especially since she was up for 20 min last night not crying. 

She is a very easy baby and has a happy disposition regardless of if she is tired or not so it is a bit hard to gage sometimes.  Just a random question I was thinking about.

Thanks again

Offline newkidontheblock

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It definitely could be OT accumulated over the trip. Don't worry - a few days of consistent naps and good nights should help her get over it. She might be going through something developmentally too, yk?

Great to hear about your progress soothing her. They are smart little creatures, huh? Pick up on things so quickly! Another thought I had was that you are getting proper naps with the short A times BUT it might lead to NWs as a result - so something to keep in mind as a culprit for the NWs you're getting. Basically there are a lot of factors in play right now. You just need to slowly work through them. Consistent naps should help with the OT, pushing A will also help lengthen naps and deal with any UT waking.

Regarding 2-1, you can choose to go with either a long am - short pm routine or vice versa. With my DD, am was always the easiest nap and the longest. She naturally started doing a long am nap and so I capped pm to 30 minutes AND pulled BT forward to compensate. Then as A times kept extending (we were doing 5 hours that point) I would either do a quick 10 minute CN with BT at 7pm OR if the nap ended by 2pm, I would go for an EBT of 6pm. I even PD for bed at 5.30 for a while and we got lovely 13-14 hour nights. Basically just made sure that she is getting enough day sleep overall and use EBT to prevent OT. This is a tricky transition.






Offline asvbloch

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I know there will be some good nights and some not so hot nights when getting our LOs to learn to fall asleep on their own again but last night we landed right back in the not so hot night. 

1st night wake: 9:10 (quick back to sleep, around 5 min)  - This was only about 1.5 after she went to sleep (doesn't that mean OT?)
2nd night wake: 10:30  (found pacifier but 30 min of whimpering followed after she put it in)
3rd wake: 3:00am - BF - back to crib awake
4th wake: 5:30am - found her pacifier on her own and back to sleep till 6:20
Morning wake:  6:20/6:25

So I put her down for her nap at 9:40 and she only slept till 10:20.... she was awake for about 5 min happily in her crib until she started screaming.  Comfort never worked and she never returned to a nap this morning.

I am going to put her down for her next nap at 1:30pm and probably an EBT.   

I just am so confused as to if it is OT or UT?  Do I just assume its UT and continue moving her nap times? 

Sorry to bother you again I am just at a complete loss.  Like I said before she doesn't really show sleepy cues.  This morning she did start rubbing her eyes and that is when we began the process and she settled fine and fell asleep on her own.

Thanks again for all your help. 

Offline asvbloch

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Also you mentioned developmental.  I'm not sure it isn't a new physical skill she has been crawling for awhile, standing on her own for awhile, and walks behind walking toys but we give her time to practice actually walking to us and she shows no interest.  Maybe a cognitive skill?

Offline newkidontheblock

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Don't worry about bothering me. Lol. Happy to help:) It might be a cognitive skill. You've mentioned the paci this time -- could this be a reason???






Offline asvbloch

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Originally we were putting it in for her but stopped and she has learned over these last couple of nights while we are comforting in the crib  to search around for it and place it in her mouth herself (WOOO HOOO)  so I don't think it is that.  It must just be the schedule so we just have to push forward with getting those times right I think... I hope.  haha.

Thanks again.