9 mths and waking !!!!!

[Jersey1]

Hi (im new and tired)

Wondering if any of you can help.

My 9mth old son has followed EASY since day one. He naps well twice a day for approx 1-1 1/2 hrs each.
He doesn't have a dummy - that went at 5mths.

He has a bath, book bottle and then bed he is 99% of the time awake when i put him down and i usually sit next to him, and some times have to have my hand on him or even stroke his back to sleep ( this occurred after a big teething week and illness) but i do it because it didn't affect the rest of the night.

He is asleep by 7.30 and sometimes i get a seperation wake up after 45 mins, but this is getting rarer.

Then at 10.30/11 sometimes later he wakes screaming i go in pat him, and as a last resort if not calming i pu/pd. after 20 mins he's asleep. Hurrah you think !!

No! He wakes every 10-20 mins !!! for an hour ....last night for 2 !!

I pat him he falls asleep, his breathing changes (he's on his front), i leave the room get back in bed and Wham !!!! he's awake

Any suggestions !!??

oh and he seems very windy !! in both directions !!

Thanks
Jen

[Natalie B's mom]

I'm having similar problems with my 9 month old. She's always been a great sleeper, goes to sleep by herself, on EASY etc. But she's periodically waking up and screaming. Last night she woke at 9:45 and wouldn#t settle down so I "gave in" and gave her a bottle. She sucked down 8 oz and then fussed a little bit but settled fairly quickly after that. I'd love to hear some advice as well!

[Aidan & mom]

I have been having the same problem for months.  I have tried almost everything (EASY method, pick up put down, night lights, music, crying to sleep, etc) but nothing is working.
Aidan (8 months) goes down at 8:30 after a bath and breastfeeding.  He is awake when I place him in his crib and he will scream and stand up unless I rub/pat his back for 30+ mins.
After this he usually sleep well until midnight or so and then the screaming fits begin.  On a good night we are only up 2 or 3 times, but most nights it is every hour for at least 20 min.
Does anyone have any suggestions?  I feel like I am in a coma all day as I manage to get roughly 3 hours of sleep per night.

[Laura~Cooper's Mom]

We went through this as well when ds was 8-9 months old.  I think it's developmental, teething, sep anxiety all rolled into one.  I upped his solids during the day, gave him more awake time in the morning and afternoon and just waited not so patiently for it to pass.  I vented a lot on the boards and now he is almost 11 months and things are much better.  He rarely wakes and has allowed us to just pat him to reassure again.  Just remain consistent.  I don't pick him up unless he is standing and when I do pick him up it's just for a second and he gets laid right back down.  At this point I just sort of lean in the crib and hug him then lay him back down.  We made the mistake during those months of lots of night wakings to rock him and also bring him in our bed.  That has been hard to break more for US then for him.  It's so easy to want to do the "quick fix" when you are tired and it's 3 am.  Hang in there and I hope it gets better soon.

[Aidan & mom]

Thanks,
I  am glad to know that I am not the only one out there who's little one won't sleep.  He was an amazing sleeper until he was 4 months old.
I only pick him up to lay him back down after he has been standing.  I think that their lack of sleep is harder on us as we don't like to hear them cry.
I guess we will just have to wait it out and hope that he gets back into a good sleeping routine.
Tara

[mlamtel]

Hi, I've been following Tracy ,half way ,  since my baby is 3 weeks and He definately knew how to fall asleep on his own either after nursing or after activity, He learned what night was and went  to sleep nicely after a bed time routine . I dreamfed a number of times and cluster fed( nursing) , but I havn't yet stopped nursing every couple of hours through the night and putting him back in his crib, then I do bring him to my bed after 2am or so. So he has a concept of his own bed and sleeping himself , but I've  made it easier for myself after a certain point in the night  .Now he's 7 months. and the last few weeks,i t's as if he forgot how to fall asleep himself .Since I work at night my DH does bedtime and resorted to rocking him to sleep. It works, most of the time, so  why is it a prop? Which book. has the pick up/ put down info?
I am pretty annoyed that even though I started easy  really early on and  taught him how to sleep, it's now, like I never  did.  Thanks for listening.

[SandyGal]

A lot of sleeping problems "start" at the 7-9 month age. Babies wake more easily starting now and if they are not falling asleep without a prop, they will need that prop when they wake in order to get back to sleep. I started off nursing my daughter to sleep. It was so easy (and I don't mean E.A.S.Y  :wink: ), but my daughter started not sleeping at 6 weeks of age, so I fixed it pretty early on. At around 7-8 months after months of beautiful sleep, we started having some trouble. Pediatrician said all was healthy, so I went back to getting back on track and got her to sleep on her own again after the wakings. It is this age when you have to be consistent and not start the quick fixes which will get you in the end. If you have already been doing some accidental parenting (rocking, patting, rubbing backs, etc.) now is the time to break the habit. Stick to one method and don't change. PU/PD will break prop dependency. If your lo just needs your presence... start moving towards the door until gradually you are no longer in the room while they fall asleep. Tracey advises independent sleep after three months of age (she recommends staying with baby and doing shhh/pat until that time).

[Mum to Ella Rose]

hhmmm... I've been posting all over the place with pretty much the same issues. I guess it's definitely an age thing!  :lol: Just wanted to say you're not alone. It's almost like having a newborn again in some respects with the lack of sleep... Hang in there everyone! 

Sharon

[Nicol]

Hi all,

We are having the same problem at the moment.  Connor has never been a great sleeper but we were getting to the stage that he would fall asleep on his own and sleep most of the night.  Suddenly since last weekend he decided that he is going to wake up every 2 hours from 10pm onwards and will be up anywhere between 10 minutes and 2 hours.  It doesn't help because I think he is cutting his top teeth which I know must be ever so painful for him but not getting any sleep is doing me in and it can't be good for him either.

One thing that might help others through is seeing a Crainial Osteopath.  I know it can be expensive but it worked for us.  We took Connor when he was very young because he suffered with Colic after 3 sessions that was solved.  I then took him again a couple of weeks ago because he jsut seemed to be struggling with the introduction of Protein into his diet.  When I put him to bed that night he slept from 7am - 7pm !!!!  We have another appointment in a couple of weeks which I am hoping will help sort out his sleeping.

 

[cazao]

i`m not sure about this, but isn`t there a growth spurt around 9 months? i`ve heard some people mention it. that may explain the waking and sucking back a bottle. my dd woke twice last night, which was really unusual and she ate like a veryhungrything. could that be it for the 9 month olds?

[Marni]

I know lots of people don't agree, but I've used the cry it out method. My daughter is over 7 months old, and since 7 weeks has slept 8 hours at night. Recently she started waking in the night, so I went to nurse her 2 nights in a row and she'd fall back asleep. I got tired of doing this (she's a good napper and eats well), so I gave her a soother to see if it was the calming she needed, or food. Well it was just the calming, so I let her cry it out for 2 nights after that, and she's been sleeping 12 hours a night since. Its hard to hear the crying, so we put our fan on so we couldn't hear, and we'd check on her every few minutes until she was sleeping, to make sure everything was okay. The most it took was 20 minutes-hope this helps!

[Jersey1]

Thanks for all the replies, at least we're not alone, when we are up in the middle of the night.

He has been getting slightly better and i only had to get up once last night, even though i still woke up because i thought i must of missed him !! :roll:   Definatley like being newborn again.  :shock:

So patience really is a virtue !!

CIO just isn't for me, i just can't do it. I think it must be a growth spurt / seperation thing. He seems to be learning that i haven't disappeared for good. Just wish he'd catch on a bit quicker !!  :lol:

Jen

[charlene collins]

Hi i need some help my 8 monthold baby keeps on waking up at around 4am and he keeps on crying. what shud i do it has been going on now for the past 5 months feel shy to talk to the health visitor need help as i am not getting no sleep myself and i feel tired  :oops:

[cata]

It's good to know we're not alone in this night waking.
My lo is 9 months, and I've been doing EASY since day 1, and he still wakes up 2-3 times a night. Good nights will be just 1 waking. I still bf at 3-4am since df didn't work for him (he would wake every 2 hours from that)...it's more or less 8 hours since last bf.
Some times I just give him the pacifier and he falls back to sleep. Other times I would give him some water, until bf time.
CIO isn't for me either!
Love to hear what did work for any of you.

[cata]

Charlene,
if your lo is consistently waking at 4am, I would try wake to sleep. It's very easy and works!
Good luck.