Sudden night wakings in almost 9 month old

[Mia and Lily's Mom]

Teezee asked me to post over here as well, I suspected that my drinking caffeine might be the culprit but just to be sure, I figured I ask the experts on this board 

Dd is almost 9 month old.  She has never really slept through the night but historically woken up once to feed usually around 5:00 am.  She has had some problems with constipation which has hurt her sleep but we are pretty much over that one now.

Here is her current routine

Wakes around 5:00 am bf, goes back to sleep until around 7:00 am
Awake, getting ready for work/daycare usually in daycare by about 9:00 am

Feeding at daycare around 9:30 am 5-6 ounces of ebm, aound 10:00 am on jar of #2 Fruit or Yobaby Yoghurt

Nap around 10:30 am - 11:30 am (usually between 30-60 minutes)

Lunch at 1:00 pm  5 ounces of ebm    1:30 pm Oatmeal with Prune Juice (this is what ended the constipation :-)).

Nap around 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Dinner around 4:30 pm  3-4 ounces of ebm (she usually does not drink all of this though) and 5:00 pm jar of veggies

She gets another jar of fruit with our dinner around 6:30 pm

7:15 bath and finally bf and usually in bed asleep by 8:00 pm

Now, it might be important to note that she is still swaddled in the miracle blanket, which she is really getting too big for and gets out of more easily now, which can cause nightwakings.  We need to wean her of that but everytime we leave a hand out, it immediately starts flailing crazily and will wake her up.  I have a long weekend next week and will try that one. 

She goes to sleep really easily and used to stay asleep until at least 2-3 am at which time she will have freed herself from the blanket, but all I do is go in re-wrap and she goes right back to sleep.

The last three nights, she will go to sleep at 8:00 pm no problem but wake back up about 30 minutes later.  She will let you settle her back down but she will wake up again about 30-40 minutes later again.  Last night I ended up sitting with her in a rocking chair until she was deep asleep and then put her back in bed and she did sleep until 1:00 am.  At that point I rewrapped her and she immediately fell asleep in my arms but when I put her back in the crip, woke up after about 10 minutes.  Got her settled again and this time slept for 30 minutes and then awake again.  She is not screaming when she wakes us, but just seems awake and starts talking and quietly crying if ignored.  I broke down last night because I was so exhausted and took her in bed with us and she fell asleep on me and slept there for about 1 hour and then I took her back to her bed where she slept until 5:00 am, bf and went straight back to sleep until 7:00 am.

As far as I can tell we have not hit any new milestones.  We have not teeth yet, but I can't see or feel any coming through and she is not drooling.  We have been sitting for a while and no intereste in crawling yet.  The one thing I came up with is that recently I have been increasing my caffeine intake, but the last cup of coffee is around 2:00 pm so could that affect her for her feeding at 8:00 pm?

Help, I am supposed to be going out of town next week and dh will go insane after just one night of this 

[teezee]

you may want to try the aussie swaddle until your lo can 'handle' her movements better. you use a twin size sheet folded or cut in half to swaddle - it helped me wean my lo off the swaddle (started using it at 6 months) and stopped swaddling althogether at 8 months although if she is overtired she still needs to be swaddled even now.

i wouldn't suggest rocking to sleep - as you will only create a bad habit (it's only bad i suppose if you don't want to do it all the time ). but i do think that your lo is overtired throughout the day (as long as you have ruled out gas/cramping/constipation)...the morning A time seems awfully long at 3.5hrs. it should be the shortest of the day. i also can't really tell for sure how long naps are..and can't say that i really have any experience dealing with a daycare either so i don't know if you could work something out so that lo is maybe taking her am nap 45 min to 1/2 hr earlier??! but def the wakeups a few hrs after going to bed at night to me signifies she has been overtired at some point during the day. when lo is talking quietly/crying at these wake ups - is it just a mantra cry? or lo trying to just resettle herself?? maybe try leaving lo until it's an 'i need you now mommy!' cry kwim? in order to give her a chance to put herself back to sleep.

i think that if there is a caffeine issue here as well that lo may also be having a hard time getting through her sleep cycles b/c of some tummy pain/overtiredness, b/c when she goes through that light phase of sleep she is uncomfortable and not being able to get through the cycle without some help. in the meantime (i'm sure u have but just want to mention it anyways) have you tried gripe water before the last feeding or right before bed??

[Mia and Lily's Mom]

Thanks for your reply,

I think you might be right about the too short naps, but she has always only slept about 1 hour each during the day at daycare, we have tried to extend with no luck and up until this week, it has not caused any issues with nighttime sleep.

Last night we went through the same routine again. Goes to sleep easily, wakes up almost exactly 30 minutes later crying usually actually pacy is still in mouth so that is not what is waking her up.  She will let you resettle her and then she will sleep for a few hours. Last night she woke up at 12:45 am and needed to be reswaddled and then again at 2:45 am, at which point she was wide awake.  I was so tired at that point that I ended up taking her to bed with me (I know, big no no ) and she eventually fell back asleep and I put her back in her own bed.  She woke up at 5:00 am to eat (this is her normal time and if that was the only time I would not really mind) and then slept until 7:00 am.

So far tonight, we have gone through the 30 minute wake up already and she is not sound asleep.  I am bracing for another rough night.

I hear what you are saying about letting her try to settle herself, the problem we have that we need to solve somehow is that the vents between her room and older dds rooms act as microphones and if either of them is making noises, it is very loudly piped into the others rooms, so since I do not want both of them awake, I try to always react pretty quickly when Lily cries.

Not sure what to do, dh is getting worried since I am going to be out of town next week for two nights and he will have to deal with it.  This weekend will be a good test if lack of daytime sleep is the issue, since she tends to take better naps at home.

Any ideas or suggestions, please keep them coming.

[teezee]

if it is in fact lo being overtired one or two days of 'good' sleep may not solve the issue. maybe talk to the daycare and have them log your lo's day for a week or so to see what actually happens??!

it could also be lo overstimulated before bed...anytime in the last A time before bed...anything really exciting happening b.c that could also be contributing. try to keep this A time as low key as possible.

i understand that before the napping at daycare was working but lo's needs change all the time and maybe she needs more rest during the day now kwim?

have you tried without the caffeine yet? if so, any changes as of yet?? it could be a gas issue as i said in the other post, if she is just not able to get through her sleep cycles and is sleeping lightly...

[Katet]

My thoughts are also the overtired...classic sign waking up 30mins after bedtime... 3pm-8pm is a long time for an 9mo... my 10.5mo only just manages 3-7pm. So I think if 8pm is the bedtime you want you may have to aim for 3 naps... that is what my ds#1 had at daycare until 11 months.
If you can I'd try for a 6.30/7pm bedtime for at least 2 weeks Or longer

The other problem is her age & daycare = separation anxiety & needing as a friend says "to fill up on her Mummy tank" so my guess is the waking is what so many working mothers get... their child actually NEEDING that extra re-assurance from Mum....if that is the case, all you can do is ride it out & give her as much (& more) attention as you possibly can... stay with her when she goes to sleep, even do as I did & sleep in her room for a while.