9 mnth old waking at night

[lilysmommie]

I'm hoping someone can help before I lose my mind!!

My 9 mnth old DD has been waking up several times in the evening/night. She was always the envy of other moms, sleeping through the night at 12 weeks in her crib and I really didn't have many problems with her except during teething. The last month or so has been bad though.  She wakes up an hour or so after I put her down for the night and then every hour or so until 10 - 11 pm. Sometimes she wakes several times through the night as well. Sometimes she sleeps fine through the evening but then will wake around 10:30 - 11 and want to hang out with mommy. Sometimes late in the night (2 am - 4am) she will want a bottle and down it.  Other times she seems to just want to be snuggled. She stops crying the instant I pick her up.  I just don't know want the issue is. She is cutting at least two top teeth and they just don't seem to be coming down and she has a cold now too. But the sleep issues appeared before the teething and the cold.  Could this be separation anxiety? She whines all day long. She can't crawl yet but can flip onto her tummy. She can't go anywhere from there though so she cries to get set upright again. She doesn't like to be out of my sight for longer than a minute or two. I am really starting to feel like I can't get a moment's peace anymore. 

I've posted her schedule below.

7 am wake up (could be earlier, this is usually when I hear her. She babbles to herself for quite a while)
7:30 am bottle
8 - 8:30 breakfast
9 - 9:30 nap (1h - 1.5h) Goes down easily and sleeps soundly
11:30 bottle
12:30 lunch
1:00 nap (1h - 1.5h) again, goes down easily and sleeps soundly
4:00 bottle
sometimes a catnap in here if she is tired or didn't sleep well
4:30 - 5:00 supper
6:30 - 7 pm pj's, story, bedtime


A week or so ago I tried moving am nap time to 10am and pm nap time to 2 pm. This seemed to lenthen the naps up to 2 hrs. This seems to solve the issues for a few days but then she reverted to waking again. Should I go back to these times??

ARGHHHH! I feel so exasperated.  It's not her fault but I am just worn out by all this. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I hope this all makes sense...I'm pretty tired!!

lilysmommie

[teezee]

i would extend A times slowly til you find the balance that is right for your lo. it seems that your lo has a combo of things going on that could probably be solved with a little tweaking of the routine.

by extending A times you will be eliminating lo from getting overtired from the end of the last nap to bedtime - which does seem a little long - esp given the shorter A times the rest of the day.

you may also want to try limiting the morning nap a bit...at that age my lo was at about 2.5 hrs naps a day max - anymore and she was up wanting to play half the night  as she wasn't tired enough to stay asleep at night.

[Lola]

I posted a couple of weeks ago that my LO was waking anywhere from 1-2 hours after going to bed at night. It was sugggested to extend her A time to 3 hours which I have done. This has helped somewhat.  My LO (textbook/angel) always slept on her own prior to the last few weeks which are really taking a toll on me. I am so completely at a loss as to what to do, even though I have had many suggestions/advice. Extending her A time hasn't really helped with the wakings. We get a couple nights a week where when she goes down, she stays down (like the good ol days). She is very active and crawls commando style all over the place and pulls to standing. she loves to pull up in her crib and sit up too. She walks with someone holding her hands. She got her bottom two teeth at 6+ months and I wonder how to know if she is teething with the top two? I can't see anything. She is tired by her bedtime and is rubbing eyes etc. I was afraid that she was getting overtired which was why she wasn't sleeping soundly and backed her up a bit but it hasn't helped. She always slept through the night and went down right away. She has no problems with her naps and once she is asleep, she tends to stay asleep and wakes same time eaach morning. I have absolutely NO idea what I am doing wrong. All suggestions I have had don't seem to be working. I wonder if someone has any other ideas? I am so frustrated and my evening life is revolving around her which it never did before. We need desperately to get the poor wee thing back on track.
I have tried the PD part of pu/pd to no avail. She gets more riled up when I come into the room. Our schedule is:
Wake 6:30
Eat    7:00
A
S       9:30-11:00 (no problems with her naps-she goes down on her own and doesn't wake)
Eat   12:00-12:30
A
S       2:00-3:30
Eat    5:00
A
S       6:30-6:45 and wakes anywhere from 1-2 hours after being put down. Usually goes down on her own no problem.
Sometimes it takes her anywhere up to 2 hours to go back to sleep. I can see that she is very tired as her little eyes are half shut but she won't give up.
i am so frustrated and desperate for some ?different advice. WHAT am i doing wrong?

[teezee]

is your lo perhaps overstimulated before bed at all? this could also have an affect on a lo staying asleep...have you ruled out all other things that could be wrong - gas, discomfort, pain, temp..? what is your lo's bedtime routine like??

[Lola]

She doesn't get overstimulated, no. Unfortunately, we are short one bedroom ( ) but her crib is out of sight behind the couch. We have a loft-like space
TV is often on but not loud and we get into our jams, have a story and bed. There is no crawling around etc for about 20-30 min before bedtime. I don't think that is it...
no gas, no temp, no pain etc. I only wonder about the teething thing. This just seems ridiculous. I will re-read the book but I am really at a loss. I tried pu/pd but that overstimulated so we stopped that. If she goes crazy playing, I will start the pd process. Usually about 1/2 hour after pd she gets frustrated and really really tired and will fall asleep. I feel like I am doing something totally wrong!

[teezee]

are you may be responding to your lo too soon with not having more room that would easily be done if your lo is left a little longer maybe she wouldn resettle herself??

with the teething issue - do you give a pain reliever before bed?? how about orajel is she wakes before you can give more reliever...and that kind of has an immediate affect on it?

[Lola]

I haven't given her anything for teething bc I don't know if that is what it is. She's always been the type to stuff everything in her mouth and chew on it. I am not sure but can teething last 3 weeks??
One night in desperation i gave her some Tylenol but it diden't seem to make a difference. Perhaps i will try some orajel tonight and see if that helps.
As far as settling herself, I was advised not to do pu/pd bc she isn't crying. She is playing, standing etc. So now if she gets out of control and it is lasting more than 20 min I go in and start with pd and rubbing her forehead. her eyes are usually 1/2 closed but she won't give in LOL (much like her mother)
She usually ends up playing. I have said this before, but it almost seems like she thinks she is waking from a nap but for whatever reason, she doesn't put herself back to sleep. Any other time she wakes at night, it is brief adn she almost always puts herself back to  sleep. i don't go over to her. it is very strange and extremely frustrating bc she was always so good I'm really at my wits end.

[teezee]

i would maybe try giving tylenol a half hr before bed and if there are any other wakings try the orajel and see if it shows any improvements at all..if not...rest assured it is def something else.

the only thing i could possibly think of sleep wise - is 1. maybe you want to flip the am for pm nap (length of the naps i am saying.) that way if she is catching up on any sleep in the am for the time she spends awake that will be limited and hopefully help with that problem.

2. possibly try putting her down a little later - 15 min to a half hr so she is 'more' tired but not to the point she is overtired.

3. mayb limit naps to 2 hrs instead of 2.5 hrs. all lo's are different and need different amts of sleep...it's all a balancing act unfortunately

[Lola]

I will try the tylenol/orajel thing tonight. maybe it is teething and i am missing it.

If the schedule looks okay, then I will try her again and put her down at 7pm rather than 6;45. I am sooo afraid that will backfire and she will be overtired LOL. Just my LUCK 

NAPS-maybe this is my problem adn I can't see it.  Her nap times are only 1.5 hours in the am and 1.5 hours in the afternoon (not 2 to 2.5).
If she is still wanting to sleep more than 1.5 hours in the morning for her nap , should I wake her up or let her sleep? I have been waking her after 1.5 hours because I am afraid she won't be tired enough in the evening and thought that the problem was that she was getting too much sleep during the day so i backed off on the naps. ...hmm...maybe i shouldn't do that. ??AHHHHHHHHHH

As far as a balancing act--I'm falling off the tight rope 

[teezee]

just keep any extra A time very very low key..will make for an easier transition.

at 9 months my lo couldn't do anymore than 2.25hrs a day max for naps - ideally i would get in that amt sometimes a bit less - they are all sooo different it is hard to say but maybe your lo isn't tired enough to stay asleep b/c of too much day sleep?! usually it works out so that they have early am wakings but this could be what's happening with your lo as well.