Do 9 month old babies get insomnia or is this SA?

[M and N's Mom]

My DS is almost 9 mos and the past couple of nights has been up for hours (2:30-5:30am last night  )  He just seems awake.  When I pick him up he snuggles on my shoulder and stops crying.  When I put him down, he cries again.  He doesn't seem to be uncomfortable or in pain.  Once we'd get him settled, we would take our hand off and he would start all over again so we had to leave our hand there. 

He has 2 naps a day of 1-1.25 hours each with 3 hours A time in between.

He doesn't have any props, but is very prone to making things into props (had paci - prop, got addicted to shh/pat, got addicted to being rocked when he was sick). 

Is this SA?  He has been very fussy and wanting to be held a lot during the day.  If it is SA how do we reassure him, without staying in his room with our hand on him for 3 frustrating hours??? (and having us or our hand become a prop).

ANY thoughts or advice would be very appreciated.

[UNCMomma]

This seems to be a common problem at this age... I was just telling a mom on my birth club board about my 9 month old being awake sometimes at night for a while.  The only thing I can find that gets us through it is feeding her.  BUT, she has never consistently slept through with no feeding so you may not want to open that can of worms if you have had an all-night sleeper til recently.  My LO sleeps through a lot, but when she wakes (as long as it's after 1 AM) I feed her.  As long as she's not hungry she may play for a while but then settles herself back down to sleep easily.  When I DON'T feed her, she can never get back to sleep on her own after one of these play periods.  This stopped happening to us for a while but like I said, last night we were back to it.  I have no good answers, sorry!  But know that you're not alone! 

[M and N's Mom]

Thanks UNCMomma.  It is nice to know we're not alone, although I'd love to find a solution!

We worked really hard to get rid of the night feedings, which wasn't easy, so I don't want to go back to that if I can help it.  I almost gave in last night when he was up for 3 hours, but I didn't really think he was hungry.  I'm glad I didn't because even at his regular first feeding this morning he wasn't starving.

I always say he sleeps through when the conditions are optimal...not overtired, not sick, not teething, good day, etc.  So, he CAN sleep through, but unfortunately not as often as I'd like!

[Colin Macs Mom]

I know you really have worked hard on the feeds so I'm sorry you're having some troubles again! But it does sound to me like SA so don't go back to feeding - it won't help anyway.

Some ways to help with the SA - play a lot of peek-a-boo, and always, ALWAYS tell him what's going on. When you leave say goodbye and that you'll be back soon. The key is to teach him that just because he can't see you doesn't mean that you are gone forever. Nighttimes are really hard with SA, but many people have had success with sitting in a chair by the crib and then slowly, day by day moving the chair closer to the door until you're out of the room.