WIDE awake for 2 hours in the middle of the night - HELP!!!

[Sungrl]

My DD Zoey is 9 months old and has suddenly started waking up in the middle of the night (the time varies).   She is WIDE awake and full of pent up energy and cannot get herself back to sleep. 

A few nights ago she woke at 4am.  I went and fed her because she does usually wake between 5 and 6am for a feed and back to sleep so I thought she was just up early.  When I was done nursing her she was WIDE awake so I laid her down and left the room.  She tried to go to sleep but after about 20 minutes started to cry.  I went back in and tried to soothe her for 40 minutes but she was still WIDE awake.  I finally left at 5am and she yelled and fussed until 5:45am.  She finally fell asleep around 5:45 but then only slept until 6:25am!!!  I could not get her back to sleep after that but she was cranky and tired all day.

Her first nap that morning was only 30 minutes so I made sure she got a long afternoon nap (1.75 hours).  However, she then woke up at 12:15 and was up until 2am.  Again, she was WIDE awake and after letting her cry, having DH try to soothe her, etc, I finally nursed her and she went down around 2.  She then slept until 6:45, woke to nurse and went back down until 8am.
 
When she is waking like this she tries very hard to go back to sleep but she seems to have a lot of energy and cannot calm down.  She is very active all day long but her bedtime routine always includes a warm bath, quiet time with dimmed lights, a story and nursing in the dark.  I lay her down awake and she used to be able to put herself back to sleep if she woke in the night within minutes.  Can someone please help me figure out why this is happening?!?!?

Here WAS our routine before this started...

5am - she would wake up and I would BF her and put her back down
7:30am - she would wake for the day
8:30 - solids then BF
10am-11am - nap
12 - solids then BF
2pm-3pm nap
4:30 - snack and BF
5:30 - solids
6:45 - bath and bedtime routine and asleep by 7:30pm

TIA
Shannon

[momofclaire]

I think it is possible that she is overtired.  At 9 months most babies are take 2, 1.5-2 hour naps. 
Have you tried to lengthen the naps? 
Do you think she really still needs that morning feed? Have you tried to wean it? 

When you say, you left her to cry, what does that mean?  Is she fussing or mantra crying or is she really upset?
One other thing I thought of was milestones.  Is she starting to pull up or anything new?  Sometimes that can cause a baby to wake and want to practice. 

[Sungrl]

Hi and thanks for the reply!

I had dropped all night/early morning feeds when Zoey was around 6.5-7 months old but then she started waking earlier and earlier for the day.  It got to the point where she was up at 5am and I tried everything to get her back to sleep, but the only thing that works is just to feed her and put her back in her crib so I figure she must be hungry (she is very small - only 15 pounds and 28 inches long).

Zoey has never been a great napper.  She normally takes 40 minute naps and has since she was very small.  When she was waking at 6 or 6:30 for the day she would take a 1.5 hour morning nap but the afternoon nap was always short.  Before these night wakings started she was taking 2 one hour naps, and sometimes her morning nap would be 1.5 hours.  She has never slept more than 1.5 hours for a nap in her life, except for a few days when she was sick (and then it was 2 hours).  Now that she's been waking in the night she's back to 40 minute naps.  She seems tired shortly afterwards but the only thing I can do to get her back to sleep is to nurse her and rock her (while she fights me) and then hold her until she wakes up, which I don't think would be a good thing to start doing regularly (I did this yesterday because she had had so little sleep).  If she is sleeping for 12 hours at night and taking 2 one hour naps, isn't 14 hours enough sleep at her age?  I get so confused because I have books with conflicting information about this (one says put her down earlier, one says keep her up later, etc).

I leave her to cry, meaning she is yelling and fussing and calling to me.  I do this at times when she resists naps or when she refuses to go to sleep in the middle of the night and she's been fed and changed and cuddled as much as I can.  She never has any tears, she is just VERY VERY stubborn (spirited).  I have a video monitor and watch her on it to be sure she's ok.

I thought of milestones but she's already reached so many recently I don't know what she could do next.  She crawls and pulls up to standing and says Mama and Dada, claps, gives hugs and kisses, knows toys by name, and all that stuff.  The only thing she might do next would be walk but I think she's still a ways off from that yet.

[momofclaire]

The typical amount of sleep for 9 month olds is 11-12 hours at night and 3 hours during the day.  Obviously this varies from child to child, but it seems that her waking may be due to overtiredness. 

I would be careful not to leave her to cry if she is really crying for you.  Only you can know her cries and what she needs but leaving her to cry may cause her to have more sleep issues.  She could be entering into a bit of separation anxiety. 

Have you tried pu/pd? 
I don't think she needs that morning feed and I wonder if she is waking at night and simply not able to put herself back to sleep.  She goes down awake right? 

[Sungrl]

Zoey has had seperation anxiety since she was 2 months old (I'm not even kidding).  She only ever let me or DH hold her and she is extremely attached to me.  This never interfered with her night sleep before now though.

I have done PU/PD, it took 3 hours!!!     As I mentioned, she is extremely stubborn! 

She usually goes down awake and when I feed her in the morning she is awake when I lay her down so I don't think it is an issue with her not being able to get herself to sleep because of AP.  She does not seem to be tired when she is waking like this...she's WIDE awake.