9 month sleep regression yuck - positive stories or practical advice needed

[feelinginthedark]

DD2 is almost 9 months and although she is basically a pretty rubbish sleeper (has done 7 - 6am a grand total of once) things have really regressed for the last few nights. She was awake for 2 hours at 4am this morning, just chatting (loudly) to herself and blowing rasberries. No point rocking her or feeding her, it doesn't make a difference, if I offer her milk she only drinks 2oz. I just make sure she doesn't need a nappy change etc, then leave her in the cot and she drifts off when she is ready to. Her naps have also gone to pieces - she takes ages to get to sleep then down for 40 minutes tops.

She has has been crawling for a couple of weeks and is now pulling herself up on furniture, so I know there is a lot going on developmentally. But my sense is that she is also overtired. I just can't see how she is going to get over the overtiredness when she won't bloody well sleep . She did sleep for 90 minutes in the buggy yesterday morning but that isn't practical for every nap as my 3yo is usually on the buggy board .

I'm looking for any practical advice OR happy stories that don't involve this phase lasting for weeks and weeks. Or just a bit of handholding....

[FATEdestiny]

Her physical development is likely to be affecting her sleep. Is she 'practicing' when in the cot?

I found that when my DD started crawling/sitting/standing I had to go through a process of teaching her she needed to lie down and be still to sleep.

I did that with a firm hand on her chest/back. Sometimes even another hand across her legs. Effectively gentle holding her still so that she cant get up onto all fours or pull herself up. A tightly tucked in blanket has a similar effect.

Her haps at 40 minute are short for 9 months old. She may need teaching to link one sleep cycle to another. Could you try and get to her really quickly and re-settle? The 90 minute pram nap was probably because when she reached the end of one sleep cycle, she was rocked (by pram movement) into the next sleep cycle.

Is she settling to sleep in her cot at bedtime and naptimes when you are home? It would be ideal if you could work on this, if not.

[feelinginthedark]

Thanks for the reply, yes she has been able to get herself off to sleep from day 1 and has the vast majority of her naps at home in the cot, no props, just white noise and some comforters to snuggle into. She sleeps in a heavy sleepsack. Buggy naps are the exception not the norm. Her naps have ranged from 1 - 3 hours since she was very small and she transitions from cycle to cycle herself. The short naps are only in the last few days. The advice about holding her down is good, thanks. I might try it tonight if she is roaming around the cot