9/10month old sleep help

[GirlWithTheMouseyHair]

DD is 9.5months, never been a brilliant sleeper, but I know babies who are a hell of a lot worse. Two current issues:

1. Think she's trying to drop her morning nap - 5 days out of 7 she just won't go down for it, is ratty and irritable until maybe a few hours later she'll conk out in the buggy or I'll give her a very early lunch and manage to get her down. But she'l still only do 30-60mins and therefore need another nap later. Thoughts???
   
   
2. She keeps waking around 5am. I don't go in unless she's actually crying as I've made the mistake of waking her. But then she just won't go back to sleep. She'll seem asleep as soon as I pick her up but wakes crying as soon as I try to put her down again, or if I hold her for too long, or if I bring her into bed. She's not hungry (refuses milk), she has a dummy but that's not helping. No major light changes at that time. I'm at my wit's end as she's clearly still very tired and wants to go back to bed (she's not ready to get up at all) so we just doze on and off until she is ready to get up around 6:30am...it's horrific and started at 4am this morning!! I just don't know what else to try and am reluctant to leave her if she's properly crying otherwise it wakes DS
   
   She has same routine for naps and bedtime, same music, nappy change (well before bedtime it's a bath then fresh nappy and PJ's), bottle - which she normally falls asleep on - dummy, into cot. The real struggle we have is if she doesn't fall asleep on the bottle (I know I know, she used to fall asleep on the boob, I weaned her off in an attempt to teach her to self-settle and she was starting to refuse boob anyway, now she's just taught herself to fall asleep on the bottle instead!)
   
   Feeling sleep deprived and lost...

[Iggly]

9 months is sleep regression time. Dd is doing similar wrt to early mornings and it seems to be she's in discomfort or can't switch off so I have to hold her until she relaxes. Can take up to an hour some mornings

Nap wise - what time is her first nap? DD's is 2 hours after she first wakes. She only refuses if I leave it too late and miss the window then she crashes at 1130. I normally wake her after 30 mins then and nap again at 1330 where she'll sleep for 2 hours

[GirlWithTheMouseyHair]

I try to get her down within 2 hours too as I think missing the window doesn't help - though DH seems to manage!!

[Iggly]

Maybe she's extra tired from the 4am madness and needs to go down earlier?

[BoysBoysBoysAndMe]

Yes to sleep regression.

And don't know if this will help...but.... Ds2 is 14 months and has always fed to sleep and has always woke several times in the night, only settled with a bottle, wakes around 5am every day.
Has about an hours sleep in the morning (about 9/10) if he hasn't slept in the buggy on the school run. Then he'll have a half hour nap later on the school run in the buggy.
If he sleeps in the buggy in the morning on the school run, he'll sleep for up to 2 hours and no afternoon nap.
He goes to bed about 6.30-7pm every night.
We have recently changed his sleep routine as I'm due our ds3 in 6 weeks and I can't be getting up with 2 babies all night.

He now has his bottles at least ten minutes before we take him to bed.so he'll have his night time bottle off me downstairs, we'll have a snuggle for a few minutes then dad will take him up and pop him in his cot.

We have been v lucky in the fact that he doesn't cry etc and settles himself to sleep in a few minutes. Since we have done this he has started sleeping through!!!

He will wake, find his bear and dummy (he has 2 and the dummies are attached to the bears) and settle himself through the night.

Might be worth breaking the feed to sleep cycle? I can't recommend it enough after 14 months of disturbed sleep!

No advice for the 5 am starts though. Admittedly he's very quiet in the mornings, we keep his gro bag on, have hi bear and dummy and cuddle on the couch watching raa raa or kids tv til e wakes up properly.

Good luck!(and sorry for such a long post)

[GirlWithTheMouseyHair]

No it's great to get a response, thank you.

Had a horrid feeling you'd all say sleep regression - she seems to be in a constant sleep regression!

[Iggly]

Hopefully it'll pass soon. Dd managed to wake at 3am, go back down after a feed, sleep til 5.45am and went back down again until 7am. Much more bearable than flapping about at 4am refusing to sleep!

[showtunesgirl]

You have my sympathies. 10 month old DD is doing her sleep regression too. She was getting up at 4am and not settling after a feed and just crying and moaning. I had to jiggle and pat her bum like a newborn before she'd go back down.

It's been about a week and it's definitely tailing off now though!