9 month old started waking in the night - please help

[BillBrysonsRucksack]

DS2 (9 months) has started waking in the night again. He dropped his night feed a couple of months ago and if he woke we would give him his dummy and he would go back to sleep.

He has now started waking every night and won't take his dummy. He sometimes settles for a while if I give him a drink of water but will wake again a couple of hours later. I really don't want to go back to giving him a night feed but I feel like that might be the only solution.

What do you think?

Also, on a separate issue, he has started getting really clingy and won't let me get anything done in the house as he just cries if I'm not holding him. He also cries if I leave the room, even if DS1 and DH are there with him.

Sorry for long post, just feel very frustrated!

AFAIK that's all totally normal!

Sleep sometimes gets disturbed right before a new developmental leap, but goes back to normal.
Clinginess is really common at this age too. Even at trhat age i always told mine that I was leaving for a minute but would be right back. Dunno if it helped any but the phase passed anyway

Thanks for replying Santa.

I know that it'll pass, it's just hard work while I'm dealing with it!

Google "nine months separation anxiety" - its a recognised stage and you have my sympathy as its soooo annoying!! It's because he realises now that when you're not with him, you still exist and he misses you. So it's a nice reason really but a bit disruptive and he just needs reassurance from you, and consistency. If you're worried about hunger you could try giving cereal sometime after tea/ before bath?

Thanks Lozario.

I give him a snack when the rest of us sit down to tea (about 5.45pm) and he has milk before bed, but won't take any more. He's eaten for England today, so maybe I just need to give him more food generally.

There's so much about parenting tht boils down 'They'll grow out of it'.
Annoying as you feel you should be proactive and take control.

I don't think they are separate issues at all. Separation anxiety is often worse at night. My own son slept through from around 12 weeks but started waking in the night again when he the separation anxiety started around 7 months. He still doesn't sleep through at 12 months but I cope by co-sleeping part time.