9 month old sleep issues

[Whatwhatwhat]

My 9 month old has changed her sleeping really dramatically in the last two weeks.

She was taking her naps and sleeping from around 7.30 pm to 7.00 am. Really foolishly I thought we had it licked and happy days - thought there was no reason things would change.

Now she's a nightmare to put down. Cries and cries. If you stay in the room she'll stand up in the cot staring at you and it's a killer but I think that if we start taking her out she'll never sleep. So stay with her a sing or rub her back. That can go on for 90 mins.

Then she wakes up about another 3 times before 7 am. Takes maybe an hour to settle her each time. If we're lucky less.

I know this is probably boring the life out of some people but any help at all would really really be welcome.

Been there!!! It's the standing up. It's a killer. I'm going to suggest something that is rather controversial and not for everyone. We used 'the sleepeasy solution' book. A form of cc (I can hear the collective gasp of horror). Cry for 5 mins, reassure for 30 seconds. Repeat as necessary. It. Was. Awful. But it worked in 3 days. We still have to go back to it every now and then, esp for the waking in the night. But it works. You have to be strong. No compromise. My DH did it whilst I rocked to and fro with my head under a pillow. But it worked.

Have you been to the doctor to check for anything physical?

Oh God - could there be something physical? I thought it was only a phased least I hoped it was

I understand the 5 minute thing but I don't know I could do it. She,becomes almost sick with hysteria after about 2 minutes.

It could be that she now needs slightly less sleep during the daytime and so is not quite tired enough when you put her down in the cot. You could try to cut her nap by 15/20 minutes and see if that helps.

She only naps in the day for about 90 mins in total. Is that too much?

No I expect 90 minutes is probably about average for that age. With both of mine I cut back their naps whenever they were struggling to get to sleep at night time, so it might be worth a try.

Maybe my girls were unusual though as they both stopped napping before they were 2 years old.

Sorry if that's not help, it's just that I know how horrid it is when they are a nightmare to put down and you just wonder why. It could be a developmental phase, e.g. when they start crawling, or learn to stand and start walking.

I've just been out with friends, dc's ranging from 9-14 months. Every single one of them is doing this. We concluded its a developmental phase. Fricking irritating but normal. There's nothing physically wrong with them, so don't worry!

Yes there's a developmental phase at 9 months and again at 12-13 months.

It's her brain telling her to practise standing up so she does. And Wales at night wanting to practise her new tricks which makes it hard for her to settle.

CC is unlikely to work until the phase passes.

Best thing to do is to cuddle her to sleep, put her down asleep if back stroking etc doesn't work. Then when the phase passes, the crazy wakings should stop.

And I will put my hand up and say I don't agree with CC - because if it was a magic bullet you wouldn't have to keep repeating it when baby wakes up again. Babies have periods of good and bad sleep.

Thanks everyone. That's reassuring. PITA but reassuring that nothing's wrong.
Tonight was way worse. Took 2.5 hours for her to go down. Rubbed her and sang. Cuddled.
Now she's back up after only few hours.
I wonder is it teeth related too. For the first time ever she's a nappy rash.

We've been having very similar for the last 5 weeks with our 9.5 month old. I hope I'm not jinxing things if I say that the last couple of nights she's been better - waking two or three times and settling back easily. Though it has just taken me 50 minutes to get her to sleep for the night, so we're not through it yet.

Just seems to be a lot going on for them at this age: standing up, teething, separation anxiety, wanting to communicate and play with you much more... So hard to switch off and get a good night's sleep, is how I'm rationalizing it.

9 months does seem to be a classic time for sleep to go wrong. Ours went to pot at 4 months too, then back to normal again.