If you survived the 9 month sleep regression...

[tootiredtothinkofanickname]

Can you please, please, please tell me how long it took your LO to start sleeping better again?

I know it's (hopefully) just a phase, but I'm losing perspective (and the plot) here. DS used to wake up once at about 3am, have a full bottle, and then settle back to sleep straight away until 6-6.30am. I was happy to feed him in the night as he was genuinely hungry.. Now he wakes up about 3 times in the night and takes ages to settle, even when we co-sleep. He only feeds once though, but he just seems too wired to go back to sleep. I am shattered. And I feel so, so guilty, this morning he woke up at 5.20 and started poking me in the eye, and I was so tired, I put him down a bit roughly and told him he's "breaking me". He was laughing, so no harm done, he didn't realise I was angry, but I feel so guilty, it's not his fault....

Depends on which way you want to play it. the more we fussed over our DS the more he woke up so we eventually opted for controlled crying. Bloody hard work (and not point even thinking about it if you are not going to carry it through until the habit stops) but it does the job and its always there in reserve for when they have a relapse. If you don't think you can leave him to cry then I'm afraid its just wait and hope. He wakes up, he knows you will come and he knows its play time, of course he doesnt go back to sleep easily - no reason to really?

Should have mentioned that our son had us up 4 or 5 times a night from newborn until 18 months and would be ready to get up at 5am every morning (still gets up at 6am now at 7 years old). He would also never go to sleep if he was in the bed with us. Hope you dont get lots of suggestions from mums who's babies sleep anyway, as they have Nooooo idea of what you are going through right now.
One thing you dont mention is whether or not he is on solids yet - one possible cause of the change from being happy with one night feed is that he may not be getting enough in the day anymore if he is only on milk.

It wasn't constant during 9-10 months but it had bad patches. Sometimes at bedtime, just crying and crying instead of settling himself. He'd do it 2-3 nights running and then just instantly go back to settling himself easily. In the middle of night - which is far worse - he would be awake 1 1/2 -2 hours, not distressed exactly as long as I was there but NOT sleeping. Again he'd do it 1 -2 nights then not then it would come back. 10 - 12 1/2 months were much better then 13 month sleep regression hit. He's doing it again now at 15 months. I now sleep next to his cot on a mattress on bad nights as it's far more relaxing then being out of bed for 2 hours in the cold.

Thank you. Sherbetpips, 18 months, you must have been beyond despair... I don't really want to do CC, as before this regression his sleep was so much better, he was self settling brilliantly and had gradually got to the point where he was doing 7-4 without any waking. So I was hoping sleeping through was next...Also, when he's up in the night he doesn't want to play, he just can't get back to sleep, he is standing with his eyes closed or rubbing his face with one hand and is very sleepy, but is just too wired to settle. He is doing a lot physically in the day and is desperate to walk but can't yet, so I'm sure a lot of it is developmental. And if it's not developmental he has a cold or is teething... aaarrrrrgh!

He is on 3 meals a day and eats until he's full, I couldn't fit any more food in...He only eats once in the night but wakes up about 3 times, and when he's not hungry he just pushes the bottle away...

To cut a long post short and stop rambling, I just hope that his sleep gets better soon... I go back to work in January and he will go to a CM, so one more reason for bad nights... Underground, fingers crossed it gets better for us at 10 months too, he was 10 months today. Not sure I want to think beyond that...

The regression improves at about 37 weeks, but there's another developmental leap at 46 weeks and they can blur into one.

DS's frequent waking continued after the 37 week leap and I couldn't be bothered to do anything about it. It suddenly improved on its own after the 13 month sleep regression. However, the couple of hours awake in the night and the nap disturbances disappeared after about 37 weeks.

The 9 month one is often the worst as there's brain development, physical development & teething all going on at the same time.

There?s more info here, here and here.