9 month old suddenly refusing to settle and sleep through

[noodlegoo]

We finally got our son on a good routine about 6 weeks ago; two good naps in the day and in bed by 7pm. He learnt to settle himself most of the time but on a few occasions we would manage to sooth him back to sleep with a tummy rub and a bit of shhh-ing if necessary. He was still waking between 5 and 6am so seeing as he had managed 10/11 hours I thought it was fair enough to nurse him and pop him back to bed until 8 - and all was going a bit too well. He was still managing this through colds, fevers and tummy bugs.

Now out of the blue over the last two nights he's waking every two hours, refuses to be settled and gets really upset until he's picked up, then flatly refuses to go back to sleep unless he's had some milk (I'm still exclusively breast feeding).

I don't think he's teething as Calpol isn't making any difference and he's not dribbling at the moment anyway. I'm wondering if it's a growth spurt.

Also he's not taking to solids particularly well although that could be down to all the colds he's been having.

Any advise?

It could be the 9 months sleep regression? Is your baby starting to crawl, cruise, walk,stand up, chat, wave goodbye/ hello, etc....? Around 9 months they tend to go through a lot ol physical and mental developments that keep them up at night. From other threads on this forum I've come to accept that after the 4 and 6 months sleep regression there's always another one around the corner. Can last up until 4 weeks. Just tell yourself this too will pass. Good luck and stay strong!

Hello OliveandJim, thank you for your reply. He's actually not that mobile yet - he's top 2 centile so I think that his muscles are still trying to catch up with his body weight! He is shuffling a bit and has always been a bit of a chatter box.

It is literally an overnight 'regression' - I'm wondering if the penny has just dropped with him and he's realised that I'm a soft touch, and that if he cries harder I'll eventually pick him up (he does stop instantly) and give him some milk. And he's really crying now, much more than when we were trying to get him on a routine.

I don't know if I should just go straight to feeding when he wakes him (and will that undo all the good work?), or should we keep trying to settle him first and then give in to milk after half an hour or let him cry 'til he settles (I'm not a fan of this one at all!!)