How do you get your 9 month old to sleep?

[Seriouslysleepdeprived]

Mine just screams his head off every evening & it's breaking my heart

He won't feed to sleep, won't self settle (although does for naps no problem). Rocking doesn't work as he then keeps waking regularly. We've tried shh ing him with mixed success, patting which he hates.

What else is there to try? Once he's off he's generally ok but getting him down is a nightmare.

[teacher123]

What worked for DS was leaving him to self settle once we'd got a really predictable bedtime routine in place. He used to feed to sleep and then that stopped working and it was the end of the world! But I read the tizzie hall book (save our sleep) and loads of it is bollocks but I'll save you £12 by telling you the two things that were useful:

1. leave them to it. Get bedtime routine sorted so they know exactly what's happening next, make sure they are winded, warm and cosy etc and put them in the cot and shut the door. Only go in if they properly cry, If they do angry shouting, leave them alone. I had a lightbulb moment when I realised that the shouting noise DS made meant that he was going to sleep, it was the noise he made in the car and the pushchair just before he dropped off. Even now if he's struggling to settle, there's a particular shouting cry he does that means he's just about to drop off. I used to interpret that as distress and try and comfort him, which then meant he'd scream because he wanted me to leave him alone. You can't bloody win with babies.
   
2. babies often wake up because they are cold.

[Seriouslysleepdeprived]

Pleased I'm not the only one to struggle with over/under tiredness. DS was so overtired sometimes as a newborn he was almost running in the spot. The shear awfulness of those days probably means I've totally over compensated.

I've been thinking of taking the bath out of the equation. He loves it but getting him into his PJ's afterward is a wrestling match. It's not relaxing for either of us and would be a relief to drop it tbh.

DS is a pretty good eater and not adverse to a bit of spinach. My little popeye. We did co-sleep for a while but stopped when he started sticking his fingers up my nose at 3am

[Seriouslysleepdeprived]

DS will shout at me a fair bit which I ignore. He developed a protest cry at 6 months, which was the first time he properly cried really and I ignore that too at night.

Then a month or so ago he started hysterically screaming. It's odd as he's not a cry-ie type baby, never has been. Everyone used to laugh at his cry because you could hardly hear him.

I think the cold thing is spot on. If anything he's too hot went he goes down after all the screaming. He then wakes in the night due to the cold. I put an extra blanket on him around 3am but he's a wriggler so it last about 5 mins.

[Seriouslysleepdeprived]

Just a quick update.

We changed naps to 2.5hrs max & shortened the bedtime routine & it's helped massively! Goes off in 10-15mins instead of 3hrs.

Thanks all, so nice to have an evening again please, please let it last