9 month old standing up!

[Binglesplodge]

I had just got my 9 month old sleeping really well: he was settling very quickly for his night's sleep and had even slept through once... Then last week he simultaneously caught a feverish virus and mastered crawling and pulling himself to stand.

Because he was ill I rocked him back to sleep when he woke in the night but now he's waking and standing up. I've tried going in and lying him back down but as soon as I let go he cries and gets back up, still crying. Any tips for breaking this habit? Will it settle of its own accord once the novelty wears off?

He had been happily self-settling but that's totally out of the window! It's taking hours to rock him to sleep and he's often waking and freaking out the second I put him down.

Help!

My eldest did this around 7/8 months too and I remember it being a huge pain in the backside with hours on end spent awake (although he was never a good sleeper in the first place). As soon as he began to surface from sleep he jumped to his feet. He wasn't fully awake yet, but of course the process of standing woke him right up.

I didn't find anything I did helped particularly and the thing ran it's course naturally after a couple of months. I vaguely remember that sleeping bags slowed him down a bit, so maybe that would be worth trying if you aren't already using them. If he's normally a good sleeper then perhaps if it's too much effort to stand he'll just go back to sleep?

Do you think he would understand if you tried teaching him the words 'lie down' during the day? Then hold his hand or pat him through the bars if he does lie down for you - so he gets some some comfort but you're not stuck rocking him?

Good luck - hours on end spent awake during the night is so hard.

A couple of MONTHS? I could cry at the thought of this amount of mucking about for a couple more months...

He can sit back down easily enough in the day, but at night he is standing, throwing the dummy over the edge, and crying away. I've tried going in and lying him down but unless I hold him down he just leaps back up. Sigh. I'm so so tired...

Have you tried timed intervals of checking on him? My 9 month old started doing this in the last couple of weeks too as she mastered pulling up to stand and it was pretty frustrating. Now I go in, reassure her and put her back down and then leave the room for a timed interval of 5 minutes and then rinse and repeat until she finally gets fed up and goes to sleep.

She does cry sometimes and the first few times I did this she really screamed which was hard but I knew she was just excited about learning a new skill and frustrated, not upset or lonely.

It worked for me anyway and now I rarely have to go in and put her down more than 3 times. I also lowered the crib mattress to make sure she can't fall out.

Ive just posted a similar thread to this...wish I'd read further down! My 8.5 month DS has started waking up in the middle of the night crying for what appears to be no reason. Since we sleep trained 6 months he's been an excellent self soother and I always give him a short minute or two to see if he'll go over himself, then go into his room to see if there's anything wrong. 9 times out of 10 there doesn't appear to be anything the matter but he's often up on all fours rocking back and forth and banging his head against the side of the cot. He also learnt to crawl in the last month and very quickly after to pull himself up and stand. He will do this in his cot, again crying loudly. Soothing him in his cot with patting and shushing doesn't work and I normally end up rocking him back to sleep-although a poster on my thread has made a great suggestion of using my hand with light pressure on his chest or back to hold him down while shushing and to provide comfort. I'll definitely try this if he gets hysterical again.

We bought a video monitor yesterday so I can see what he's up to and tried the 5 minute timed intervals last night. He was asleep within 15 minutes again which is an amazing leap forward from the 45-90 min wakings of last week. I'd been scared he couldn't get down from standing without hurting himself. The video monitor proves he absolutely can! Even at 1.30 in the
morning...

I'm glad to hear it's probably just a phase he'll grow out of (until the next phase!) We'd just gotten used to getting more sleep and then this happened! Plus I'm back to work in 2 weeks so the hope of the phase passing is even greater! Good Luck with your baba, and hopefully they'll all be back to settled sleep sooner rather than later.

Sleeping bag?

I am suprised when people suggest a sleeping bag will prevent certain movements, DS has had four different sleeping bags in various fits - from baggy to tighter fit - and he can do anything with them on: rolling over, sitting up, on all fours, kneeling, standing up, even crawling.

DD is 10m and started doing this a month or so ago. But then she started rolling around in her cot for ages before going to sleep when she forst learnt to roll.

She's got pretty good at pulling herself to standing now so doesn't do it as much anymore. I think it's just something he'll stop doing when it's not such a novelty anymore.

I have visions of DD marching around her cot for a month or so once she learns to walk...

9 month sleep regression. We had this and it took a month (sorry!) To get back to normal. It just did.... on its own. I had to revert to buggy naps for a month as cot was a no no...

When they develop new skills I think there's something that makes them involuntarily compelled to 'practice' them at night. Hence, they'll often go through a sleep regression at the same time. Once your DS has properly mastered standing up then his sleep should settle back down.

We are three months into this and no sign of it easing.

CityDweller is right. It's a developmental norm. They can't help it. Their brains have them up and on their feet before they even wake. You will also find that they wake more, are upset and frustrated by it and can't settle.

It's a bit like when you have a big exam/day at work and you can't sleep and can't stop it whirring round and round in your head.

It's how they master a new skill and the 8/9/10 month developmental leap which makes the synaptic connections which lead to walking is a humdinger.

It's all absolutely normal. The good thing is that if you had a good sleeper before the disruption, they generally go back to that afterwards.

You can't stop it, all you can do is muddle through. It will end and you'll have a more mobile child who might even be more worn out by their new found freedom.