Please help

[TOJ123]

Hello,

Please can anyone offer advice..... my baby is nearly 9 months old and for the last 2 weeks has been a nightmare during the night.

Since I stopped breast feeding 3 months ago her sleep got so much better but she’s recently learnt to stand and crawl and now she wakes during the night but for long periods (up to 2 hours during the night) and won’t go back to sleep!! This has been happening for 2 weeks and it’s getting worse. I don’t know what to do anymore.

What do you do when she wakes?

Have you reduced the number or length of daytime naps? As they get older, they need less sleep in the day.

I remember DS going through stages of this.
It's important that you don't engage with them, keep lights off, don't speak and just repeatedly lie them down and leave the room.

I really feel for you as I remember being stood in tears feeling so frustrated and tired not knowing what to do but it's just a phase and it will pass 😊 the key is to be strong and not give in by getting them out, talking to them, taking them into your room etc. It was hard work but if you persevere it will be worth it long term.

DS now 3 and sleeps 7 til 7 and I'm currently awake with my 2 month old doing it all over again 😅 must be crazy 😂

Hang on in there this shall pass

Oh my gosh. I could have written this. It’s like mental torture, standing/sitting there for two hours in the dark while he moans/cries.
My DH solution is for me to co-sleep, but that soon ended when I suggested if he wants that so badly he can do it himself.

So because she is rocked to sleep I pick her up and rock her or I feed her if she is due a feed.....she will go to sleep in my arms but then as soon as I put her down she wakes up and starts playing again!!

I was thinking naps could be the problem. So this is our routine at the moment - can anyone please advise a nap schedule for a 9 month old? All naps are in her pram or the car as she doesn’t self settle, tried and tried and tried with sleep training and didn’t get anywhere with it.

9am/9.30am first nap - this is either half an hour or an hour

12.30/1pm second nap - an hour or an hour and a half

4/4.30 - short nap of 30 min

There's a pretty common sleep regression at about 8/9 months - my DD used to love practising her crawling and cruising skills in the middle of the night.

We moved to 2 naps at about 9 months and did some sleep training at 10 months to help with the self settling which did make some improvements.

Our DS went through a horrific sleep regression at 8/9 months. Sleep training worked within 3 nights and he’s slept all night since

Try dropping the last nap and making sure there is at least 3.5hrs if not 4 hours of awake time before bed.

At 9 months my DS was doing 9am nap 1 and 2pm nap 2 then bed at 6.30/7 depending on when he woke up from 2nd nap. Hope it helps! X

When you say sleep training do you mean controlled crying or other methods?

Yeah, I’d drop to two naps of an hour each. Try to have 4 hours awake time before each nap or bedtime. So if up at 6am, no nap until 10am or so. Then up at 11 for lunch and play until 3. Nap until 4 and then until bedtime at 8pm. You definitely don’t want two afternoon naps that is probably what is causing the midnight waking and energy.

My DD has always gone through phases of being awake for hours at night so i really feel your pain.
I done controlled crying around 8 months old and it worked within 3 nights but it did repeat itself a few times when she was teething/poorly.
Id give it 1 more week just to see if its because of a reason and if you genuinely think its not then maybe try the CC?
Although it does sound like she maybe needs to learn to fall asleep for naps at home with no movement. Maybe start with a cuddle on the sofa then move to in cot x