Desperate for advice.. My 9 month old doesn't sleep!

[AlishaLouise]

Hi, i'm a FTM and I have a 9 month old son. He has never been a great sleeper, but since around 7/8 months when he started crawling I just can't get him to sleep at night... We follow correct wake windows for his age and he has one morning and one afternoon nap that are 1-1.5 hours long.

As soon as he wakes from his last nap he is miserable and screams until bed time, where he has to be walked around the room/ rocked to sleep and he will only allow this to be done by me (mum) He then wakes up multiple times during the night and often wakes in the middle of the night and not going back to sleep for hours. He has never spent a full night in his cot because of this.

He has a great appetite and has 3 x 7oz bottles and 3 meals a day so i don't believe he is waking in hunger.

What methods of sleep training have been successful for you?

My LB is extremely active and is constantly climbing the rails in his cot and sometimes let's go and falls and bangs his head. This is causing me to be so paranoid about sleep training as I worry if i leave the room for even a minute he could get hurt.

This is really starting to get me down because my partner works all day and the only time we would get to see each other is evenings but i'm too busy trying to get LB to sleep and then being anxious about the next time he's going to wake up.

Any advice appreciated, thank you

Are you waking him from his naps? Or does he wake up after 1-1.5 hours himself?

He wakes himself.. only on the odd occasions have I had to wake him up if it goes over 1.5 hours

Travel cot would stop the head banging issue if that’s the main thing bothering you about sleep training…

Have you tried the Ferber method of sleep training?

I tried this method around 2 months ago and it worked for about 2 weeks but after this he just wouldn't settle and would end up getting over tired. I put it down to a sleep regression and we never managed to get back into it.

This is ideally the method i want to use again, the only thing holding me back is him climbing up and falling when i leave the room, it just makes me feel so on edge!

The travel cot is a good idea, we just are a bit stuck for space! But i might try it if I really can't figure something out.

A sleeping bag might help stop him climbing as well?

Great, thankyou. He hasn't being wearing one recently due to the hot weather. I don't suppose you (or anyone) could suggest where i could find a 0.5 tog sleeping bag?

To me it sounds like that maybe those wake windows aren’t right for him? If he’s that distressed and miserable after his afternoon nap, either he’s slept too long, woken too early, or was overtired before he went down? What are the actual timings in the day?

We had some from John Lewis

I would up his milk (formula) intake. Its just a guide but at that age he should be drinking 28-32 ounces in 24 hrs.
Milk should still be his main source of nutrition.

He wakes at 7am and will have his first nap around 10 and second nap at 2 and bed for 7pm

Thank you, i forgot to mention he does also have formula in his breakfast and one feed still in the night occasionally. But i will try up the intake throughout the day

Sounds really hard. I have a son and he did not sleep well until about 7mo and it is awful.

Sounds like he might be a bit overtired. Because my son was a crap sleeper we were on 3 naps till about 9mo. But when we transitioned I think he had his first nap within about 2.5hrs of waking then the next one at 1.30/2pm. He would usually sleep about 1.5hrs for each until I started cutting down the morning nap as he got older.

So you could perhaps try a shorter wake window in the morning? How is he getting to sleep? On his own?
Is difficult at that age with standing up and falling in the cot. My son did this for a few weeks. Travel cot sounds like a good option.

We gave our son a comforter (got him attached to it by giving it to him all the time) before a bit of sleep training to get him sleeping by himself. I would get him 99% of the way to sleep then put him down and go out of the room for 3 mins at a time, go back in and resettle. It didn't take long, he was pretty happy settling with the comforter. I think I had to go in and out 3 or 4 times on the first go.

Good luck xx

Hi!
Thanks for this, his morning nap seems to be the only time he ever wants to sleep!! I will defo try a shorter wake window in the morning.

I have also been trying to give him a comforter the past two days for the same reason. Before he could crawl he would settle really well rubbing a blanket on his nose in the cot but now he's on the move he just won't stay still.

At the moment I still have to walk him around the room for what feels like an actual fight to get him to sleep... He won't let my partner do this either so I am quite literally exhausted.

I am going to try commit to the ferber method in the cot and if no luck then the travel cot.

Thanks so much

This is incorrect. The NHS recommended amount for a 7-9 month old is 600ml, about 20oz per day, so the amount you're giving sounds about right. That drops to 400ml (about 13oz) per day between 10 and 12 months.
www.nhs.uk/start4life/weaning/what-to-feed-your-baby/7-9-months/