9 months sleep routine

[notamorningpanda]

Just wondering what's a good sleep/nap routine to follow at this age. We did the following up until about a month ago but then illness and travel derailed things and we are struggling to get back into a good routine.

Wake up at 7am
1st nap 9-30-10:30
2nd nap 13:30-15:00/15:30
In bed 7-7:30pm

He was doing well on this schedule, going down easily and only waking once in the night for a quick feed around 5am. He then got ill and was up loads during the night for a couple of weeks, and then we were away from home. We were trying to get back to the above schedule and he goes down easily for all naps and bedtime but still wakes loads in the night, so I wonder if we need a change. Would he interested to see if anyone else has a good routine that works at this age :-)

It really depends what works for you. My 9 months old routine is currently this

8am wake up
10.30 - 12.30 nap
4.30pm - 6pm nap
9pm sleep for the night.

I'd like to get him earlier to bed at night but actually the 8am wake up suits us at the moment as gives me time to sort my eldest out in the morning.

What do you do when he wakes? Mines a bit older now but i did same when he was about the same age.

No lights on, just a really dim can just about see night light that was always on so no change in light.

Change nappy.
Feed.
Cuddle.
Put back down.

No lights, sounds, nothing interesting at ALL. if he was really upset i would cradle him and bounce my ass up and down on the mattress to save my back and hum calming sounds, or pat his back and make up soothing quiet stories. Could be about anything, the instructions off a bottle of bleach in a soothing very quiet tone would do it haha.

Put him back in his cot even if still crying and stand over the cot and repeat the back pat and story or humming. Then slowly reduce. So stop the humming /story. Then stop patting and just firmly hold hand on his back. Then in slow stages lift my hand off his back. Then wait a minute and id go back to bed.

It all sounds really long and convoluted but its not, and becomes second nature. Essentially make it boring but make sure he's clean dry warm calm fed and comforted then reduce til he can resume his normal sleeping pattern

My routine was pretty much same as yours at that age. I dont think its your routine, i think its probably throwback from being poorly and will ease off, or you're not making wakeups realllllly boring haha. Mine now sleeps a dream but drinks so much in the night I'm forever having to fill his bottle 😩 but if he wakes or gets upset it's the same - no light, no talking, no excitement, nothing. Just water, a back pat, humming. Slowly release hand off back and that's it

Ooh also, I would buy ready made milk for night and have that and sterilised bottle next to bed. Had some mishaps with hardly any light and half asleep pouring it over the floor accidentally 😂 but that was a life saver too. I just tried to reduce the time between waking and re settling. Less time being awake meant easier to fall asleep. For me and him. Seconds to do, no waiting no moving around the house less time for him to fully wake. Saved my sanity. I do the same now with pre filled bottles of water cos he was driving me mad having to go to the kitchen to refill

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm already keeping things as boring as possible when he wakes in the night, no light, no talking. But he just sits up and screams and screams until I pick him up. He usually then settles back down after a few minutes, but then start crying again just as I got back into bed and closed my eyes 😩 This then repeats several times. Last night he kept doing this from 1am until 3am when he finally slept till 6:15am. I just don't know what the problem is.

All i can think is hes still unsettled and his routine is a bit buggered due to being poorly and travel like you said. And will settle eventually.

Perhaps some reallllly gentle and quiet lullaby music, white noise, or something similar. Pick him up to comfort him, put back down and maybe the background quiet sounds will help his little self stay settled. Maybe some nightlights, the ones that project and move around might be calm enough distraction to help him self soothe.

Just try a bit of trial and error and hopefully itll settle back down soon.

Have you considered he maybe has trapped wind, or some kind of mild discomfort left over from being poorly? That would explain why he settles when you pick him up because its more comfortable and also why he settles then wakes again soon after. Perhaps try some infacol or something for wind - but speak to pharmacist as im no medic!

Do you have an update? Currently going through exactly the same with our 9 month. I could cry! He was sleeping so good but not now

@notamorningpanda

Hi @CM327509 sorry I've not been on here for a while and not seen your post! I'm sorry to say that the only thing that worked for us was gradually reducing how much we responded to him in the night. I think because we always responded in the night when he was poorly and then when travelling, he got used to it and wouldn't settle on his own. It just got worse and worse even though he was fully well. So I just gave him opportunity to settle himself, rather than rush in each time. After a few days he got back to just waking once around 5am.