9 Month Old Not Sleeping

You may want to add a nightly massage to the night-time routine with some lavendar. The lavendar helps to sooth and relax the body, the massage helps with circulation and on the belly helps with digestion and elimination, the physical touch and time with you is bountiful with benefits.

Also, I know you're going to be told to simply let himg cry it out, but I caution you, this may be a time for teething and with teething many babies also get ear infections...listen for high pitched cries.

HI L.,

My kids are 3 and 4 1/2 and looking back it seemed like they just went through periods of time where they slept well then they didn't. Of course at the time they weren't sleeping well it seemed like it had been going on FOREVER!! But now I can see it was just short periods of time. I don't have any advice to get him to sleep better except just hang in there! God bless!

I just went through this with my son, who is now ten months and sleeping really well. I just had to buckle down and let him cry it out. It was hard, because he shares a room with his older sister, but it had to be done, because none of us were getting sleep. Big sister was actually able to sleep through his crying much better than I thought she would. I didn't sleep through it, of course, and it was hard to keep from going in and quieting him, but it was worth it, and after a week or two he was doing much better.

Also, I was nursing him too much during the day. When I talked to my pediatrician about his sleeping issues (he insisted on waking up frequently through the night and nursing), he gave me some info that really helped. If your baby is used to eating every couple hours during the day, he'll want to eat that often at night too. So I focused on feeding him larger solid meals, and nursing less frequently. That, combined with crying it out at night, helped him sleep better. Now he nurses four times a day and sleeps about 8 hours at night.

He also presses up against the bars of the crib in his sleep. He'll wake up with huge red marks on his head from the bars. But it doesn't seem to bother him, so I don't worry about it.

http://moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/

Check out this website's info on the 9-month sleep regression. It's totally normal and will pass. Meanwhile, hang in there! It can be kind of rough since most moms are used to getting more sleep at this point.

My guest is teeth. Feel in his mouth and see if there are any teeth coming through. Otherwise let him cry it out.
C. B

We are going through this with our 10 month old as well, and she doesn't appear to be teething or have any ear infections. She has been sleeping in her crib since week 2 but I have been so tired that I have brought her to bed with me a couple of times (usually reserved for sick time only) and she is sleeping but kicking, punching, and rolling the whole time! She sleeps like your son, and ends up crunched up in a corner. I know she can't get back to sleep in her crib because she is standing up immediately after waking. We tried to let her cry it out, which I know a lot of people have suggested, but it does not work for us, because she will get so upset and exhausted that she falls over from standing and hits her head on the crib - one time we freaked out because we thought she fell out it was so loud (impossible since the crib has been lowered).
Anyway, we are still struggling, and the only thing that has helped at all is making sure she doesn't nap so long or much during the day. It hasn't eliminated the problem, but she seems to sleep a little bit more and harder. We also used to have her sleep in a Halo sleepsack which helped because she didn't have as much mobility and could only sit, not stand, but our house has recently gotten too warm for that.
Good luck and I'll be watching for other responses too!

Let them cry it out. By the way, if you do this and you find that by the time they've cried themself to sleep they've thrown their pacifier out too, now is a good time to ditch that too.
K.

L.,

It looks like your child really wants to walk.

One thing to consider -- is he well fed before bedtime?
With burning more calories, he might get to have more intake.
Something to look at.

With Joy, C.
Loving Connections LLC

My 9 (almost 10 mo) old has been doing very similar.
She also is close to walking on her own, just got another tooth, and is climbing on everything in sight..

She is no longer sleeping through the night but about 1 or 2 nights a week. She seems to sleep very restless too- pushing on everything with her feet while she nurses during the day and while she sleeps at night- in her sleep! She has started rolling over in her sleep and sleeping on her tummy, and also pushing til her head is pressed up against the rails.

I will be reading this for the advice you are given as well, as I have no idea either, but just know someone else is in the same boat I guess! :)

he might be having alot of anxiety from all the new things he's learning. might be having growing pains. he is at the age where he is more active and needs less daytime naps. and more daytime activity. even just less nap time will sometimes do the trick. then remember that the more activity and the older they get the more energy they expend and the more nourishment they need. continue the bedtime routine that should never change. bath --book--and bedtime. some kind of music--sound machine or chasing blinking lights with music(christmas) a fan ond it could be the change in seasons. maybe he's hot at night or did you happen to move his room around. something like that could pull them out of wack .

GOOD LUCK --AND GOD BLESS