9 Month Old Schedule

Hi H.,
At 9 months, eating regular meals, he shouldn't need to wake up for a bottle at night. I would suggest upping his bedtime bottle. 2 ounces isn't very much to offer. Have you tried giving him a full bottle? If he's waking up and draining the bottle, he's hungry. I would think a bigger bedtime bottle would get him sleeping through the night, and get him out of a bad habit of waking up needing milk in the middle of the night.
Good luck

Dear H.,

It seems that your son does not require as much sleep during the day because he is not napping that long. It must be difficult to get anything done around the house. I do have a few suggestions you can try. If you think it would be better for him to take one long nap you can try pushing his ten oclock nap back a little each day until you can get him to have lunch at 11:30 and then have him take his nap after lunch. I used to do that with my kids and I would get a nice break in the afternoon to get things done around the house. My kids used to wake around 7 or so I would give the bottle and then breakfast as you are doing now around 8 or so. You can still give the bottle at 10 and see if he is not tired maybe keep him up until lunch time (not sure if this will work because he is still young) but give him lunch and maybe he will sleep for a few hours. When he wakes give him a little snack, a bottle as you are doing at 4 and then normal dinner. With the one nap a day he may go down a little earlier. I would give him a full bottle before bed and cut out the bottle in the middle of the night. You can do one of two things switch to water and maybe he will stop waking because its not worth it or have him cry it out for a few nights until he realizes he is not going to get a bottle. If he is fed enough during the day he should not be hungry in the middle of the night and sleeping through by now. If he still needs that morning nap then I would wait to try to change his schedule now and as he becomes more active,and older he may require a longer nap. Good luck!!

I think you are doing a good job. The amounts of food sound good to me and similar to what my son eats. But maybe you could try getting him to bed a bit earlier and he might give you an easier time with napping. Here is my son's schedule and he is turning 9 months on Wed. He wakes around 7 or 7:30 and I breastfeed him and give him breakfast around 8:30 or so. Then I breastfeed him and give his morning nap around 9:30 or so, then lunch around 12 and then breastfeed him before his nap, which I try to do around 12:30 or 1, then he gets a little snack at about 3 or 3:30 and he eats dinner at around 5:30, then he gets a bath and I breastfeed him right before bed, and he goes down at 7. Then he usually wakes at around 4 or so (this gets worse whenever he is teething) and I breastfeed him and he goes back down until 7 or 7:30.

I have a 8 1/2 month old. Here's our schedule.
Wake 6am- 4 oz bottle, tub fruit, 2 tbsp oatmeal
Nap 8:30/9
Wake 10am 0 8 oz bottle
Lunch 12/12:30 Turkey roll up, grahm crakcer, 1/2 fruit, sippy cup
Nap 1/1:30
Wake 3/3:30 - 8 oz bottle
Dinner 5:30 chicken/meatball/whatever meat I can find, fruit, veggie and sippy cup (maybe some cheerios)
Bedtime routine 7:30 bath, bottle, books, bed (usually asleep by 8pm)
I had to get rid of the middle of the night feeding and it was hard. I would definantely get rid of that feeding. I know its hard to let the cry it out, but everytime you give him a bottle, it just reinforces the knowledge that if he wakes up in the middle of the night, mommy is gonna bring me a bottle.
Good Luck!! :)

It's been a long time since either of mine were 9 mos but I have 2 girls, one almost 11 & the other 5 - the first thing to do is to try to stop all of the second guessing you do. When you go to the pedetrician as long as they tell you that he's growing in all of the right ways, then take it for what it's worth. Honestly I know so many mothers who opted to just bottle feed until the children were older rather then taking the time with him. To me it gave me extra time w/each of them. So what there was a little airborne food, we had fun! It sounds to me like your doing a great job, and in my experience if a child doesn't want anymore they won't eat it. Good luck!

My 8.5 month old takes two naps, one at 9am and the other at 1pm. She sleeps at least an hour for each nap, many times the 2nd nap will be longer. She goes to bed at 6:15/6:30 p.m., which means she eats dinner at 5pm and then has an 8 oz bottle at 6pm, right before bed. She wakes once during the night (we don't usually feed her), has a 4oz am bottle, breakfast at 7:30, 6oz mid-morning bottle, lunch at 11:30, 6oz bottle before afternoon nap, snack or small bottle at 3:30. She wakes around 6:30 in the morning.

I would guess your son is a little overtired, but his menu sounds great. Maybe try to put him to bed earlier and see what happens. You'll want to do this slowly - 15 minutes earlier for 3 nights, then move it again until you find the ideal time. My son napped badly until he was 16 months and ready for only 1 nap, but he still slept from 6pm to 6am, starting at 9 months (he still woke once during the night until he was a year). I was not reading his napping cues and dealing with the sleep problems until he was almost 9 months, so I think he would have done better with naps if I had focused on that sooner. Good luck!

I totally agree with Mindy T. Also, your boy seems like a very good eater both bottle and cereal. My 9 month old has about 4 bottles per day (6 oz. each) and cereal with fruits or veggies twice a day.

I think it's impossible for us moms NOT to analyze our kids too much! :) I might recommend making your son's bedtime a little earlier. My 9 1/2 month old goes to bed at 7 on a late night, and closer to 6:30 on normal nights. It might take a week or so to get used to it, but I bet he'll sleep a little better that way. Also, is your son taking a morning nap? I think all 9 month olds need at least 2 naps a day, even if they're not as long as we'd like. I'd pick a time, since he's not exactly being helpful with his cues. Maybe 9:00 and 1:00? And every day, put him down for 45-60 minutes at those times, no matter what. I wonder if he's so difficult going down for an early nap in the afternoon because he's over-tired?

You also might want to be adding in even more finger foods at this point, if he's ready.

It sounds like you're doing a fantastic job of reading his hunger cues, but also feel free to take out that night time feeding again. My son will take a bottle in the middle of the night if I offer it, but he doesn't really need it anymore. You might want to put a bottle or sippy cup of water in his crib, just in case he's thirsty when he wakes up. It's also possible that he has gotten into the habit of wanting that bottle. Maybe he was teething before, and crying due to pain and loneliness...and now he's liking the nighttime attention, so doesn't want to give it up? We always have to get back on track with my little guy, once he's gone through a growth spurt, milestone, or illness. Takes a few days every time, but then he's back to sleeping through the night.

Just a few ideas. Good luck!

Maybe when you give him his final bottle, add some cereal to it, and a little more milk. My older daughter was always hungry and she had cereal at 11 days old in her bottle. Maybe this can help.

Your baby's daytime schedule seems to be good. I agree that you could push his morning nap until after lunch, however,he might be a bit young for that right now. He should not be waking up for a feeding at night. Also, try not to rock him to sleep with the bottle because when he wakes in the early am he expects you to be there with another bottle. Always put your baby to sleep awake and feed him a bottle at least an hour before he goes to bed. I did this with my children and most of the time they slept 11-12 hours without a peep. Now I have a teenager that I can't wake up until noon! Enjoy your baby boy - he will brighten your life!!