Repost- I Need Advice on Getting My 9.5 Month Old to Sleep.

I suggest cutting out the play time. This is a guess but she may be too excited that is why it is tough to get her to bed. I have a five month old and we do all the same stuff that you do but we don't play at all after bathtime even if he is awake in his crib! He eventually falls asleep! He falls asleep at 9:00pm and wakes up at 6:00am. We feed him and then put him right back into his crib till 9:00am regardless!

Start by changing her schedule. She may be more crabby, but in the long run it will help you get the rest and energy you need. I understand you are opposed to not letting her cry, but I will have to say it is nigh impossible. Just try it. Mine is 10 months and he knows when I put him down its time for a nap or bedtime. He used to fuss for quite a while. Now, it's only a minute or less if at all. You are not a mean mom for letting her cry. If you cater to her now, she will grow up with that in her thoughts. Hope it goes well for you.

My 14 month old son has a favorite stuff animal that he uses to go to sleep with. Maybe you could try that.

You're lucky to have a good night time sleeper! My boys never were till they got past a year. One thing I think might help though is to try to get your baby to take at least one nap (maybe after lunch). She may be overtired in the evenings, and can't settle down. Plus, it would give you a break during the day! Also, try to get her to go to sleep without nursing. (This may take some doing, which is why it's good to work on during the day). It sounds like she is going to sleep while nursing, getting partway into a sleep cycle and then being jolted awake when you lay her down. Then she can't get to back to sleep on her own, because she doesn't really know how, and becomes overtired.
I would also definitely cut the play time out of the bedtime routine. In our house it's supper, bath, stories and into bed. This seems to work well, the boys are nice and sleepy. I find that if I dim the lights and turn all loud things down or off, it helps set the mood. I think the key is for you to set a mood, help your daughter get sleepy, and know that it is time for bed, and let her go to sleep on her own.
Hope it works!

Just a thought but you might try moving her bedtime routine around alittle don't let her play after getting lotion and pj's on just nurse and off to bed. Also, if possible, what helped my son was I set up a rocker in his bedroom so that way when it was time for bed I keep the room darken (you know with a nightlight or what ever she sleeps with) and rock and let him fall alseep that way. Doing this took out any outside noise or distractions. Plus another thing that I found,my son was a bit younger when I did this but it help, about an hour before bed I would but a heating pad in his crib (ON LOW) and but the blaket over and let the bed heat up before putting him in it, just remember to take out the heating pad before putting in baby !!! HAHAHAHA But that helped by the bed not being cold after having the warmth of mommy!! Let know if any of this helps!!

Get the "NO CRY SLEEP SOLUTION - BY JODI MENDELL"... Worked for me within 2 weeks of following the guidelines, with only minor setbacks. My son was sleeping 10 hours straight at 6 months old... and is now 9 months old sleeping two 2-hour naps per day, and 12 hours at night. :)

good luck - NO CRYING IT OUT !!!

K. -- I know that you have gotten a lot of advice already, but I wanted to tell you that my daughter is almost a year old and she is a terrible napper...her schedule can vary from day to day or week to week - she has never been much of a napper, but when she was down for the night she was down.

I wasn't in to the letting her cry it out either - so we started by going in VERY often at night, comforting her and putting her back in the crib -- it worked wonders! My daughter is in bed usually by 8pm and up at 6am -- so I am very jealous that yours sleeps in until 10am -- BUT just be careful with people's advice, I know that "people say" that children should be taking 2 naps a day, but all kids aren't the same - you know your baby best!

Try to play with your schedule as much as you can -- maybe change bath time or your last feeding time...

Today my daugther took a two hour nap -- I was in heaven!!! Yesterday -- 20 minutes!

Hang in there!!

I agree with the other mom. She probably isn't going to take a nap when there are other children in the home. My son finally learned around 6 months old how to put himself to sleep. At that time he couldn't sit up so I hung a toy in his crib that kept him busy and soon he would be asleep. He would take nearly 3 naps a day, then down to two at 9 months and the only time we held him and rocked him is with a bottle at night. This was our special time with him.

He's now 16 mo. old and he does cry some in protest when I lay him down for his one and only nap during the day but falls asleep within 10 min. He doesn't cry the whole time. Sometimes at night after rocking and giving him a bottle he may still not be asleep but we can lay him down with no protest from him.

It sounds as if your daughter is in such a routine of "hanging in there" with the other children you have in your home, her body has adjusted to being tired and still being able to go forward full steam.

If you start now, some how teaching her to nap during the day or, I know you said "no crying it out" teaching her to be self sufficient with putting herself to sleep at night you will only have to deal with it for a week or no more than two weeks. It will pay off if you are persistent. She is still young enough to learn. By the time they are one they change again and then again at a year and a half. Start now or you'll be stuck. If you want her to go to bed earlier so she will get up earlier between 7-8pm is a great time to start laying them down. My son is awake at 7am every morning and is in bed no later than 8/8:30pm. The only time it’s hard to get him to sleep when we know he is clearly tired is when he is “overly” tired. Then we have to let him lay in his crib and go to sleep on his own. He does fall asleep eventually and without too much fussing.

I believe you said she show signs of being sleepy even when she is fussing after you lay her down. My son has gone through stages in the middle of the night waking us up and when I go in there he probably had a bad dream. I picked him up, rocked him, he fell asleep, and I put him back down. I suddenly realized that he started doing this every night for nearly 4 nights in a row. He realized that by crying (which his sounds were different and clearly he didn't have a bad dream) I would come and get him out of bed and rock him. They learn very quickly how to manipulate and become attached to the bad routines.

try puting her in her swing or a bounce chair and bounce her to sleep. the reason she might not take a nap is because you have other kids in your home. have you tried giveing her a bottle insetd of nursing her at that time. that might help her go to sleep.

My daughters 10 and it's been a long time since she was a baby, But maybe if you get her up earlier, she'll fall asleep earlier. It may be an adjustment at first, but it might work.

I'm sorry that you got no responses. could there be something that she doesn't like? seperation anxiety mabe. does she do better on the days when she has a nap? you would think that the extra rest would worsten the problem it actuallt does the opposite. babies can get over tired, and that can actually make it harder for them to calm down. also overstimulation can make it hard for her.

I feel your pain here and unfortunately I don't have much advice. My 10 1/2 month old son is the same way.. he will only fall asleep while nursing for naps and such ... sometimes I am lucky and he is dead tired at 7:30 (bedtime) and he goes down.. but, wake up anywhere from every 30 minutes at night.. to every 2 hours best. I saw someone on here post about putting a mattress on the floor.. and a gate around it so that they can't get into trouble when they do wake up.. that might solve the problem of laying them back int eh crib. Good Luck..

you may try swaddling the baby. it seemed to help even when they were a lil older.

try keeping feeding her like once you feed her and shes asleep and you move her and then she wakes up feed her again...I went through this and i just would feed her a little more and then she would sleep. (( sometimes ive had to let her cry but not much)) good luck

Well, let me think. You could cut out play time near bed time. You could use lavender soap and lotion with her bath, they have that in the baby aisle. You could try to wake her up earlier and then try to keep her attention while she's nursing to keep her up, like talk to her even turn on a childrens channel like Noggin or Playhouse Disney while your nursing and maybe that will keep her attention. She might sound to young to watch tv but she will and if you don't want her to watch those shows you could get Baby Einstien those are great for babies. Now if all else fails you could try rocking her. My daughter was the same way and then I bought this aquarium thing that attached to the crib and it lit up and played music and then my daughter would watch that and just drift to sleep. It was a God send. I would not do the crying it out routine because I hate that. I did let mine cry for a couple minutes and then I would go in there if she didn't stop after a couple minutes. I hope some of these suggestions help you somehow. Maybe after nursing her at 8, rock her a little afterwards and then try to lay her down. Pacifiers work great too but a lot of people don't want to use them, my daughter wouldn't. Well, good luck and let us know how it works.

I'm sorry to tell you this but she needs put herself to sleep. She has got to do it sometime. At nine months she needs some kind of nap during the day or she will be so overly tired that she will have problems going to sleep. Have you heard the suggestion about putting her down, then going back in 5 minutes to lay her down again, then you add 5 each time, until she stops crying and goes to sleep(ie 5, then 10 min, then 15 and so on till she's asleep. I don't want to sound uncaring, because I have TWINS who I had to do this with when they were about 8 months, and let me tell you all of my friends are jealous of how easy my children go to sleep now. Just do it, or you will be paying for the next couple years to come. Also, you need to do some activities that are quiet with the other kids for an hour or so, so your baby can rest. I cannot stress enough that your child is old enough to go to sleep on her own, she IS controlling you! I also recommend the book How to Tell Your Toddler No, by Dr. Will Willkoff, it explains alot about your childs sleep needs, besides how to tell your child no.

Hello K.. I had this problem but it was when my son was a bit younger. Try starting her day a little earlier maybe around 7 am or so. Also, move her nursing time up about an hour or more. This may help some. It may be that she is getting to much sleep at night and isn't active enough during the day. I know you don't want to try the cry it out method, but keep your options open. She does need to learn to put her self to sleep. I did it with my son and he is now 2.5 yrs old and I have no problems with bedtime(knock on wood...LOL) These suggestions may or may not work, but always worth a try. Good luck with everything. I hope some of this helps.

I agree with the others that I would cut out the play time after bath. Give her a bath and feed her and put her to bed. I would also try a nap during the day. I know my little one is almost 4 and if he doesn't get a nap he is harder to get down at night because he is overly tired. You might even let her do goodnight kisses and all to her sister before bath and feed her in her room. That way she doesn't get excited or anything.
Good luck and I agree with you that crying it out is NOT the way to go.
M.

With my daughter we had to start bed time rituals really early. Im talking like 4:00 in the afternoon. I would lay her in her crib at 8:30 and pat her tummy until she fell asleep. She cried, but I was also right there with her. It wasnt like leaving her to cry herself to sleep. It didn't take long before she learned that she had to go to bed at 8:30. Since yours is used to 11 you will probably have to just back it up a little each night. But each time she goes to bed a little bit earlier than the night before you can cheer her on in the morning!

Three out of four of my children went right to sleep after a warm bath. Try changing her night-time routine. Do play-time, then dinner, then nurse, then warm bath. Try a musical mobile or one of those projector lights that shows pretty pictures on the wall and plays music. If she cries a little, so be it. It won't hurt her to be a little fussy, and if you wake her up a little earlier in the morning she'll be fine. So she's a little crabby; keep her up until lunch if she gets up around 9, and then put her down for a 2 hour maximum nap. Try this for 2 or 3 days if you can. I know she'll be a little tired for a day or 2, but the long-term effects will be a blessing.

I would start by trying to get the baby to nap at least once or twice a day. I have never heard of a baby that did not nap at all. From what I have read, sleep begets more sleep. She is probably overtired and that is why she is restless in the evening. If she could take a morning and/or afternoon nap, and then do your bedtime routine in the evening, she may have an easier time. I like author Jodi Mindell's book on getting kids to sleep; I think it is called Sleeping Through the Night. Good luck!

ok well the only thing that i can think of is to wake her up earlier. I know the crab, i have a 17 mo. old who hates to b woken up from his nap. But maybe if you can find something that she really likes after you wake her up earlier. favorite toy, or snack, or even ice cream just for the first few days untill she gets use to it may help. and God love her by the way cause mine still wakes up 2 to 3 times a night. Oh yea maybe if you lay down with her @ the same time and she thinks everyone is going to sleep @ then it will b easier. I don't like the cry it out thing either!

It sounds to me like she needs to nap during the day. A 9 month old should be napping twice a day really. I bet she is overtired and doesn't know how to soothe herself. Do you play music or anything in her room? My son has classical music CDs that play while he sleeps and it's helped a lot. I bet if you added a nap into her routine, she would be better rested in general and go to sleep easier. Can't hurt at least!

K. first off I do feel your pain. I have a 10 mth old and she is such a light sleeper and it's really hard to put her down sometimes. Part of the problem is that you are not having your daughter take a nap. If they don't get rest during the day she is over tired and that is why you are not able to get her to sleep during the night. I totally understand the not cry it out thing...I refuse to do that to my daughter too...but I do know that if she doesn't get good naps during the day it's even harder to get her to sleep at night and than she usually wakes up too. In the beginning when I would try to put my daughter down for naps they were very short lived, if even at all because she too would wake up when I put her down, but even if you can get her to lay in her crib for 10 mins it's a start. That's what I had to do. At first she would fight her naps too but now it's so much better. She takes 2-3 naps a day for about 1 1/2 hrs each, than she goes to bed at 7pm until 6-7 am....and we have the same schedule....play, bath, lotion, than nurse and bed. I also learned that if I played music in her room she sleeps much better vs keeping it quite. I play Jim Brinkman, it's soft panio music and it's wonderful and helps her stay alsleep. So as soon as she is done getting ready for bed we turn on the music as soon as I sit in the rocker to nurse her to put her too bed. I do it for her naps too and she now knows and doesn't fight it as much. I hope that this helps you!

I have a 6 week old who is the exact same way, never sleeps, until i found that if i put her the little carries that you wear on your chest and walk around the house for 15 minutes she passes out. My carrier comes completly unclipped around the baby so all i do is lay her flat on my chest unhook the carrie and gently lay her down and that seems to work. I hope this helps. If you are intersted i have a Jeep carrier i got online from walmart. Good luck.

Hi K.,

I am sure you are really tired by now and desperate. I don't have much experience with children since I'm doing all I can to raise a healthy 2 year old myself. But, here is some advice I got from my family when things got harder at bed time. I must say that my baby is now a sound asleep 12 hs a day, so you might want to try it.
First, anything you try you need to try it for at least 15 days, less than that will never break the old habit. Even if you dont' see a change in a week, stick to it. Second, you don't need to do the cry out but you can allow 5 or 10' in between checks, and just reinforce her to stay in her crib. She will not understand anything you say but she will definitely feel your comfort voice. Then leave the room and wait at least 5, 10' to come back. Third, you can try to move her schedule 20' down the clock everyweek. Which means start your bed time routine 20' earlier every week until you get to your goal.

I hope any of these tips help.

Good Luck!