Sleep for an Almost 9 Month Old

My son and my sister's son both went through the same thing. Mine had been a terrible sleeper at the beginning and only really slept through the night from month five to month nine but my sister's son had always been a good sleeper and suddenly at nine months stopped sleeping through the night. Maybe it is a developmental milestone they reach at about that age that has some impact. Or maybe they are just growing like crazy and it makes them restless and starving. Who knows? But we both experienced this as well.

I do agree, from personal experience with my own 2 children, that children's sleep habits can change suddenly, and for no aparent reason. However, unless there is some type of medical problem, there is no reason that a 9 month old infant shouldn't be able to sleep through the night. Both of my boys were sleeping through the night at this age. I think you should cut out the middle of the night nursing session. Nutritionally, he doesn't need it (as long as he's eating well throughout the day and gaining weight appropriately). Maybe he's waking up out of habit, like my oldest child did, and the feeding just "encourages" it to continue. Try eliminating this feeding and stick to a consistent response when he wakes up (i.e. go in to check on him, but don't pick him up and don't stay too long). This worked for me. Good luck and remember that this too shall pass!

Hi,
I have a 9 mo old boy as well and went through something similar at 8mo . I think it is a growth spurt , he is also learning some major things right now pulling up ,trying to take steps. I found with both my daughter (5) and my son when they are learning something new their sleep suffers a bit until they master the task whatever it may be.Now he is starting to even out again and sleep through the night most nights. Sometimes when he wakes at that 4am-5am time I will let him fuss it out a bit unless he is crying and he usually goes back until 7am. So it seems as if our two boys are going through close to the same thing. Good luck.

Hi J.,

My 9 month old is doing the same thing. We have been able to figure out a couple of things waking him up. 1. A growth spurt had him eating constantly for a while but it's tapering off and 2. Teething has bothered him far worse than it bothered his older brother (who is an excellent sleeper) and I find that nursing gives him just enough relief to fall back asleep. Now that the growth spurt is winding down, I just make sure to give him some tylenol before bed for his teeth and he's back to sleeping through the night again.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

I feel your pain! My son is 9 months old and from 7 months to 9 months he was up at least 3 times a night to feed. He's finally sleeping again! He goes down at 9 pm and wakes usually after 3 am for a feeding and then sleeps until 7 or 8 am! Just be patient. Your baby is probably going through a growth spurt and/or the baby teeth are coming in and he's waking from that. It gets better!

Hi J.,

Here are some web sites about sleeping:

http://www.naturallynurturing.co.uk/sleep.html

http://www.minti.com/parenting-advice/13/top-ten-ways-to-...

Use the La Leche League as a resource at:

www.lllusa.org/VA/WebTidewaterVA or 1-800-525-3243

get into a parenting support group and take some parenting classes:

www.kidspriorityone.org or ###-###-####

www.chkd.org/classes

Hope this helps. Good luck. D.

Hi J.~
I had a very fussy boy, who we had quite a time getting him to sleep through the night. He also had a 4am wake up time (as well as a 11:30 pm feeding). What I found worked for me was to beat him to the 4am wake up time. Sounds a little silly but I woke him up at 3:30, and then at 3:15. That stopped him. He was hard to wake up and didn't like it. The third night he slept right through without my waking him at all. The other tactic is to check on him, perhaps give water, and put him back to bed and let him cry. Repeat as needed. Good luck. Mine did good, only to change his routine AGAIN when we moved. HA! Just when you figure it out, it changes. Have fun!

Hello, J.. Yep, you were spoiled nicely by your first child's easy sleeping! A lot of posts here are about sleep habits changing but frankly, from what I've seen of my kid and friends' kids -- it seems like babies, toddlers' and even elementary school kids' sleep habits just shift. Unless something has happened that is upsetting your son or his routine -- like introducing new solid foods that might make him gassy in the night, or moving to a new room or new house, etc. -- this may just be a change that passes soon. And then be prepared for some other shift to occur -- he starts sleeping all night but waking at 5 a.m. famished, or he won't go to sleep until 8:30 instead of 8! Just keep to routines as much as you can but realize his needs may change. As for this once-a-night waking, he may just be going through a growth spurt and wanting more food. Let us know here what happens.

From what I hear this is not unusual at all. My now 2 year old daughter slept through the night every night from 3-6 months. Then at 6 months she started getting her first tooth, caught a little cold, and we went on vacation. For one of those reasons (I'm assuming) she started waking up once a night. I would nurse her and she'd go back to sleep easily. This continued until around 11 months. It had obviously just become a habit and an easy way for her to suckle her way back into dreamland. Anyway, at about 11 months I'd had enough of it and let her cry it out - which I'd never done before. It took about 3 nights and she was back to sleeping through the night ... or at least putting herself back to sleep if she woke. Occasionally if she cried I'd go in and either rock her or lay her down and pat her back. This also helped with weaning which we started at 12 months.

Good luck - it won't last forever:)

Same thing happened to me...then I realized that my daughter was teething. Even her naptime became shorter. Now that her top/bottom fronts have come in, we're back to sleeping thru the nite and longer naptimes. Hope this helps!

You said it right, all kids are different. They also go through different stages, and will eat more during growth spurts. There's nothing wrong with nursing him in the middle of the night if that helps him and isn't an issue for you. Some doctors say they don't need it, but it doesn't hurt anything if it makes it easier and more peaceful in your house.

My daughter is doing the exact same thing. She wakes around 4-5am, nurses, goes back to sleep, and wakes up at 7 am or later. She used to sleep through the night, and wake at 7:10am. We just had our 9 month check-up and the ped. suggested we let her "cry it out" because there is no reason she should NEED food. We have elected to feed her, though.

After a month and a half it seems to be tapering. She does not wake every night (she has skipped 1 a week for the last 2 weeks), and last night she whimpered and went back to sleep. I was talking to another mom and she said that her kids had trouble sleeping from 8-10 months and then it went away.

Hope this helps.