9 Month Old Not Sleeping Thru the Night!

I experienced the exact same thing. This might sound silly but it's worth a try. I would take off my shirt that I wore that day and put it in bed with my daughter. Like I said it sounds goofy but the scent helped her remember that we were still near by. I don't know it's worth a try!

This is not a habit that needs "breaking" necessarily. Babies have very different sleep cycles from adults and older children, and it is common for them to wake up during the night even into toddlerhood. Some babies who have been sleeping through suddenly start waking up. It is a normal part of development.

You don't have to interact with them or feed them when they do this. Just go in, quietly pat them on the back and leave. Find a book on babies sleep that fits with your parenting style and see what works for you (I am a fan of the Dr. Ferber, but there are many out there.)

However, I would consider pushing his bedtime back as another poster suggested. The more sleep they get, the better. Generally kids sleep better if they go down between 7 and 8 pm (give or take a little depending on the child). If you get much past this time, they get over-tired and then don't sleep as well.

Good luck!

we did this at one year of age for our son. the pedi said he did not need anything durring the night so we should go in his room and soothe him and it should take a few nights then he will be use to it. the first night i went in there and tried to pat him and sooth him. the idea of me not picking him up nor giving him a bottle/sippy really REALLY pissed him off. so the next two nights i decided if he cried more than 30 mins. i would check for a dirty diaper then come back...of course about 10-15 mins he was out again. this only lasted two nights.

I know this is something that may be hard for you to do since this is your first child but you may have to let your son cry for a couple of nights. It seems like he is used to you coming in every night As long as he is not sick he should be ok if he cries for a while he will eventualy go to sleep. I put my daughter in her own room when she was 4 months old she was well feed so I knew she couldnt be hungry. She would cry for a while then go back to sleep. I know it may sound harsh, but I had her on a routine which helps when you have kids. I know its hard especially with your first. With my first daughter I made many mistakes but you learn, so when I had my second I knew not to make the same mistake twice. Have patience and things will work out.

My 9 month old wakes 1-2 times a night. He has gradually gone from waking 4-5 times a night, so I know he will outgrow it. In the meantime, I've been using suggestions from the No Cry Sleep Solution...it's a great book, full of gentle ideas on how to encourage our little ones to sleep. One suggestion, an earlier bedtime. My 9 month old is in bed by 8-8:30 and that helps a lot.

He's not hungry, stop giving him the bottle. Does he cry and freak out or is he just a little fussy? Turning the monitor lower may help you to sleep through it, and he will go back to sleep on his own. If he's freaking out and you feel like you must pick him up, minimize the stimulus, keep the lights out, don't make eye contact, don't talk or sing to him, just soothe him and lay him back to bed right away.
I had this problem w/ my daughter too until I realized I was the one who had to break the habit for both of us.

It will sound mean and it is hard to do for you and your child, but let him cry do not go in. He will learn and go back to sleep by himself, it may take a few nights but it does work.

I have read that transitioning the bottles to water and then eventually not giving any bottle when they wake up teaches them to not "demand" a night-time feeding. We didn't have this issue (night time hunger) with our daughter but she did wake up... eventually, we just started "checking on her" and not picking her up during the night and eventually she just comforted herself back to sleep!

Also, the "Solving your child's sleep problems" book by Ferber helped us - the method is a lot different than crying it out! And even if you don't follow his advice, there is good information on explaining sleeping patterns in children.

Good luck.
blessings,
stacy

Hi R.. You have received some really great answers. I just want to say that I sympathize with you and encourage you to stick with whatever method you choose. I went through something similar when we were out of our home for a couple of months. Due to limited spacing where we were staying my then 6 month old daughter slept in the bed with us. Prior to this she was sleeping through the night with no problem. Of course once we got back home and she got back in her crib - there was hell to pay. I have a 12 yr (11 at the time) old son who had school so it was really difficult for me to let her cry it out and cause him to lose sleep and not be at 100% for school. Needless to say she was in our bed for a couple more months. I finally had enough. My husband and I were not getting much sleep as I was still nursing her and she would wake up every couple of hours. Then my 3yr old did not want to sleep in his own bed when he saw her in our bed. It got pretty crazy. So finally, I got my 12yr old some ear plugs and let her cry it out. The first night she cried for about 25 minutes. The second for about 15. The 3rd only for about 5 minutes. It gets easier EVERY NIGHT -- just stick to it. I would not even go and check on her until she had stopped crying and I felt like she was asleep. Now, I am so grateful I stuck with it. We sit in bed while she has her last cup of milk. We brush & then I carry her to her room. Hug her really close to me, sing her a lullaby & kiss her good night, lay her down and tell her I love her. She is so awesome. She is awake when I put her down, but within a few minutes puts herself to sleep. She will also wake up in the morning and not cry. She just lays in her crib or talks to herself or sings until I come in to get her. She is my 3rd child and each one has been different as far as how they slept and when they slept all night, dependant on our living situation at the time. So just keep in mind that you have to do what works best for you, in the situation that you are currently in. GOOD LUCK!!

Yes you are correct, he is waking up knowing you will come in there to give him a bottle, it is time to get rid of the middle of the night bottle, he will need to cry it out. After about 2 to 3 days, he should not wake up. We stopped giving our son the middle of the night feeding around 2 months. so you are definately ready to get rid of the night time bottle.

Hope this helps!

L.

You aren't alone. My almost 9 month old is not sleeping through the night, and 2 of the 4 kids that I know close to his age are not, either.

His little tummy is about the size of his fist. He may be waking up hungry, you just never know. Babies sleep through the night when they are ready.

My son just turned 9 months and we sort of had the same problem. We starting sleep training (CIO) when he was 6 months old and it worked really well for us. This past month though he started getting teeth so it would wake him up at night and because he was in pain we would console him until he was back to sleep. Well that got him in the habit of waking up in the night again and wanting us to come see him. Finally we just had to endure listening to him cry it out until he remembered how to put himself back to sleep again. Now he will wake up and sort of cry/fuss nothing extreme but if we wait a couple of minutes and not rush down to him he will put himself back to sleep. My doctor said that you can either train them to sleep, or they can train you not to sleep. It is tough to listen to at first, but in the long run its very worth it. As for the bottle... if sometimes he won't even drink it, I would just cut it out all together and stop offering it. We did that around 6 months. Right now Aiden goes to bed at 7:30 and sleeps straight through till sometime between 6:30 - 7:30 AM. He gets his last bottle right before bed and it is normally about 6-8 oz. There is two reasons we put out son to bed so early. The first is because our doctor advised it. It doesn't make sense to me on why it works, it just does... but he says that the earlier your child goes to sleep, they will sleep longer and better through the night. The second reason is that my husband and I can finally have some alone time before bed! Its really nice to have a break in the evening!

Good luck to you! I hope some of this will help, all I can offer are my experiences.

R.,

You are absolutely right that he is just waking up because he knows you will come in there. This is prime age for separation anxiety and it can hit in the middle of the night. If you want him to stop waking or learn to put himself back to sleep, you need to give him a few minutes to try to go back to sleep on his own when he wakes. If he doesn't settle himself, then go in there and quietly lay him back down and tell him "night night" or whatever phrase you use so that he understands it isn't time to get up yet and then leave the room. Don't turn on any lights or get him out of the crib. If you continue to feed him, he will continue to wake for it. If you stop the feedings and the interaction with him, he will realize it isn't worth it and it will stop. You are going to have to teach him to get to sleep on his own, even in the middle of the night, if he wakes up. My son is a year old now and he woke up at 1:30am last night, but I never had to go in there. He fussed for about 15 seconds and then I didn't hear him again...he slept the rest of the night. He usually doesn't wake up at all anymore, but when he does, I rarely have to go into his room unless he is sick or has leaked through his diaper or something.

Good luck to you! I hope you get some sleep soon.

My 9 month old son did they same thing and we started putting him to sleep at 8 or 8:30 and he starting sleeping through the night.