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D.C. Area Babies
9 month sleep regression
Holy crap, this is terrible. When LO started day care 5 or 6 weeks ago, he immediately got sick and then has been congested for weeks. So getting sick messed up his sleep and then we didn't feel right re-ferberizing while he was still coughing. So he was waking up once per night, but it was ok.
But in the past week he has started waking up every 1.5-2 hours. And it is NOT ok. I am so exhausted and my happy-go-lucky baby is getting cranky. Yesterday I declared a nap emergency and we basically spent the entire day getting him to nap, which was great, except he still woke up 3 times last night (and then a 4th time at 5 am, at which point I brought him to bed and we dozed until 8, so I was late to work).
I think we're ready to re-ferber now that he is not coughing and sickly. I only hope this lasts for a while before the next illness. Mommy needs a few nights of sleep! And DH is going out of town in two weeks. Yikes!
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Re: 9 month sleep regression
Oh wow, that would be tough with DH out of town!
We are having some signs of moving out of night sleep regression that started at 7 months--LO still wakes every 2 hours, but sometimes he'll go down easily again without nursing or having a screaming fit.
We are still in the throws of mega nap SR that started aabout 3 weeks ago when he started crawling. He comes out of light sleep really easily and then flips on his tummy and then starts to crawl, then falls asleep crawling, only to repeat it. But, if I gently hold/hug him in one place, he just wails. Touching my hair will keep him in place, but sometimes he yanks on my hair rather than stroking it, so I stop him and then he loses it. When it gets to that point, we get up and I have him play for a bit longer, then we try again. He had several months of being a very easy napper, so it is frustrating to now spend 15-20 minutes on a failed nap attempt. But, this too shall pass!
More Green For Less Green
This has definitely coincided with getting better at crawling and pulling up to standing. Most times when I go into his room he is either sitting in the corner of the crib, or kneeling or standing. So I think he's not figuring out how to get back to lying down, although he can do it fine during the day.
Plus his two top teeth are bulging out of his gums right now, so I expect to see them soon.
With DD, I felt like every sleep problem related back to teething. When she was in a lot of pain, I would give her a dose of tylenol before bed and that really helped with her length of sleeping.
Also with DD when we re-Ferberized at 11 months it was much harder when she was able to stand in the crib. I remember coming in and she would be sleeping standing, propped against the crib.
DS has never been a good night sleeper, so take my current experience of 9 months with a grain of salt. He always has awoken to feed 2-3 times a night. But he used to go down easily, now he cries again for 5-15 minutes (with a break where I hold and calm him) and then he goes down. He then wakes up almost hourly till I take him into my bed where he promptly sleeps until 2 and then 6. He used to sleep well in his own bed, but not so much anymore. I was just thinking this weekend that DD regressed at 9 months as well and only wanted to be in our bed. It coincided for her with mild stranger anxiety and moving so I didn't realize it was a phase. DS hasn't shown any signs of stranger anxiety, but he clearly wants that closeness.
We don't have too many issues with naps, sometimes he fights them, but he is usually a good napper.
According to my pediatrican, at 9 months there is a burst of awareness and babies are aware of being in the in-between stage - not quite asleep - not quite awake - and they find it frightening.
At that age, I had him nap in the ergo - which helped w/that fear. We also co-slept at night (and still do).
We never sleep trained (I have had chronic insomnia so I'm more used to sleep deprivation than most) and now he only gets up about 1 time a night. So if nothing else - with time it will get better. Although I do not know that is cold comfort when you are in the middle of a sleep regression!
Being sick always wreaks havoc on DS's sleep. When he's congested we've often ended up letting him sleep in the swing since it is propped up a little bit. He'll usually sleep in longer stretches that way, even if the swing isn't moving. I don't know what we'll do when he outgrows the swing.
This weekend we were traveling and he woke up more often than usual (and way earlier than usual) so we tried putting a small toy in the PNP with him. He loved it, and at least once during the night I heard him wake up and play with it and go back to sleep. Ours was a small bear that makes a soft jingle noise when you move him. Maybe that would help?
Also, can you have DH handle every other wake up? When he wakes up so often you know it isn't really for hunger so I'd have DH share the exhaustion
Are you changing his diaper when he wakes up? We used to do this but the last time we did it really woke him up and he was awake for almost 45 minutes and wouldn't go back to sleep. We switched to Pampers Baby Dry in the next size up for overnights and haven't had to change him or have a leak since.
GL! I hope it isn't a 9 month thing - I'm getting used to some good nights sleep!