Hi everybody,
First time poster here. My DD is 9 months old and the pediatrician says she should be sleeping through the night - which she isn't. Bedtime is at around 7pm, which she goes down for pretty easily, but then we're up at least once in the night - sometimes two or three times - before her morning wake-up time at around 7am. I know that it's not uncommon for babies to wake-up during the night, but when she wakes up, she needs to be rocked back to sleep (or nursed and rocked back to sleep). It's clear she's tired, because her eyes close as soon as I hold her in my arms, but she won't put herself back to sleep in her crib. This is probably my fault - my DH and I have made the mistake of rocking her to sleep until now, and having read a bunch about sleep associations recently, I'm realizing that we've probably created a situation where she now needs to be rocked in order to sleep (oops). So... now I need to break her of this habit so that she can fall asleep herself. I've tried putting her down, saying good night, and walking away, but she just cries and gets more and more agitated (I tried during her morning nap today, and she cried for a full hour, before I gave up and rocked her, figuring that sleep was more important than training). I've tried sitting in a chair in her room with her in the crib, but then she just sits up or stands up and stares at me (and no sleeping). So... again, acknowledging that I got myself into this... any suggestions on how I can help my baby learn to fall asleep on her own without making her feel totally abandoned?
Re: 9 month old not sleeping through the night and only falls asleep in my arms