9 Month Old Waking Every Two Hours at Night... Help!

Ugh! That's horrible! How do you feel about working with her actively on her sleep - setting a sleep schedule, enforcing it, etc? I did that with my son. He's also 9 months old. Now, he goes to bed at 7 pm without fussing, and sleeps straight through until 6 am. When he teethes, he wakes up too, but never more than once per night. I am NOT trying to brag or make you feel bad - please know that he was NOT always a good sleeper. He used to get up constantly, and I had to work with him pretty hard on this. But he's a much happier, more cheerful baby when he's awake now that he's getting good sleep at night. He's just learned that nighttime is for sleeping and daytime is for playing.

The book that I used was Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Weissbluth. He describes several ways to go about sleep training, including some that don't involve crying (though he says these are less effective and take longer). Take a look at it and see what you think.

I was just reading something on how to help your baby sleep through the night and it said something that made sense to me. NOt sure what her diet is like, but if they don't get enough calories during the day they will wake up in the night to make up for it. Not sure if this is the case or will help, but I do find that if my daughter has an "off" day with her eating (not finishing all of her meals completely) she will wake up at midnight or so and drink a couple more ounces. She normally goes down at 8 or 9 and sleeps until 6:30-7:30. Hope this helps. : )

It sounds like your daughter has gotten used to that Mommy time. My son did this a few weeks ago. He was getting his molars and several bottom teeth and we would go in and hold him and rock him back to sleep. He then got the idea that he wanted to be with us. Since she takes the pacifier make sure there are several in the crib at night before she goes to bed. Once I knew he was ok and did not need anything, what I did was I let him cry a little. It was hard on me to have to listen to him. The first day he cried the longest (on and off for an hour). The second day he cried for five minutes and went back to sleep. Since then I have not had a problem and he sleeps through the night again.

Hi Rachelle, she is still doing it, because you created a bad pattern with her, getting up with her 2 or 3 times a night, she got used to it, and now expects it, so myadvice to you and many many other moms, is stop getting up with them, i have tried to drive this point home, It's one thing if their sick, and they can't breath,due to a bad cold, or pain due to an illness, you have to go them then, but you have to make sure that you are not forming a habit in them, that will continue past the illness, babies are great manipulators as early as 6 months, I have seen it time and time again, especially in my daycare. Mom for 24 years J.

Dear Rachelle:

Babies grow so fast the first year and they require a LOT of nutrients. I found that my breastfed babies awoke about the same during the first year, 3 to 4 times per night, due to the efficient digestion of that ideal food. So I just fed them.

I'm assuming you're not co-sleeping which was what made this time pretty painless for our family since I didn't even have to crack an eye to keep them fed and asleep! Obviously, I think that's the way to go but if you or your husband don't believe in it, the best thing I can think of would be to feed her more often. For example, nurse for breakfast, table snacks then nurse, nurse for lunch, table snacks then nurse, nurse for dinner, table snacks then nurse, then brush her teeth and then a long nursing right before bed.

My children didn't eat food before the one-year mark (I tried and they just couldn't) but once they began, I made Cream of Rice (they were allergic to wheat, but Cream of Wheat is WAY better) their dinner-time food. It seemed to keep them very satisfied for a long time. I cooked it with water only and then when it cooled, I'd stir in breastmilk. I fed them vegetables in the morning and in the afternoon but not before bed because they digested too quickly.

I hope this helps...it's simple but I think it'll make a big difference for you.

Best wishes,

M.

If she's not taking any solid foods yet, it's probably time to.

Some moms don't like this, but it was a lifesaver for us. We had to use the crying it out method for both my daughters, and it worked like a charm. I have had a great night sleep ever since. Doctors even told us to do it. We just let them cry it out when they went to bed, they cried for about 1/2 hour (some babies will cry longer) then when they woke at night, they cried for just a few seconds, and they must have remembered about the crying it out, because they stopped immediately and went back to sleep. Good luck!

Isn't it horrible, getting up every two hours??? I almost went out of my MIND. My daughter is seven months and was sleeping through the night, but then started getting up once, then twice, then three times, then four, a night. I started giving her a bottle because I thought she might be waking because she was hungry. I was at my wits end. I decided to implement the "cry-it-out" technique, even though I knew it was going to be hard and I was going to hate it. It worked amazingly. It was hard, but not really that bad. It only took a few nights of long crying, and now she will occasionally wake but is satisfied with me giving her her pacifier and wrapping her back up in her blanket and she is back asleep in 30 seconds. My life is so much better! DON'T nurse her in the night, she doesn't need it! She loves it and wants it, but now is the time to train her to know she is not going to get it. You will thank yourself! You have forgotten how wonderful life is on a full night's sleep!

Hi Rachelle,
My first advese is not to ever give any child a pacifier!!!
Unless you don't mind a cranky baby, except when they have it.
Anmd you also don't mind orthodontist bills from having a kid
withan overbite.
Then there is the thumb sucking....don't tolerate it--not for one minute!!

IOf you don't mind these things, you also won't mind having
a geeky looking child from all that sucking!!
And you have also started an addiction... that's hard to break!!
My little sister did not quit sucking her thumb until she was 6 1/2! Then had a horrible overbite and "picket fence" teeth.
C. S.

PS-Time to quit breastfeeding! 9 months is the desired time
for it.....TIME TO STOP!!!

This happened to me with both of my children at that age . It's something about this age they realize your not there in the room (seperation anxiety ) . It took a little time but it does pass . Your not alone . :-) Try some teething tablets . Or something for her pain . My son is getting 8 teeth in right now . We have our painful days and our mellow days . Good luck