9 Months Old & Still Waking up Several Times a Night!?

I feel ya! Went through it myself. I do not bathe my kids daily, it is unnessesary and causes dryness. My routine for my son is a couple ounces in a bottle, read a book (as well as you can with a baby), sing him a couple of songs while rocking, and then in to bed with his blankie. I do play music all night on repeat. When I added the blanket to the mix, it was a HUGE help, he seemed to need some kind of consistent lovie. Then I followed the advice in the book The Sleep Easy Solution. We had two nights of waking up, and now he sleeps through the night and even started napping better. It is easy to want to put it off, but right now he is not getting the sleep he needs that is so important for his brain development especially if he is waking up 8 times a night. Good luck, I know how hard it is!

Hate to tell you this hun but it's pretty normal.
It could be anything from teething to growth spurt to learning a new skill that can keep them up. When a ped says " sleep through the night" they mean 6 hrs at a time not a full 8-10 hrs. A little more information is needed though to give you the right advice like what exactly have you tried? and how long did you give it before you changed routines. Many times a routine won't work right off the bat.
get him a cd player and play some soft music on repeat so when he gets in those shallow sleep cycles like every human on the planet does , his environment hasnt changed and so sudden noises don't wake him up.
put a cool mist humidifier in his room it will help releave the dryness of the winter and clear up some cold type symptoms.
and Pick up the book No cry sleep solution by elizabeth pantley.

I have 2 kids, my oldest was a HIGH needs baby from day one and NEVER SLEPT , didn't sleep all night till she was 3 yrs old, My youngest slept all night at a year , which is the norm for babies to begain to truely sleep all night w/o waking.

Don't let him cry it out, it does nothing but stress everyone out.

Hi A.-
My son just turned 3 and still wakes up 3-8 times a night! We just went to Sleep Clinic here in St. Louis that gave us real good advice, and since he's still young, it should be easier. Does he go to bed at night by himself? She said that's the first step, and then you work on the night wakings. Anyhow, I totally urge you to find a sleep clinic by you; you may be able to contact the one here (it's at St. Luke's) for a referral closer to your home. Good luck, I feel your pain! Also, she said the Ferber and supernanny methods don't work for most kids, they revert right back after a few nights. She does something similar to the supernanny method except she closes the door, first close then immediately open, then close for 5 SECONDS (not minutes), then 10 seconds and for 10 seconds each time after that. We haven't tried it yet, but are going to tonight!

Breast or bottle fed?

You do not have to bathe littles every night. We have two little boys. When we first started sleep training, we would have the boys give hugs and kisses to one parent. The other parent would take them into their bedroom, sit in the rocking chair, pray, sing one song, and down. We used the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child," and it really worked for us. It's not about getting your little boy to sleep well. It is about getting a well-rested family.

We put our little boys in their cribs, made sure there was nothing that they could get their hands on, and walked out of the room. We didn't go back in until morning. Now our boys are great sleepers, and they can fall asleep almost anywhere.

you need to google "sleep regressions." almost all kids have trouble sleeping at nine months. it'll get better in a few weeks no matter what you do.

as far as baths, my daughter has never had more than two a week....they don't really calm her down anyway...it's play time for her. And we don't want her skin to dry out. babies don't get dirty...especially in the winter....and you're cleaning the diaper area lots of times a day, so don't worry about the bath...I know that some people assume that every kid gets a bath every night, but it's not true. Also, my daughter was waking like your son at around that age. Yes, sleep regression is an issue, but it also sounds like he may have allergies...not only mold, but maybe food--eating the wrong thing still makes her (at 3.5) wake up crying and uncomfortable. When we finally started avoiding my daughter's allergens better (we were avoiding all the normal ones and then some, corn being the absolute worst...it's in everything) she started sleeping through the night (sometimes). This was around two. Now, she definitely still has food allergies, but we are getting her treatments with AllergiCare and I know of people it's really worked for. Don't wait for your doc to suggest it either...no one ever did for us, and allergies had our world upside down. Even an allergist told us, "she doesn't have allergies, let her eat what she wants" because the tests he ran weren't consistent with her symptoms (which were real)....allergy tests at that young of an age are not reliable. But they may give you a starting point. People will tell you "you HAVE to let him cry it out" -- I heard that from everyone from my parent educator, her ped, friends etc, but i trusted my gut and have never regretted that. Oh, and a lot of allergic kids have rashy skin....let me know if you want more info on the allergy treatments. Good luck and hang in there.

I never had THAT much trouble with my daughters, but I've had some. For my first, I did the thing where you put her down and come back for a minute at increasingly long intervals between. But every time I'd go in, it would start her crying worse. So, with my second child, we just put her down, closed the door, and ignored her crying. It sounds heartless, and I don't think I'd have been able to do it with my first because I'd feel bad about it, but it works. And really, there's not anything actually wrong. She just doesn't want to go to sleep. She screams for awhile and eventually settles down and is asleep in half an hour or maybe 45 minutes. Going back in all the time just makes it worse. Now, if she sleeps and then wakes up again, we wait 5 or 10 minutes to see if she'll fall back asleep on her own (amazingly she usually does) and if not, then we go get her and hold her for awhile, give her some milk, etc. Then back to bed ignoring the screaming and crying again. She calms down and is asleep in half an hour or so, like at bedtime. One thing we did do for awhile that seemed to help her stay asleep was that we got a CD with a recording of a gentle rainstorm (one of those relaxation things) and played that on an endless loop all night. It occurred to us to try that when we noticed that she slept better on rainy nights. And it worked. But your situation may be more serious than the normal issues. Talk to your doctor and possibly a sleep specialist.

I just wanted to second the no cry sleep solution by elizabeth pantley!

K.

Been there! Our oldest daughter is 2 1/2 and we still have a couple of nights a week when she will wake up once or twice and need us. She stopped sleeping at 5 months old - like only slept 8 hours out of 24. :( I tell you that so you know you aren't alone. I also liked the No Cry Sleep Solution. This has been a tough winter, so it may help once the weather is nicer and our kids can get some fresh air and exercise and they'll sleep better. Good luck! Hang in there!

we truly do need more info. breast? bottle? makes a difference. Last feeding of the night/timing? Cereal/food in the evening? & nap schedule.

As for the nightly baths, forget them! It just causes dryness...& with my older son - it wound him up! My youngest son has sensitive skin, allergies, eczema, etc. Up until almost age 2, we could do only one bath each week. It was emotionally a challenge for us to accept this pediatrician recommendation!

And with that mold situation, just because you replaced the windows....doesn't necessarily mean that the home is now mold-free. You probably need to clean/treat all soft surfaces: carpeting, upholstery, bedding, curtains, & all. A good bleach wipedown throughout the home would probably be beneficial. & you mentioned that your son always seem sick....when you combine that with the rash/dermatitis.....yes, mold can cause these symptoms. My younger son is highly allergic to mold. We had lunch at a restaurant Saturday, & we could see our son reacting allergically as we sat there! He's had a headful of gunk & a rash on his face since the weekend....that's how susceptible he is.

Which brings me to one more thought: I have seen children break out from allergies...not only with formula, but also with breast milk. With my childcare experience, I have seen children take formula very well....& then by age 12-15 months be diagnosed with dairy allergy! They also exhibited symptoms similar to your son's. Good Luck!