Waking through the night still at 9 months!

Hi there,

I am in need of some advice! My baby girl is 9 months next week and she has normally been waking once during the night for a feed. However the last couple of weeks it has increased to two or three times!!! She is fully breatfed and is on 3 solid meals a day.

I went to visit the clinic yesterday and the nurse suggested increasing the protein in her diet and also giving her a dreamfeed about 10pm. Well I did that last night and she still woke at 12 and then at 3. I gave her a feed both times but after the 3am feed she wouldn't go back to sleep for an hour. I am just so tired and I don't understand what I am doing wrong. By the way she got her first 2 teeth last week so I don't think she is in pain from teething. During the day she settles herself to sleep pretty well.

I am doing a 4 week prac for my teaching course in April and I am just hoping she will be sleeping better by then. Any advice would be appreciated!!!

8-9 months is actually a major developmental stage and its very normal for bubs to wake more than they usually would at this age. There is something about it in Pinky McKays 'Sleeping like a baby' I will see if I can find the quote for you.

I bought one of those activity things u attach to the side of the cot for dd to play with when she wakes up (she can see bcoz of her night light) and this usually works. I know she is hungry and really wants to get out of bed when she cries..otherwise i hear the tunes of the toy through the moment and half doze until its silent again and i fall asleep too.

i can remember things going haywire around that time, i think hang in there and in a couple of weeks things will settle down..... my dd has been the most shocking sleeper, and touch wood, i can now say, at 11 months, it is EXTREMELY rare for her to wake and need me overnight.... i don't know myself.
it will eventually happen just hang in there you're not doing anything wrong, she's just a lil bubba who is realising she is out in the big wide world...

My girlfriend had the same problem, it kept going until she finally had enough (4years of it) and went to a sleep doctor. Her daughter now sleeps all night they take babies from 6months and they alter the routine (no drugs). Might be worth a try:)

Porridge before bed works for us. Well, I say works for us, I mean if he doesn't have porridge he won't sleep, if he does he might.

But we have teething and seperation issues going on too atm, coupled with a baby who doesn't sleep that we'll be seeing a doctor about soon.

I would cut out the feeds altogether at night.
When she wakes up. No lights, no talking, don't pick her up and just settle her by patting her to sleep.
My bub went through the same thing. Once they realise that you aren't going to talk, play or feed them when they wake up, they work out that there isn't much point waking up. I have this great book that I used and had my bub back to sleeping through in five nights. If you want a copy, just send me a private message with your email.

I was going to start a similar thread myslef.

Cutting out the feed could work, if you are up for crying...but I myself am not.

Charlie is 10months & still feeds once at night. When teething it may be twice as he is sooo very unsettled. Could bubs be teething. We always offer water & a cuddle & that can sometimes work - but I still feed approx 3am....it takes 10mins & he then sleeps til 8am. So it works for us.

I might start a thread to see who feeds & who doesn't etc. I find that the feed is easier than listening to him cry & it doesn't take long & we both get sleep.

We have the same problem, and to be honest he has prob slept through a total of 5-7 nights his whole life!!! He normally wakes anywhere from 1-6 times, and I try the dummy first and sometimes that will be enough, but if he really wants to BF I feed him. Much easier for us, less crying all round!! But, everyone has different ideas, and it is best to do what works for you. I just feed him in bed and we both nod off together (most often he will just help himself again later on!!)

Good Luck!!

I would say it perfectly normal for this to be happening.SOme babies will sleep through not wanting a feed ad some wont.Both my kiddies (dd nearly 4 now and ds is 9.5 mths) were and are the kind that want that feed.DO what works for you sweetie.DS wakes about midnight,has boobie feed then back off again till 4 or 5am sometimes earlier, at such time i offer boobie and we usually snuggle in bed and he does the self help bar thing aswell lol. There are lots of ways to curb the crying and night feeds and power to the mothers who can tolerate it because i wasnt strong enough to go through with it with dd.I found it was aphase that passed before she was 1.I hope it will for you too.Good luck.

I agree that this is totally normal, and she will settle down to one feed again, and then none. I would persist with the dream feed, sometimes it takes a few days for a pattern to establish. I used the dream feed with DS2 until he was nearly 12 months and this way he was only waking once in the night instead of twice. Then around 12 months he stopped waking.

If she is waking for a feed you are really lucky in some ways. My second DS only ever woke for a feed and then went straight back to sleep (except for the VERY odd occasion if he was sick or teething). Much better to be awake for 10 or 15 minutes while you bf, then back to sleep (which happens really easily thanks to those sleepy hormones released while you bf). My first DS went through a phase of waking and not going back to sleep for hours. This is far worse IMO. I'll take the feeding in the night any day. I would think you are very close to her sleeping through now anyway, so if you can hang in there, that elusive uninterrupted night's sleep shouldn't be too far away. GL.

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I would cut out the feeds altogether at night.
When she wakes up. No lights, no talking, don't pick her up and just settle her by patting her to sleep.
My bub went through the same thing. Once they realise that you aren't going to talk, play or feed them when they wake up, they work out that there isn't much point waking up. I have this great book that I used and had my bub back to sleeping through in five nights. If you want a copy, just send me a private message with your email.

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Not the case here at all!! We tried the quiet time, no lights, very little talking, no playing & it didn't work. My son just wasn't a big sleeper, some babies / children / adults are like that, my husband isn't much of a sleeper either! He started to sleep through the night around about when I got pregnant again 6 months ago, but then I was waking up myself :rolleyes:

As for what are you doing wrong - NOTHING!! Like I said, some people just aren't great sleepers. I noticed though the times you said were 12 & 3am, do you think she might be getting cold? Maybe snuggling with mummy & having a nice warm feed is warming her up enough to sleep & then she gets cold again? Zander was waking a bit the last two weeks because the night was cool but when we put him in bed it was still warm. I just put him in his winter jammies & we're all fine again.

Charlie was also a child who woke often, sometimes once a night, sometimes 4 times a night, almost never slept through, until he was 11 months old. Now he's an excellent sleeper and if he does wake and cry for any reason I always go in there as I know he doesn't cry for just any reason. I also think going in when he cries (I'm not talking small grizzle but a proper cry) allows him to feel secure in the knowledge that mum is near by if he's scared, sick or cold, and will take care of whatever it is that's bothering him. And I know that he only cries if he really needs me.

Charlie also got 6 teeth in 3 weeks, so don't discount that she might still be teething. Or it might be that her sleep patterns are disrupted from the previous teething and she now wakes and doesn't know how to put herself to sleep. In my experience, they settle back into their old sleep routine just in time for another set of teeth to sart coming through and their sleep patterns go haywire again! At that age, so many things are happening to their little bodies, it seems almost inevitable they're going to be unsettled every now and then.

But do remember it will pass. They don't stay little forever and they do learn to sleep through. Some earlier and some later. As I said before Charlie is now an excellent sleeper, and at bedtime, I go through the bedtime routine, and I put him in his cot awake and he goes to sleep on his own. If he's tired, he'll pull on my hand saying 'night night' so I know he wants to go to bed. This is a boy who as a baby, I believed would never learn to self-settle. So just keeping telling yourself that this phase will end, and it will.

First Bub... I am soooo glad you started this thread!! My 8 month old DS has been waking 3-4 times a night!! Last night he woke 5!! He is also on 3 meals a day plus formula!! I know he has started to pull at his ear and chew his fist... which probably means his top teeth are on the way through.. he already has his bottom 2 teeth. I have tried settling with a dummy and putting him in our bed, but al he wants is a bottle which he never finishes just snacks!! I am going back to work next week and I am hoping somehow that he does not wake so often. I have read some tips others have posted and will try that..but any other ideas would be great! :D

Thank you everyone for your replies! I feel heaps better knowing that I am not the only one having sleep issues. At my mothers group it feels like my bub is the only one not sleeping through the night! Hopefully Ella will settle back into a better routine soon. Until then I suppose all I can do is give her lots of cuddles and sleep when I can.

Tomorrow is my 7th wedding anniversary!! My hubby is going to get up to Ella in the morning so I can have a sleep in so I am looking forward to that!

Good luck to all the other mums and dads who are feeling sleep deprived!

firstbub - my DS has only really recently starting sleeping through consistently, and even then not always. We cut out the night feeds around 15 months by offering water, only because I was pregnant & it was too tiring to feed at night, and I think he was ready to drop the night feeds anyway.

I wouldn't label it as 'sleep issues' at all.. they're babies, and it's completely normal for them to wake for a variety of reasons. I agree that feeding is the quickest and easiest method of getting everyone back to sleep peacefully, and if she is having a pretty good drink during these night feeds, well then she probably needs it :) When she wakes for that hour through the night, are you able to just pop her beside you in your bed.. then you can just sleep while she plays?

I do recall the 8-9 month time being very unsettled, due to teeth & separation anxiety etc etc etc! But it does pass, bubs are constantly changing. Oh and btw, with regards to the other mothers with babies sleeping through.. I bet it's not every night :) Even adults don't sleep through every night! hehe. We wake up to pee, or wake up from dreams and go back to sleep. Bubs wake up and sometimes need to know that mum & dad are around.. so rest assured that you're helping her feel nice and safe and comforted as she learns about this big wide world.

You're doing a great job, it will pass eventually.

First bib- happy anniversary.
My DD is 10 nmonths old. She was a bad sleeper until about 5 months and she started sleeping through (7-8 hours an night). Then when she started crawling, just before 9 months, everything went haywire. She was up again 2 times a night for feeds, wouldnt go back to sleep. I included more potato and pumkin for dinner as a filler, as my MCHN suggested feeding her more...well she eats great, so it wasnt a case of her getting enough food. This helped a bit. We are down to one feed a night now, but she wakes more than that. Coupled with teething and new skills shes learning, shes all over the place. Its really hard at the moment, so I completely understand how you. Its been 2 months since shes slept through...oh I wish that would come back.
Good luck and I hope things get better for you.

This thread has been so helpful...thanks guys!

Felix is a little younger than many of your little ones, but we have faced some 'sleeping' challenges in the last 2 months.

From 8-16 weeks, he slept through amazingly...8-10 hours! But since about Christmas he only sleeps for 3 hours at a time, then wakes...

I've decided to just accept it rather than fight it. I have reduced the number of times I'm feeding him at night (was feeding 4 x/night) and are trying other settling techniques, but apart from that, after reading this thread, have just decided to accept that's how it is at the moment...

He's teething, very close to crawling and right in the middle of the 26 wonder week (and at the moment, got a cold)...so there is so much going for on the little tike, it's no wonder he's up at night...

Thanks for helping me not to stress too much about it...makes a huge difference just to 'go with the flow' and let go!!!

my twins didn't sleep through the night until they were 2 years old and then i was only one night a week. They just didn't need the sleep or could go overnight without waking up for one reason or another.
it is a phase and you will get through it- its just so damm hard when you are going through it!!!
hang in there
odette