9 month old not sleeping through | ExpatWoman.com
 

9 month old not sleeping through

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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 31 January 2012 - 01:15

Hello Everyone!

My DD will be 9 months in 3 days but she still doesn't sleep through the night. She normally goes to bed between 8 to 9 PM and wakes up by 8-8:30 AM everyday...I have tried to make her sleep earlier but she keeps fighting and refuses to sleep earlier...she wakes up every 3 to 4 hours at night to feed...She is already on solids, is a good eater, naps for an hour or two at the most in the day...we make sure she doesn't nap after 4 PM so she can sleep earlier but it doesn't seem to be working! I've heard of babies sleeping 10-12 hours at a stretch at this age and wonder if I am doing something wrong :( She is a very happy and active baby and never fusses about going to bed...there are some nights where she wakes up every 2 hours! Any advice/thoughts/ideas would be truly appreciated.

TIA!

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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 06 February 2012 - 08:06
ah they can be funny little munchkins! Maybe try giving her the dummy with cloth attached whenever you would normally give her the dummy first, so she can get used to it, otherwise she might just think it's something random in her cot! Good luck!
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 05 February 2012 - 23:14
Thank you again ladies! DubaiCat and sydneygal I will get this cloth soon! I did put 3 dummies in DD's cot last night, she woke, found one and then turned and saw another one and then she sat up...picked that up..pulled herself up on the cot and threw it out of the cot! Repeated the same with the other dummy! Was quite funny to watch but then she was quite awake after! She has never liked anything in her cot...not even a blanket! So this cloth with the dummies might be a better idea :) Unless she decides to throw that out as well!
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 05 February 2012 - 13:30
There you go! :)
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 05 February 2012 - 12:52
Hi tanya - think I could be the friend DC is referring to. My almost 9 month old DS has 2 cloths which I attach dummies to that he takes to bed. They make the dummies much easier to find and are soft and snuggly too. They are the HABA brand and I got them in the Kidz Inc store near Times Square - http://www.kidzincdubai.com/contact.html The ones I have also have teething rings on them - http://www.haba.de/haba/produktAnsicht.htm?c=PC_P_003385 but I cut these off as I thought he might whack himself in the middle of the night! He often has one dummy in his mouth and the other cloth clutched in his little paw! My thinking was that when he's older and I try and wean him off dummies he can at least still have his cuddle cloths. I also use the avent night dummies which slightly glow in the dark...not sure if that helps or not. When I started using the cloths I gave them to him with his dummy attached all the time, out and about or whenever he wanted his dummy so now I think he actually thinks its just the one soothing device if you know what I mean? Good luck and hope that helps!
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 05 February 2012 - 11:33
I'm pretty sure a friend has dummies that are attached to a small, soft blanket-type cloth so baby can find them more easily in the cot. I'll ask her where she got them from.
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 05 February 2012 - 10:21
no worries, I really was trying to help! Maybe if I'd tacked the dummy part on to the rest of my earlier post it would have come across better. I went through exactly the same with my guy and didn't want to take the dummy away and have him cry himself to sleep so the suggestion of extra dummies was given to me and worked really well, once he found and put his own dummy back in he started sleeping much longer stretches. Even without the hand-mouth co-ordination sometimes they can root around and find it with their mouths, since they move around in their sleep extra dummies ups their chances. and as sandfly says, help her learn to put it back in by putting it in her hand and guiding her hand to her mouth each time.
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 05 February 2012 - 00:15
Will try that! Thank u again!
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EW GURU
Latest post on 04 February 2012 - 23:39
:) why not start handing it to her, rather than popping it in her mouth - she will soon catch on! you will still have to find it for her fairly often for a while, but if she does it herself even a couple of times a night, it will make a lot of difference.
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 04 February 2012 - 23:06
Thank you for clarifying sandfly! Feel so silly now! Am sorry kiwispiers!! My DD has only just started putting the dummy in her mouth herself, she can hold it but could never put it in her mouth right! I will continue giving her the dummy myself for a while till she gets the hang of it. Again, truly sorry kiwispiers! I misunderstood!
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EW GURU
Latest post on 04 February 2012 - 22:43
tanya, I would say that kiwispiers' suggestion was actually fairly sensible - might sound odd, but wee ones can't find their own dummies too easily; you can't attach them to them at night, so having lots around them (so there is a reasonable chance of them grabbing one and shoving it in themselves) really might help you get a more peaceful night. I certainly had 4 or so dummies going at one stage!
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 04 February 2012 - 22:30
@kiwispiers I started this thread to get some advice, I am a first time mum and I am only trying to ensure my baby gets enough sleep. I have friends who have babies around the same age, some even younger, who sleep through and I read in a few articles that by this age babies should be sleeping through hence my confusion! I don't mind waking up and taking care of my baby, but if there is something I can do to make her sleep better I will! I am sorry if I misunderstood what you may be trying to say but to me it just came across as wrong and a bit condescending.
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 04 February 2012 - 11:34
try buying 6 dummies and putting them all in bed with her so she can find them herself when she wakes.
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 03 February 2012 - 22:25
Once again thank you for all the information ladies! Last few nights whenever she wakes up I've been giving her the dummy and she goes right back to sleep so I guess its more for comfort...early morning she does want milk so been doing that..but overall been much better now!
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 02 February 2012 - 20:46
I remember back in the UK my Health Visitor told me that babies don't require milk at night from the age of 6 months, so when they do want to feed its out of comfort/habit rather than hunger. ( keep in mind that first, 1) this is a blanket statement, obviously if a baby didn't feed enough by day they would certainly need to feed at night to maintain weight gain and 2) "don't require" means they can maintain a normal growth curve without night feeds (if taking enough by day), that doesn't necessarily translate to "don't feel hungry or thirsty when they wake" if you were used to eating at a certain time in the night you would feel hungry in anticipation (if you've ever travelled through lots of time zones and woken at 3am STARVING you'll know what I mean). and of course yes, they also feed for comfort and reassurance. I found from around the 9 month point my baby woke less and less and by 12 months only woke for one 10pm feed and then slept 12 hours by 13/14 months. I did drop a nap at around the 9 month mark and I think that made a difference but honestly, my guy was HUNGRY when he woke. At a guess though, waking every 2 hours is probably due to a sleep association (nursing or sucking a dummy to sleep) and the amount of day sleep might actually be too small, even my 18 month old naps more than that and at 9 months had 2x 90 min nap. 9pm is quite a late bedtime too, our schedule was more like woke from last nap by 4ish, bed by 6:30/7pm.
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 02 February 2012 - 19:41
Hello Everyone! My DD will be 9 months in 3 days but she still doesn't sleep through the night. She normally goes to bed between 8 to 9 PM and wakes up by 8-8:30 AM everyday...I have tried to make her sleep earlier but she keeps fighting and refuses to sleep earlier...she wakes up every 3 to 4 hours at night to feed...She is already on solids, is a good eater, naps for an hour or two at the most in the day...we make sure she doesn't nap after 4 PM so she can sleep earlier but it doesn't seem to be working! I've heard of babies sleeping 10-12 hours at a stretch at this age and wonder if I am doing something wrong :( She is a very happy and active baby and never fusses about going to bed...there are some nights where she wakes up every 2 hours! Any advice/thoughts/ideas would be truly appreciated. TIA! If my 11 month old slept like that I would be happy but he doesn't. If I put him down at 8pm, oh he will be up by 1 am looking for a feed. I will be trying the sippy cup suggestion tonight! :(
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 02 February 2012 - 17:19
Hello tanya80, i'm actually glad you asked this question because i am going through the same thing, my little laura is 2months old and she cries through the night, i found help from this link, http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/fussy-baby/31-ways-get-your-baby-sleep-and-stay-asleep also i try lying on my back and placing her on my chest sometimes, she sleeps well that way, that might work for you too. hope this will help
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EW GURU
Latest post on 02 February 2012 - 15:09
Tanya80 I'm going through exactly the same thing, and it's not nice! My baby is 7 months and still wakes up two or three times a night to feed. I'm still breastfeeding and I get the impression that she isn't hungry but more wants the comfort to get back to sleep. She's also a thumb sucker, but that doesn't substitute the breastfeeding when she wakes up at night. I remember back in the UK my Health Visitor told me that babies don't require milk at night from the age of 6 months, so when they do want to feed its out of comfort/habit rather than hunger. I tried the water thing, and it didnt work at all. It just made her cry even more. I know mine is only 7 months, but I'm worried about going forward and think that it'll just be more difficult to break the habit. Having said that, my eldest is 4 and I don't actually remember how I got her to sleep through the night or how old she was. I do remember that she was still breastfed up until she was 9 months and would wake up in the night to feed for the whole time I was breastfeeding. I I'm hoping it will be this same with this one, and it will eventually just happen, however like you I really just want a full nights sleep :-(
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 02 February 2012 - 14:54
Absolutely - if you're OK with it and only worried because 'other' babies are sleeping through, just go with it! For me, I had PND and the sleep deprivation was making this worse so it was a case of fix the sleeping or pack myself off to the nuthouse and do not pass go :D. Lots of mums will tell you what amazing sleepers their babies are, what great eaters they are, how they learned their alphabet by six months. Whatever. Nobody knows except them what really goes on, so take what you hear with a pinch of salt! Just a thought, though. Do you think she's overtired and needs more sleep in the day? I know with DS if he doesn't get enough during the day, he sleeps poorly at night.
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 02 February 2012 - 02:19
re diluting the formula - a lot depends if bubs is actually thirsty or if he's seeking comfort through milk. As I said, my son was more than happy with water at night - no need to ease him in, 'cos he just wanted a drink! At the end of the day, they're all different and there's no one-size-fits-all approach. They all get there in the end, you just need to work out if it actually bothers you or if you're more concerned about it all being this abstract idea of what should be "normal".
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 31 January 2012 - 20:28
Cecile helped us enormously when DS was waking up in the night. For us, a good night was four wake-ups and a bad one was anything up to every 45 minutes. I was a walking zombie. She helped us work out a 'routine' - as in a sequence of events, not a military schedule - for him to follow in the daytime to make sure he got enough sleep, and gave us a plan for how to get him sleeping through the night (without CIO). In three days he was down to a dream-feed and a feed at 4am, a few days after that he was down to just a dream-feed, and at ten months he dropped the dream feed by himself.
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 31 January 2012 - 16:51
Thank you for the replies! Glad to know I am not the only one ;) I will try the sippy cup although she still doesn't have a good grip on it and might end up spilling all over herself! The crying it out am not so sure as we tried it once and she ended up throwing up! But I would like to get a full night's sleep some time soooon ;) I was reading somewhere about diluting the formula gradually and eventually giving water so the baby stops waking up once they realise they only get water! Does this work? Has anyone tried it? don't do cio if you don't prefer the concept, we did that with DS and like u mentioned,he threw up too. That is why I did not leave him to cry but tried consoling him, putting him back, picking him up till he went to sleep. Actually first time when i did not feed it took him almost an hour to go back to sleep. Re diluting the formula, i am not sure if you should do that. The proportion of powder to water should not be changed ideally.
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 31 January 2012 - 16:18
I am wodering whether you are still breastfeeding, and whether she is sleeping in the same room as you? I just remember my own father saying to me many years ago, when I was complaining about my third: 'They can't sleep all the time'.
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 31 January 2012 - 16:18
hey tany80 my DS used to do everything by the book, (The baby whisperer) except sleep through the night but i was afraid or rather couldnt bring myself to let him cio, so i saw a midwife named cecile ..... she helped us alot ........alot of what she said was similar to the routines suggested in the baby whisperer .....but it just helped to be able to call someone when he deviated from the book! now he sleeps through the night -7pm - 6am I would prefer 8pm to 7am but after waking every 2 hours till he was 7 months old, i'll take this! i highly recommend getting this book - it offers practical advice ..... we dont follow the routine to the t more like 85% of the time/suggestions .... as a first time mum it was excellent in helping me to read my sons cues better
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 31 January 2012 - 15:27
Thank you for the replies! Glad to know I am not the only one ;) I will try the sippy cup although she still doesn't have a good grip on it and might end up spilling all over herself! The crying it out am not so sure as we tried it once and she ended up throwing up! But I would like to get a full night's sleep some time soooon ;) I was reading somewhere about diluting the formula gradually and eventually giving water so the baby stops waking up once they realise they only get water! Does this work? Has anyone tried it?
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 31 January 2012 - 14:57
my DS was the same. Used to eat well, but still 2-3 times every single night. I observed he is just looking for comfort and its out of habit to go back to sleep, he wasn't actually hungry. ( he sleeps in his own cot, but in our room) Then, i mentally prepared myself for cries and protests and one night I just did not feed him when he woke up. He won't accept water, sippy cup or bottle and won't even see DH. I used to pick him up, console him, put him down again, pat him etc etc. He took 3 nights and 4th night he shuffled, got up but slept back on his own. This was when he was abt 14 months old and he sleeps through after that.
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 31 January 2012 - 03:25
I don't have any advice because mine only dropped their night feeds at 9 and 11 months respectively - both happy, bouncing big bubbas, no problems actually going to sleep, all good naps during the day, appetites to ruin you, but they still needed their milk at night. You could try leaving a sippy cup of water in the cot with her, so that if she wakes and is thirsty, then she'll recognise the cup and drink from that. I did this with my son to determine whether it was thirst or comfort he was after, and I'd hear him wake to drain the sippy cup... actually, he probably still woke during the night for a drink until gone 12 months, it's just that I didn't! DD dropped her single night feed gradually by moving it forward, but DS was waking 3 times a night until I did the sippy cup thing - bearing in mind he was 11 months old, so I wasn't too concerned about replacing milk feeds with water.
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EW OLDHAND
Latest post on 31 January 2012 - 03:14
Your little one is doing exactly what my DS did almost 30 years ago!! His older sister slept right through the night from around 8 WEEKS but DS would be put to bed around 7.30pm from a few months old and sleep sound until around midnight. After that it was every couple of hours and I had to get up and settle him. Am afraid this went on until he was about 18 months. Not all babies are the same of course. I tried everything, not letting him sleep too long during the day, warm bath and final bottle etc. He was a pleasure during the day but a nightmare at night! I tried keeping him up later but he was so cranky and sleepy. I can't really offer advice apart from riding the storm and hope that she outgrows this broken sleep habit soon. It will get better, perhaps when she is older and is more active.
 
 

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