My 9 month old is sleeping like a newborn! help!

Beginner Joined: Jul 18 2010 Posts: 7

So a few months ago I was putting my daughter to sleep fairly late- around 11ish and she would pretty much sleep through the night.. maybe waking up once to nurse at around 4ish. but alot of people we telling me that that was too late to be putting her to bed so slowly we changed her schedule unitl she started going to sleep between 8 and 9 depending on her naps during the day. Now she wakes up every night at around 11:30 (right when I m about to go to sleep) and then two to three more times throughout the night. We tried to put her back to sleep without nursing her, so she wont get used to that and need it every night, but the past 2 weeks when she gets up she gets so hysterical and wont go back to sleep for hours! needless to say im completely zonked and a wee bit frazzled. Weve tried the "let her cry" thing but she gets so worked up she wont calm down, and im at my wits end.. any ideas?

Executive Member Joined: May 26 2009 Posts: 306

Read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. 8 or 9 is still too late for a baby! Make sure you wake her from her last nap before 5pm and aim to get her down to bed around 6:30 - 7. The more they sleep, the more they will sleep.

But there is nothign wrogn with a 9 month old nursing a couple of times a night either. You might want to try a few things:
a)nurse her at 11:30 when she gets up and whenever else she does. Do this for a week and she should settle into a more normal pattern again. My LO is 3 months and dropped his 11pm feeding (he goes to sleep at 7) but I often hear him happily 'talking' at that time and putting himself back to sleep.
b) wake her up 30 minutes before she would get up herself (so at 11 instead of 11:30). Nurse her. Do this for a week and then stop wakingher up. She should sleep right through the 11:30 time.

The two most important things to remember are a)babies need way more sleep then you would think and letting them sleep a lot will help prevent them from being overtired and waking up more and b) be consistent!!! Whatever method you choose, don't give up half way through the day, week, month. Choose something that works with your motherin philosophy and don't change it.