What am I doing wrong???

[Anna.Femm]

I just sent off my boyfriend to go on another walk with our baby hoping he will doze off and I can finally put him to bed. A month ago it took me about 30 minutes from making his supper to have him fast asleep and he woke up only once every night.

But the last 4 weeks, even though he eats enough and gets enough activity, getting him to bed is a 1-2 hour business, most nights involving taking him out for a walk in the stroller. What's more, he rutinely wakes up every 3 hours starting from 10-11 pm (we try to have him in bed by 8pm).

Except when he was a couple months old and it took several hours to get him to eat enough so he would fall asleep, we've never had such problems with the little one. I don't know what to do, and I'm beyond exhausted from the lack of sleep during the night and all the crawling and playing during the day. Help!!

 

[Lea_photo]

It could be early teething or movement under the gums or a growth spurt. Have a look for the wonder weeks app it's fab. Gives you an idea when the growth spurts are and developmental leaps are. You'll find baby will be out of sorts during these periods. Keep up with the routine. We did that early on with our little boy. You're doing fab mama!

 

[kumber]

There is a massive growth spurt at 9 months. I would avoid using the buggy to get him to sleep, you will create a situation where he won't sleep unless he's in the buggy

We had a similar problem with our lb. We had to come up with a bedtime routine and stick to it no matter how tired or awake he is. It is finally starting to work, we have dropped from 2 hours to an hour, with 2 out of 5 nights taking less than 30mins. It's unfortunately a case of ruding it out, he will stop waking up and he will take less time to go down.

As an example our bedtime routine is:

Dinner between 4:30pm - 5
Half an hour to an hour playtime depending on if he has an afternoon nap
Bum changed
Pjs on
Teeth brushed
In The Night Garden episode
Bedtime story
Kisses, cuddles, bed
He will often play for a while but we only go in if he is crying in distress

 

[Anna.Femm]

He has been teething yes... You think this might explain all this mess? During the last 5 weeks he got 4 teeth. However, this began right after the plast leap was over so this is supposed to be a sunny period according to the Wonder Weeks app.

I'm not so happy with taking him for a walk to sleep either, to be honest. I'm going to try reading, cuddling and putting in bed, and hope for the best.

 

[glowing]

There is a leap at 9 months and you think all your hard work has gone out of the window. Look on the wonder years website. Persevere with it I would stop the buggy go back to your normal bedtime routine and he should slot back to where he was. Routine is your best friend and babies love to associate there routine with sleep. Bath, book and bed. Porridge before bed is good as it is a complex carbohydrate it lasts longer if hunger is an issue.

 

[Anna.Femm]

A bit of an update: We have stopped the bedtime stroll, mostly because it didn't work anymore! Instead of making him sleepy, it gets him interested. Now I'm back to nursing him to sleep, which I also know many advise against but it just doesn't feel right to stop it yet -- I think there are too many changes at once.

So now the routine that works is a generous portion of oatmeal, washing hands, face and teeth, and then I put him in the cot and let him play for a bit. I got this idea from kumber I usually sit next to him and talk or practice gestures or put him on Skype to talk with his grandparents... Soon he starts complain and then I nurse him and he sleeps within 30 minutes, usually less.

My plan is to stop the nursing and read him a story when he isn't so crazy about crawling around and climbing on everything...

As for waking up several times during the night, I have now put his father to the task of giving him water and putting him back to sleep. This works 9 out of 10 times and without much hassle, but a couple of times he's been genuinly hungry and wouldn't stop crying until I nursed him. After we started this, he's been sleeping through most nights.

Weirdly enough, he sleeps better during leaps as a rule. The major one you mentioned started a couple of days ago and will end 7 weeks from day so we'll see!

Thank you all for your support!

 

[kumber]

That's great news, thank goodness you've found what works for you! If nursing works for you then sod what anyone else thinks, they don't know your baby! Very pleased for you

 

[cossie13]

My mum said to me the other night "whatever works!" hope it continues to work for you!