9 Month old not napping long enough AND still eating at night

[TraciG]

UGH, His first nap is almost alway's one hour, but he wake's up in a good mood, second nap he is still tired usually & now he can stay up a lot longer so now we have the problem of gettting him in no later then 1 because at 2:20 I have to leave to pick up DD from school. I can't get him to take a third nap anymore so he's usually cranky from around 4 until bedtime !

Also we have this bad habit, about 3 hour's after he has been sleeping he wake's up, I know he's not hungry, it's more of a habit, the sucking of the bottle put's him back to sleep, doesn't suck his thumb or take a paci. So I give 4 oz with one scoop of formula. Sometimes he'll go the rest of the night, he'll wake cry but go back to sleep, th en there are also lot's of time's where I know he want's a second bottle, then I give 4 oz with the right amount of formual hoping he'll sleep until 6 at least ! The doc say's he doesn't need to eat at night & I should just stop, he'll cry & it will take a few day's.

PROBLEM is he sleep's in a crib right next to my bed, if he's up crying for an hour I'm up too, I know this will NEVER end if I don't do it, I just keep having excuse's & putting it off, I HAVE TO DO IT !


So why can't he just sleep LONG enough for nap time !! ?

[Nyfeara]

DS is 9 months old as well. He hasn't been taking 3 naps for a little while now. And he's only napped once a couple days this week. Our DCP told us to expect that he would go from 2 to 1 nap a day around 9 months. When he does nap only once, it's for 2 hours vs. 1. If he takes 2, they are each about 45mins-90mins (tops).

We're still dealing with a night feeding, usually around midnight. But he seems to be getting less and less interested in it and is eating less at that time. We plan on weaning him off of that feeding but we need to wait until the chronic ear infection cycle we've been experiencing, is over. At this point, we're doing what makes him comfortable or soothes him until we know he's well enough for a little CIO. We're not comfortable with CIO unless we know he's feeling well & over these infections. We're on our 3rd one in the space of about 1.5 months.

[TraciG]

I hope Tyler feel's better soon.

One nap so young ! Never heard of that I actually just looked it up in the Weissbluth book, he say's it occur's 13 month's or after that.

I guess whatever work's for each baby !

[SnuggleBuggles]

Ds2 has only ever taken one nap a day. It is a rare day if he takes 2 and he has never taken 3! I didn't know babies were supposed to take 3??

My ds has been taking one 2-3 hour long nap since he was about 6m old.

He'll outgrow the night thing. I think it is a matter of perspective though...I am not expecting him to sleep through the night so it doesn't really bother me if he doesn't. Have you tried getting him but not feeding him? Sometimes that works.

The Dr. shouldn't tell you what your baby should be doing. He can not give a blanket "every baby does X/ every sleep technique works". You just got to play around and find something that is ok for your family since you're the one that has to be up in the middle of the night. If your Dr. thinks it will only take a few short nights then he should offer to take the baby.

I hope you can find a solution that works well for you. I am starting to get a bit exasperated with ds waking up at night only because he had been doing better. Now that I now he can do it I want him to do it. GL!
Beth

[pastrygirl]

My son took his first ever 90-minute nap when he turned 9 months old. He was already down to 2 naps at that point (the morning nap was 30 minutes long). By 11 months, he dropped down to a single 90-minute nap in the afternoon. He didn't take a 3-hour nap until he was 23 months old and in a twin bed.

From some of your other posts on sleep, it seems like you're trying to get him to fit a mold of how you expect babies to sleep. Some babies just don't fit that mold, but that doesn't mean that anything is wrong...

[TraciG]

He took 3 nap's from 5 month's until about 8 , the third was only for a half hour .

Well if my DS doesn't nap enough, he rub's his eye's & is cranky for hour's until it pass's !

The doc said at 21 lbs he doesn't need to eat at night, I asked him what would he do about it to stop it, he said just stop, I read in Ferber to decrease by the oz every night, I only give 4 oz .

UGH the last 2 night's it was twice at night, that's to much , I'm just worried this will go on for year's, that's what I read in Ferber .

[SnuggleBuggles]

Those sleep books creat so much unnecessary stress, imo. My ds1 woke up every night from 6m-19m. Then that was it. He is the best ever sleeper. The sleep books had me panicked that horrible things would happen because I still nursed at night. The sleep books can not predict the future and I find it unfortunate that they make it sound like if you don't d things their way then there will be dire consequences.

Plenty of families have never, ever read a sleep book and they have fine sleepers. They just treat sleep instinctually. They follow baby's lead and do what seems to make sense for their baby and family. No overthinking, no worry. Just taking it one day at a time to do what makes sense.

Without reading any sleep books this time I have been nursing less time at night just because I was too tired to stay up (even though I can semi sleep nursing). Some nights it doesn't work though and if I cut him off early he just wakes up in not too long (or doesn't fall back to sleep at all). I guess sometimes he really is hungry.

I think the sleep books neglect the impact of things like teething, separation anxiety, physical milestones...on sleep. Sometimes you can have the baby's sleep right where you want it but one of these things creeps up and screws up sleep. It's pretty normal and often just a phase.

I guess I just want you not to worry so much. Ferber can't speak for every baby. I think that as baby/ toddler gets older you can talk to them and lay out your sleep expectations. Nothing is locked in from these habits now. They can be broken or changed.

Beth

[bubbaray]

From some of your other posts on sleep, it seems like you're trying to get him to fit a mold of how you expect babies to sleep. Some babies just don't fit that mold, but that doesn't mean that anything is wrong...

[TraciG]

Yes I read the book's & have read them year's ago with DD & my DH HATE'S the book's HATE'S my obbsessing over it, I can't help it, my kid's are VERY affected from not enough sleep !

[SnuggleBuggles]

Yes I read the book's & have read them year's ago with DD & my DH HATE'S the book's HATE'S my obbsessing over it, I can't help it, my kid's are VERY affected from not enough sleep !

How so? Every day? What is your basis for thinking this? Are they happy most of the day and growing well? I'm just trying to get to the bottom of it and maybe see if you are being too hard on yourselves (and them) on the sleep front. Btw, were you ever able to get to the Dr. about anxiety?

Beth