Help me teach my 9 month old to sleep!!!! (warning: VERY long)

[SnuggleBuggles]

I'm sure it is a comfort mechanism for her, to some extent. I think it is up to the parents about how to handle it. If you just want to be try not to feed her at night then you'll come up with something and see if it works. You'll know pretty weel if it's food she wants or not, I think. Me? I nursed ds 1-2 times/ night till that magic 15-16m when he just started sleeping through. Dh and I had some "rules" though, like if it had only been X amount of time since I nursed him then dh had to handle it. Like I said before, nursing him back to sleep was just so easy and took so much less time then any other thing we tried that I just stuck with it. It worked for our family and it wasn't a big deal to me to be up 2 times/ night. If it is for you though, let dp rock her, give her some water, rub her back...whatever he wants to try- while you sleep.

BEth

[arivecchi]

My 8 month old does not feed at night. IMHO, they only keep doing that out of habit if you continue feeding them. Do you use pacifiers? When DS wakes up, we go up there for a second, give him his paci and leave. He falls back asleep right away. He eats when he wakes up for the day at 6:30 am. He is a chunker so he is definitely not starving at night.

[arivecchi]

Me? I nursed ds 1-2 times/ night till that magic 15-16m when he just started sleeping through.

OMG. You are a . There is no way I could have been sleep-deprived for that long!

[SnuggleBuggles]

OMG. You are a . There is no way I could have been sleep-deprived for that long!

Eh, it wasn't that bad. I didn't feel sleep deprived. So long as I was back asleep w/in 10 minutes I was in good shape. It was the nights that nursing him to sleep didn't work and he was up for far longer that were hard. With ds1 we were really "by the book" and he slept through from 2m-6m...then it all went down hill. We did CIO with no success. It was well and truly miserable. Having to wake up and nurse 2 times/ night was easy. Not saying I want to go back to that but we made it through w/ no damage done to any of us.

Beth

[brandonsmom]

I don't want you to be like me and a bunch of other moms in a few years wondering why you didn't SEE IT. What don't you see? Mostly digestive problems and vaccine reactions. First, know that vaccines DO cause digestive problems, food allergies, ear infections, conjunctivities, constipation, diarrhea, etc. (I.E. baby sicknesses). It is mostly the aluminum being injected that does this (all but ear infections I believe, and ear infections are from food sensitivities - dairy mainly, and candida overgrowth).

Crying without tears is a sign of being dried up by aluminum - this is what it does, it dries - so obviously so is constipation a sign of aluminum drying. Then the mucus kicks into overdrive causing snotty nose, conjunctivitis, congestion, etc. trying to make up for the drying effect.

Think about when she got her last vaccinations in relation to the problems. Next, get the child on an allergen free diet (no gluten, no soy, no dairy) in her breastmilk or formula. You can also stop eating MSG if you are breastfeeding, this means just eat whole foods - fruits, veggies, meats, potatoes, rice, nuts, and good oils like flaxseed, olive oil and coconut oil.

Head-banging or arching the back while screaming is a sign of brain swelling or encephalitis. If this is happening after a vaccine, you should report it immediately and request an MRI.

My instinct on this one is that your daughter's night wakings are caused from gut pain either from vaccinations or from a food that she is having trouble digesting.

[KrisM]

I don't want you to be like me and a bunch of other moms in a few years wondering why you didn't SEE IT. What don't you see? Mostly digestive problems and vaccine reactions. First, know that vaccines DO cause digestive problems, food allergies, ear infections, conjunctivities, constipation, diarrhea, etc. (I.E. baby sicknesses). It is mostly the aluminum being injected that does this (all but ear infections I believe, and ear infections are from food sensitivities - dairy mainly, and candida overgrowth).

Crying without tears is a sign of being dried up by aluminum - this is what it does, it dries - so obviously so is constipation a sign of aluminum drying. Then the mucus kicks into overdrive causing snotty nose, conjunctivitis, congestion, etc. trying to make up for the drying effect.

Think about when she got her last vaccinations in relation to the problems. Next, get the child on an allergen free diet (no gluten, no soy, no dairy) in her breastmilk or formula. You can also stop eating MSG if you are breastfeeding, this means just eat whole foods - fruits, veggies, meats, potatoes, rice, nuts, and good oils like flaxseed, olive oil and coconut oil.

Head-banging or arching the back while screaming is a sign of brain swelling or encephalitis. If this is happening after a vaccine, you should report it immediately and request an MRI.

My instinct on this one is that your daughter's night wakings are caused from gut pain either from vaccinations or from a food that she is having trouble digesting.

That's quite the diagnosis without ever seeing this child. I am sure that is the problem for some. But, to say she has allergies or a vaccine reaction is a pretty big reach.

My 16 month old still nurses a couple times at night. I am fairly sure he just likes me .

[Katigre]

I think you should start by changing her naps - and then an earlier bedtime (8pm at the latest). Fixing the naps first will then get her on a rhythm of being tired earlier at night .

I have a 9 month old and she nurses a few times during the night (I have no idea how many - it could be once it could be five times, all I know is I'm getting plenty of sleep and her night nursing keeps AF away so I'm happy with the situation ). I don't understand why so many parents think there's something wrong with a baby being hungry and eating at night - my DS was hungry at night until he was a toddler and eating more solids, and I expect the same will be true for DD.

Here is her average day at 9 months old (I didn't include when she eats b/c I don't know how often she eats - she eats a bit of solids 1-3x/day and nurses whenever she wants, probably 8x/day (?) Truly, I'm not sure):

Up 7am
Nap #1 9am-10:30am
Nap #2 1 or 2pm (the afternoon nap is longer - more like 2 hours)
Wake up by 4pm, if she has an earlier afternoon nap she'll sometimes take a short (30-45 minute) evening nap around 5pm but otherwise she stays awake until bedtime (which is when she shows sleepy cues - these days it's around 7pm but some nights it's 8pmish if she gets a longer nap.

All told, she's getting 13-14 hours of sleep total per day between naps and night and that's what I'd shoot for for your DD. It sounds like she's overtired and if you can address that then she'll do better.

I wouldn't focus on getting her to take 2 hour long naps - I'd focus more on her getting down to sleep when she's tired. Organizing her sleep on the front end is an easier thing to accomplish IMO.

[firsttimemama]

I think it's a myth that most babies sleep through the night by X age. Most babies who are sleep trained, may..

[arivecchi]

That's quite the diagnosis without ever seeing this child. I am sure that is the problem for some. But, to say she has allergies or a vaccine reaction is a pretty big reach.

My 16 month old still nurses a couple times at night. I am fairly sure he just likes me .

I'm all for different viewpoints on this board, but I don't think it is a good idea to push our ideology on others, especially when the post is completely unrelated to vaccines.

[srhs]

...I feel like all of a sudden, since she turned 9 months, something just clicked and she seems to understand SOOO much more. ...

Wanted to comment on this part. DS1 was a terrible sleeper (unlike your DD) until 9 mos, when all the sleep training we were doing suddenly clicked. So, I do think they are figuring out what works and doesn't at this age. I'd say come up with a plan (method, modified method, whatever) that you and DH agree on and stick to it.
We started with Weissbluth's book so we'd know what was in the expected range for the age and tried to work DS into that. We developed a winddown routine that was super-consistent. We did that for a few months and then finally dove in to a modified CIO to seal the deal. It worked.
GL!