9 Mo. Old Can't Handle an Empty Belly

Honestly, I think you're looking at a mix of different issues:

he has an established sleep/wake pattern. You need to work on changing this. At 9 months, he should be able to sleep thru the night - or at least 6 hours straight. His little body needs continuous sleep to "rest". Take a look at his naptimes during the day. At 9 months, he should be down to 2-3 naps. A morning nap, an afternoon nap, & perhaps a little catnap around dinnertime (not all children take this last one if bedtime is early). Take a look at his bedtime, too. You may want to contact your local hospital's sleep clinic for ideas on how to work this out.

My vote is to feed him more food & make sure he's using a sippy cup, too. Give him cereal before bedtime....it really does make a difference.

& now for the one thing which really jumps out at me: Your line "why doesn't he sleep for longer when we rock & sleep with him in the recliner". For me, that's your entire problem & issue in a nutshell. He is not trained to sleep independently IN his bed. He is now 9 months old & hasn't been taught to self-soothe. I realize that the CIO method is offensive to many & does not work for all babies.....BUT I truly, deep down in my heart, believe that children sleep more peacefully when not held by parents.

**in all fairness, this is MY opinion. Recently on this forum, many mamas feel they have the right to bash others' opinions. I truly, truly wish we could all have the freedom to express our own honest opinions .... without losing sight of the ultimate goal on this forum: to help others.

So, in a sense, this is a request/plea for each of us to focus on the end goal - to help this Mom! CIO, co-sleeping....are both "hot" topics on this forum. Let's be nice!

Mine is 16 and needs protein, always has. She is a bear if she doesn't eat.

We also coslept, it was much easier when they were nursing.

My husband would give fruit around midnite, he eats a midnite snack, usually a can of fruit and would share. They were usually able to sleep until 5 or 6ish.

I have 3 kids and every time I said to myself; I'm going to keep this baby on her crib after bf ...well after the first couple of weeks didn't work at all so I cosleep to be able to sleep more myself , only after they turn 1 and start drinking regular milk they will fall asleep until 5 or 6 am... Our milk is not that heavy I suppose that's why they are hungry sooner.

My thoughts are that his tummy isn't ready for the solids yet. He had the issue with the formula blocking him so that may be telling you that although he loves food his tummy is not loving it.

We started our granddaughter on solids, rice cereal then later added banana's to it, at 6 months. She loved it of course. Then she started getting gassy. She would act like your little one during the night and then wake up screaming. She would want a bottle but the more she drank she more she would not be satisfied.

I think cutting back on foods and doing more liquids, maybe upping the juice a bit to give her more fluids, may help her constipation and perhaps gas issues.

It sounds like he's hungry & can't get a good night's sleep because it's
keeping him awake.
I wouldn't rock him to sleep w/o nursing.
How about if you nurse him then put him back down when he falls back asleep?
Did you ask your doctor if your new dairy/gluten free diet could affect him?
When you do nurse him, does that seem to help him
His only way to tell you he needs something is to cry. Sounds like he may be hungry at that point.

Well, I'm going to go a different route than the other posters. You say he isn't moaning, whimpering or arching his back anymore when he sleeps. To me, that says that the dairy/gluten free diet is working. I think the problem now is that he is simply in the habit of waking up and being nursed back to sleep.

My daughter used to do this also. She would wake up every couple of hours but would only drink very little of the bottle before going back to sleep. I spoke to her pedi who told me that if she wasn't really hungry, which obviously she wasn't, then she was just in the habit of waking up. He advised to not get her out of bed, just to pat her back and try to help her soothe herself back to sleep. That night, I tried it. It took about 15 minutes but she went back to sleep and from that night on, she slept all night.

So, my advice, if you don't think he's hungry, is to not get him up, no lights on, no eye contact, just massage and try to soothe him back to sleep. And I agree that babies don't sleep as well or as long when they're being held so that's why he wakes up in the recliner. He should be in his bed.

I nursed my last (3rd) child every two hours night and day for two years. It just goes through them fast and she had allergies and stuff so had a runny nose and stuff so she would wake up.
I just knew it was the best thing to do. Yes I was sleep deprived.

The problem may not be his "empty belly" but it may be what is filling it a lot of the time.

Nine months may be too early for so much solid food, or any. It's not essential for a child this age, even an active one, to have solids. Please talk to your pediatrician. With the solids he's now used to feeling that type of fullness, hence, when he's hungry he's really feeling it. You may be unable to back off the solids completely but talk to the pediatrician about it. You son may love the solids but they may not love him back --he isn't able to associate them yet with what sounds like a painful digestive issue.

Have you asked the doctor about whether he might have acid reflux or other digestive issues -- again, maybe due to the early solids -- that are waking him? The "moaning and whimpering in his sleep as if something were hurting him" you describe do sound like possible pain he's experiencing. He cannot tell you what's wrong, so please act on these cues he's giving. Get him checked out ASAP and tell the doctor everything you have told us here. This is really a time to go to the pediatrician.

You can also try elevating his mattress on one end so his head and upper body are more elevated as he sleeps (please do NOT just prop him up on pillows etc. -- that's a suffocation hazard -- and only elevate the mattress in a way that ensures he cannot get caught between the mattress and the sides of the crib, which is a strangulation hazard!).

You have taught him that it is worth waking you up. You reward him with rocking, massage, etc. It will be a difficult process but you are going to have to teach him that it is not worth waking up any more. Have you seen on here the 5 min, 10 min, 15 min, etc. approach? You let him cry (and he will sound like he is dying because he doesn't understand why things are changing) for 5 min, then go in and calmly and quietly tell him to go back to sleep as you literally lay him down. No rocking, no singing, etc. Then walk away. 10+ minutes is very hard, so you may need your husband to help hold you back. A couple rough nights of this is all it takes so remind yourself it is worth it. A few rough nights is better than months or years of a poor night's sleep.

Just say the same thing in a quiet calming voice, to lie down and go back to sleep. No pleading, no discussion - you cannot reason with a 9-month-old. He will learn to put himself back to sleep if he wakes in the night. We all have to learn it at some time and it sounds like you are ready. He will learn that you are still around and haven't abandoned him - you just won't reward him waking you up.