9 Month Old Night Owl?

Have you tried moving her bedtime earlier? Trouble falling asleep is often a symptom of being overtired I know it sounds crazy but it has worked for me lots of times.

My son is 2 and he doesn't go to sleep until after 9 each night. He's just not tired, simple as that. He takes a two hour nap each day and I think if he skipped his nap he would fall asleep much sooner. But I'm not ready for him to give up this nap, and neither is he, he would be too cranky in the afternoon.
When are her naps? Is she waking up too late in the afternoon? Is she still taking two naps? Maybe she would get to sleep sooner if she only had one nap a day, although my son didn't give up his second nap until he was 13 months old so this might not work for you at all.
In my opinion you can't rush sleep. Just watch for her cues and go from there. Hope you get your homework done!

S.

Put her to bed at 6. I know, you're thinking I'm the lady from crazy-town, but hear me out! Babies have a different internal clock than we do. You need to put her down BEFORE she is exhausted. Contrary to popular belief, babies do not sleep better or longer if they are exhausted - by that time, their little internal clocks are totally screwed up and they can't tell day from night. There is something about 6pm that is a magical bedtime for babies - trust me on this one. You might think that if you put her down then, that she will wake up in the middle of the night, but she won't! You may find that she will sleep 12 hours or more.

So here's what you do. You feed her dinner (as much as you can possibly get her to eat, whether you are nursing, bottle-feeding, doing solids, or whatever). Fill that little tummy as much as you can. Then give her a bath, do whatever your normal bedtime routine is, and then put her down in her crib awake but calm. Give her whatever she needs for self-soothing (binky, blankie, quiet music, etc.), and then leave the room. She might fuss a little bit, but that's okay. She's just releasing the stresses of her day. Some babies take up to 45 minutes to fall asleep, but unless she is wailing, just let her figure out how to put herself to sleep. (And if she does really start to cry, go in, place your hand on her tummy, say shh-shh-shh, or sing, or whatever you do that soothes her, until she calms down a little, and then leave the room - but don't pick her up.)

It may take a few days for her to really understand that this is her new bedtime, but when she gets it, she'll sleep all night and both you and she will be happier. Also, it's important to keep her daily routine pretty much the same from day to day (the times when she is eating, sleeping, etc.). That will help her understand what's coming next, and she won't fight it. If she knows that every day, she takes her nap around 1pm, then she'll be expecting that and won't throw a fit when you put her down, and likewise with bedtime.

Good luck! Hang in there!

I am a firm believer in the old saying "to each their own" - my cousin was fanatic w/the whole ferber method - i tried it and our oldest vomitted every time we put her down and let her cry so my husband & i refused to continue w/that - not only that she had colic for a longer period of time then our ped had ever seen in his career then we went right into dbl ear infections - so each child is different. I don't think it's right to hold a baby every time they cry, but sometimes you have to choose what is best for you at that time. If you are trying to do homework you need to figure something out, but you need something effective and a screaming baby really isn't going to be the answer. Have you spoken w/your ped about it? Maybe they can offer you some suggestions or maybe there is an underlying issue. All the best to you.

I have a 3 year old that is just like this. When I brought him home from the hospital he stayed awake for 2 days strait!!! I let my son cry it out by the time he was 9 months. I at least deserved 6-7 hours of sleep. I tried to have a lot for him to do in the crib. I did make him at least rest in his crib for an hour or so durring the day. Again I tried to have things for him to do. I tried to switch his toys out so he had something new at all times. Now I have books and things in his room and I have his breakfast all ready at the table so when he wakes up at the crack of dawn I hear him come into my room and he checks to see if im awake, he then goes and uses the poty and goes and sits down and eats his breakfast. He in only 3 so of corse I'm awake, but this way I can just lay in bed a little longer. He comes in and lets me know when he is done with breakfast and then I have to get up, but at least he is good about leting me rest! My hubby is does not require much sleep either so I know where he gets it from, but it is hard to deal with when you need a lot of sleep. Also my hubby wanted me to add that we put him in the pack in play to sleep as he figured out how to climb out of his crib extra early (must have been all that time on his hands:) This way it is closer to the ground so if he did climb out he did not have far to fall. Good luck!

time to start cio and if she wakes up let her fuss herself back to sleep

What's her daytime napping look like? I struggled with my 9 month old with napping and started waking him up earlier and even waking him up during his daytime afternoon nap (which went against my need for him to sleep for sure!). But he gradually got more sleepy by bedtime which is between 7:30pm and 8pm. He only sleeps for 30 to 45 minutes for his morning nap (ugh!) And I don't let him sleep longer than 2 hours for his afternoon nap (not a problem because he typically only sleeps for 1 1/2 hours anyways). By 6:30 he's rubbing his eyes. His bath time is 7pm and we read to him with a bottle until 7:30 or so with dim lighting.

All babies are different so I'm not sure this helps...good luck!

Oh, I don't let him cry for more than a few minutes at night because I just can't, but we keep him in his crib and sing to him then say 'night tight, sleepy time'...if this doesn't work I hold him and rock him to music we play for him, then repeat. If this doesn't work, diaper check and repeat. If this doesn't work, bottle then repeat. We've never had to repeat after 8:30.

6 is a very appropriate bedtime for a 9 month old. You need to put her to sleep much earlier, then she won't be overtired and will be able to fall asleep.

My daughter was similar at this age. I didn't make my kids fit into any specific schedule as babies. Both were very different. My daughter would be up until 1 or so and sometimes screaming. We did a routine at night, but that didn't change things either. Not something you want to hear, but for us, she just worked herself out of it. The time just gradually got earlier that I noticed her getting sleepy & falling asleep. In my opinion, it's just working out something that works for you. We are also co-sleepers & once she fell asleep, I was able to slip her into my bed & she stayed there until I came to bed, which was usually only a short while later.
Good luck.

My oldest was like this. He is now 19 and sleeps fine (probably too much, lol!) He just sort of worked out of it, but is still a night owl. I don't think there is anything you did or didn't do that influenced it, I am a night owl myself.

We would sometimes put him in his car seat on top of the dryer and run it for awhile (holding it there, of course, so he wouldn't jostle off). Sometimes he'd fall asleep that way. Or we took lots of car rides.

I slept with him often too, and that seemed to help. Good luck