9 Month Old Sleeping Problems

Poor A.,

Yes, the sleeping will get better. We are on our 3rd set of tubes and have had a period of adjustment each time. After months of waking up with ear aches and fevers, we also had to do the tough love thing about not picking our son up everytime he cried. (After he had tubes of course and the fever and aches had ended.)

Our doctor told us to check on him with a quick hug, no lights, no talking, tuck him in and then leave the room. Wait 5 minutes and do it again. (She explained that he had become used to our presence and needed to learn to self soothe but to know we are still around.)

Since our son was more stubborn than most, she told us to extend the cry time to 10 minutes before checking on him again and it worked. 10 minutes seems like 100. We only had to do that for 2 or 3 nights in a row and each night the cry time was shorter. It might happen again sporadically, but use the same routine and he will know what to expect. It really does work.

Like I said, there is period of adjustment each time. We also added a nightlight this last time since he is in a toddler bed. We spent several nights putting him back in bed...no talking, no lights, hug and tuck. This one was tougher due to his mobility, but it did work.

I hope this helps and good luck. Hang in there.

C.

My little boy had tubes in his ears at about 12 months - maybe 18. He is now 4 years old. I don't think the ears were the extent of his problems. He also has enlarged tonsils, but the ENT thinks he is too young to have them removed and that they are not big enough to cause him any problems. However, I think that he wakes up in the night a lot of times because of his allergies, tonsils, etc.... The tubes did't help him sleep through the night. He was in a lot of pain afterwards and he didn't sleep well for a long time afterwards. He even got several ear infections afterwards. I would take him back to the doctor if you think that might be the case :) But, even now, he will occasionally wake up in the night for no reason and need some comforting. But, nothing like before. Good Luck :)

It sounds like it's become a habit. Kids enjoy the interaction they have with their parents and can inadvertently become trained to wake at night after disruptions like vacations, illnesses, and moves. I've found great advice in Marc Weissbluth's "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" and in Denise Fields' "Baby 411". Weissbluth covers the science of sleep and gives a couple approaches to dealing with sleep issues. I learned in "Baby 411" that a child is physically capable of sleeping 6 hours at night without eating at 4 months, 9 hours at 5 months, and 12 hours at 6 months, so if your son is no longer sick, and not hungry, then he's waking up for the joy of your company, but it's not good for either of you to have disrupted sleep. He won't outgrow it unless you stop rewarding it, which can mean a rough night or two, but I know the rapid extinction works well because we do that with our toddler after illnesses and vacations, and he gets back to sound sleeping in a night or two. Good luck!!

Every one of my grandkids started waking up during the night at about 9-10 months old. They would be starving and nothing would satisfy them where they would stay asleep. I tried feeding them complex carbohydrates, like cereal, just before bedtime and they still woke up.

Babies that age are having so many things grow at the same time. I have always noticed when the kids are about to shoot up they "starve" and can't get enough. A 9-10 month old is growing bone, teeth, brain function, everything.

It will pass, I would say pretty soon, Unless the ears are hurting or some other malady is contributing to the waking up.

He is probably experiencing drainage problems and probably has an allergy thats causing inflamation. Did you ever think about switching to an all natural store. It safier and cheapier. Let me know if your interested I work from home with a great company that can help you with that and you can make a bundle too.

Two of my three children had tubes -both at 10 months. They both started sleeping through the night within about two weeks of the tubes. Part of it was that I knew that they were no longer in pain and I did let them cry a little and worked on breaking the "habit" of waking up. If they were still having the pressure, pain and infections, they would not have slept no matter what I did. If you know he is not hurting, try going in his room and patting him on the back and comforting him, but don't rock or feed him as this will condition him to get up for those things. It usually took one or two nights of going in and comforting my child, then leaving and waiting 10 minutes, then 15, then 20, etc. for them to start sleeping again without awakening. Good luck!

My guess would be that it's just become a habit now. If you let him CIO a bit it should help...it's hard, but that's what I had to do when my daughter started waking for no reason other than to wake up at 9months old.