Having Trouble Getting My 9 Month Old to Sleep Through the Night.

Try taking her later nap away. At 9 months old she shouldn't need more than one 30min to 60min nap a day.

Hi, sounds like she needs more food during the day. The 3 meals of normal food is good, but babies/toddlers need to eat every 2-3 hours during the day. Try a mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack of normal food... crackers, bananas, yogurt, etc. Once you up the calories during the day, she should start sleeping better for you at night.

That's what happened with all my kids... when they started not sleeping well we fed them more so they wouldn't wake up hungry. If she truly is not hungry, she won't eat, so don't force her, but make the offer. You can't really 'overfeed' a baby unless you force her to eat.

I would just try adjusting the bed time. My son used to wake up all hours of the night, constantly needing a bottle to go back to sleep. I finally put him in his own room but it still didn't help. Then my friend told me to put my child to bed at 7pm. I thought it was way too early but I tried it. He woke up one time the first night and cried himself back to sleep within 15 minutes. Then he slept through the night always after that. I would also suggest checking for allergies, if that could be a problem. My son was having breathing troubles from cat hair and dust. I moved away from the cats, but he still required an air purifyer for some time. He sleeps very well now. I hardly ever have troubles with him waking up. Now I know when he does he's either wet the bed or is sick. It really has helped.

i have a little girl who will be 2 in march and for the most part has been sleeping through the night since she was 6 weeks.. when she was about 9 months old she started waking up at night again! my pediatrician said it was probably becuase she was getting to the stage in mental development that she was testing us! seeing if we would respond to her cry no matter when it was! and we did.. but we were tired! i started giving her a pacifier at night and that would help! any time she woke up if she wouldnt take her pacifier i would give her a bottle .. but i wouldnt get her out of her crib because if i did that then it would be hell trying to get her back to sleep! she just needs reasured that u are gonna be there no matter when it is if she needs u! if heard other moms say just let her cry.. i dissagree with that! i let haley cry but after about 3 or 4 minutes if she hasnt stopped i will go and see her! i am also a first time mom and it is very hard to listen to your little girl cry for u and not go and get her! haley learned farley quickly to put herself so sleep! we havent rocked her to sleep since she whas about 3 or 4 months old.. when its bed time and i know she tired i will give her a bottle and lay her down and she usually falls asleep with in about 10 minutes. whatever u choose to do is up to u.. u know ur baby and what will be best for her!

I'll just respond and let you know what we have done so far, as my daughter is also 9 months and sleeps wonderfully through the night.

I breastfeed my daughter first thing when she wakes up and she has about 3 baby food meals during the day. I breastfeed again before bedtime, about an hour before we put her down to sleep. She has two hour - hour and a half naps during the day. When we put her down at 8:00 pm to sleep she is still awake and looking around. Our bedtime routine includes saying a nighttime prayer, putting her in bed and turning on a soothing lullaby CD. We then leave the room and close the door. This usually works every night and she wakes up the next morning at 7:30 am.

Now this routine was not easy at first. We did the "cry it out" method. But don't take that too literally. All it means is you shouldn't nurse or pick up your baby when she cries in the middle of the night. You should however, go in and reassure your baby that you are still there but that you are not going to pick her up. I read somewhere that it takes an average of 3-4 days for this method to work, so pick some days when you are feeling strong! When our daughter cried, we would go in every 10 minutes, place our hand on her chest and tell her we were still there, but that it was night-night time and then leave the room. Of course be prepared for her to scream even louder when you leave the room without picking her up. But when she learns that you will not pick her up/nurse her in the middle of the night then she will sooth herself back to sleep. If you do pick her up, the more apt she is to wake during her light periods of sleep, knowing that you will come running with the food.

Of course, remember, every baby is different - you have to try different methods to find the best one for YOUR baby. But this is what worked for our little one. There will be roadbumps along the way as well as she teeths and goes through seperation anxieties - just make sure she knows you are there and love her, but that nighttime is for sleeping. There are also exceptions I have run into where I will pick her up when she can't breathe from a cold. Then she'll fall asleep on my shoulder where she can breathe in an upright position. I continue to hold her but try to get her back on the routine as quickly as possible.

Good luck in your nighttime trials. If you have any questions for me, let me know!

I agree with a couple of the other women in that 1) You need to teach her to sleep without nursing, which means nurse her when she wakes up instead of before she takes a nap. It may be easier to do this at nap time first, then work on bedtime. www.babywhisperer.com has some good tips on their forums.

2) 9 months is when separation anxiety sets in, so she's waking up and wanting to make sure you're still there. Reassure her, but don't feed her.

You don't want to increase solids any more than you already do or she won't nurse enough to get the nutrition she needs during the day. Breastmilk is the most important thing right now for your little one.

Good luck, and I hope you get some sleep soon!

I am a mother of twin boys. What I finally had to do to get my boys to sleep thru the night sounds sort of mean, but it really worked, and they are absolutely fine and sleep 10 hours every night. I started giving them a full 8 oz bottle, just to make sure they were getting a full belly. Then putting them to bed. When they woke up and started crying again, just ignoring it. The first night it took 1 hour. It was horrible, but I knew they were ok, they had made a night time feeding a routine, and expected it. The second night, it took about 30 min. By the third night, it was like 5 min. of crying then back to sleep. After one week of that, they started sleeping thru every night. It is almost torture to listen to your baby cry and not respond. But it should really only take a few nights of not responding. I did this by listening to my sister-in-law, mother of 3, and she really knew what she was talking about. After this process, I discussed it with other mothers and they all agreed that is what they did as well. So, you might give it a try.

Can you pump your milk for her to keep at night? I agree she should be sleeping longer during the night. It is possible that the breast milk is not keeping her satisfied at night. Did your Pediatrician suggest giving her a snack at bedtime? My 9 month old is addicted to saltine crackers or Quaker Instant Oatmeal with Apples and Cinnamon she seems to get full on the cereal quicker than anything else. I will give her a bottle of 6 ounces of formula after the oatmeal and she seems content to go to sleep. She sometimes doesn't even get it finished before she goes to sleep.

Oh my God, it is so refreshing to know that I am not the only one going through this. I am also at my wits end, my pedetrician said that she is just feeding to comfort herself and that she really doesn't have to feed. After that dr visit I tried to do what the ped said but my baby would not settle down and just screamed her head off. So after about 15 minutes I gave in because my husband has to get up so early for work. I don't know what to do but knowing that someone else is going through it makes me feel a little better; I guess I am not such a terrible mom:-)Good luck with your nightly endeavours.

Read the book "Healthy Sleeping Habits: Happy Child". My baby has been sleeping through the night since 4 months old thanks to the info. from the book. We chose to use the extinction method which means you have to let them cry it out... even if it is for 30 minutes, an hour, etc. You have to let them cry it out for about 3-4 nights and then they learn how to self-sooth and put themselves back to sleep. We do feed our little lady about 30 minutes before bedtime and I then nurse her right before putting her down. This does help to keep their belly full through the night. Another thing, develop a routine and follow that routine EVERY NIGHT!!! Ours is 6:00 bath, 6:30 bottle, 7:00 books, 7:20 nurse, lullabies then bed. You just need to choose a routine that best suits you and the baby and stick to it so she will know what to expect each night. How does she sleep during the day nap wise? Believe it or not napping plays a big role in how well they sleep at night. Read the book or email me and I'd be glad to discuss this with you further. Good luck.

At 9 months old, babies should get 3 hours of nap time a day, from 2 naps... morning and afternoon. She should also get 11 hours sleep at night.

I think at 9 months your baby is old enough for you to let her fuss a litle. Let her cry it out. see what happens. If she gets hysterical go and soothe her, but don;t nurse her. She may just be used to the night feedings. She is getting plenty during the day so it won't hurt to skip those night time feedings. It will be hard especially since this is your first baby, but in the long run it will be best. I have 2 kids. My 3 yr old, we never let her cry. Now we still have trouble sometimes getting her to go to sleep on her own. It's not horrible, but sometimes tricky. Our 20 months old we let cry himself to sleep and he is the best sleeper. We never have trouble with him. If he wakes up on the middle of the night fussing we usually can just turn the monitor off and he'll stop in a few minutes. Good Luck with whatever you do. Sometimes it takes a while to figure out what way works best for you.

i try to give my daughter some cereal or baby food and a bottle right b4 bed to make sure she is goodd and full. also a warm bath might help her to relax. the johnson's bedtime products work wonders. pop in a soothing lullaby cd too...playschool makes a good one...we use it every night. my daughter is 6 1/2 month old and sleeps between 10-12 hours straight every night.