9 Month Old Suddenly Waking in the Night

Hi J.,
At one point my son did the same thing. But what i learned that is when that would happen he would have an ear infection. You said she just had a bad cold, maybe it went into the ear. Another thing you can do, I know it sounds funny. Give her warm water in the bottle, then it won't be so inviting to wake up. -L. M

Children's sleep schedules change all the time you were lucky they were sleeping so much in the first place! It could be anything from teething to beginning to learn to walk. Enjoy the time together it flies by so fast! My babies are now 4 & 2 & those days are faint memories!
Brekka

J., Hi there! I went through the same thing with my daughter She is almost 10 months old now. I called the doctor because I was becoming so sleep deprived after having a few months of her sleeping through the night!! This is what she told me...She eats three meals a day and drinks 16 ounces or more of formula and that is plenty of food for her. She said she is not starving and is just waking up now out of habit and needs to learn how to comfort her self to fall back a sleep. So her suggestions were that you can give her some oatmeal or ceral before bed if you want. When she wakes up in the middle of the night go into her room, recover her with her blankets, give her a pacifier if she uses them, don't look at her, don't pick her up, talk in a calming voice tell her its going to be ok and we do the SHHHHHH sound. Put some white noise on, like a fan or calming music and leave her room. Now the first two nights were hard, she cried just over and hour straight! But it worked. By the third night she would wake up at one or two in the morning and I waited a few minutes and she fell back asleep on her own. Since then she has had a cold and didn't seem to eat very much during the day as usual and I was concerned she wasn't going to sleep. She needed me to recover her with the blankets, tell her its ok and I turned the music on and she fell right back asleep. SO ITS WORKING!!! This has been the best advice I have recieved my self!! I hope it works for you! D.

I'm also a first time mom who works full and have had the same experience with my son. He is 18 months old and has had similar patterns of waking at night. He too slept through the night very well for a long time and then would have two weeks or so of waking up to eat at night. He then went back to sleeping all night for several months and then would wake again to eat. Most of the time it seems to be connected either to teething or a growth spurt. I have yet to find a way to stop him from waking up. I've found the best thing is to give him milk and he usually will go back to sleep very quickly.

Has she begun to spit up a lot? Could it be acid reflux? When they spit up a lot during the day (do to something like acid reflux), they are hungrier at night. Don't be afraid, my 2 year old has had SEVERAL cycles of all-night sleep, and then night wakings. Kids are habitual, but are ALSO very adaptable. It won't last forever, although it may seem that way. I'm a big fan of the school of thought that you just let baby lead when it comes to feeding - if they think they need it, go ahead and give it to 'em. You'll make it through!

my son is 9.5 months and he seemed to have a huge growth spurt at 8.5-9 months.

besides being hungry, sometimes i think growth spurts are actually painful for them?

she is most likely teething. does she have drooling? runny stool? being sick with a cold might actually have been more teething symptoms.

bear with her, as our kids grow they need to be able to lean back on us during times of change. the more we can allow our kids to lean on us the greater their trust grows! its hard, but no one said it would be easy! just trust your gut, go with what works, and dont ever feel you have to make your child 'train' herself to do anything. kids arent trained, they grow and mature. that requires love and attention!

just keep doing what you are doing, shes not trying to manipulate her.

my son is 18 months and is finally to the age where being in bed with us is not a need. i can tell him to lay down and go to sleep and he will seem comforted at my voice and go back to sleep. we never made him cry it out, we never made him be alone in his room, and we always responded to him when he cried. some kids will do this sooner, and others later, but what matters most is being there for your child when they need you! imagine the feelings you are fostering in your child when you are always there when they truly need you!
trust your gut and have patience.

Hi J.,

It sounds like to me that she is just going thru a growth spurt.My son was the same way. Try feeding her baby cereal before she goes to bed to fill her up. It worked for my son.

T.

When this happened to my now 3.5 yr old...it was teeth

I would imagine it's a growth spurt. They say babies go through them usually at 3,6, and 9 months. I wouldn't worry about it. Good luck, I know it's hard having to wake up again after your baby has been sleeping so good:-)

My response is a little different than the others... My daughter will only wake in the night and cry when she has an ear infection. I would possibly take her to the doctor just to get her ears checked... Ear infection often occurs following a cold, because there is more fluid. If you take her to the doctor and everything checks out ok then I would use some of the methods the other moms suggested - leaving her in her crib, going in checking on her, giving her a binky, then leaving. I think if you keep getting up with her and giving her a bottle, you will just make the problem worse. Hope this helps!

One problem with formula is that it is FORTIFIED with VITAMINS, which means that it is energy inducing. You are way better off giving her whole milk than formula in the middle of the night - or even before bed... milk is calming and promotes sleep.

You can also give your nine month old real food before she goes to bed. Bananas, toast with nut butter... high fat foods that are easily gummed if she doesn't have many teeth.

Eventually, formula is not enough. It's time to give her food.

sounds like a growth spurt and should probably stop soon. dont be scared, I work too and my sleep is precious. I would try a late night feeding. if she is fine during the day then it is mostly likely just growing. Sometimes there are just off days but they get back on schedule. Feed her and put her back to bed. If you have the chance take a nap. good luck, you can do it.

Hi J.-

My daughter did the same thing around nine months. I am a teacher so when I went back to school in September I thought she was having separation problems. After a couple weeks I noticed that she was getting four of her teeth. When she was waking up, I would leave the lights off and just rock her or pat her back. My doctor told me to let her cry for 5 minutes before going in there and then pat her back and soothe her the way you want to. She is now 17 months old and the only time she wakes in the night now is if she is teething or has an ear infection. I hope this helps, M.

J.,

You are right - she is needing some extra calories to play catch up. The trick is not to let it become a habit. Just like anyone else, if you eat in the middle of the night for a week or two, your body gets in a habit that is hard to break.

Work to get in those extra foods in the day and fill her up with extra cereal before bed. If she does wake up, keep it dark, don't talk and just give her enough formula to satisfy her then have her go back to bed.

If she is doing this a week or two from now, let her cry for a while before going in and don't give her much formula if you do. Gradually wean her from the nighttime feeding and she will go back to normal.

Good luck,
S.

J. -
I feel your pain, J.! A similar thing happened with my son Aaron when he was 6 or 7 months old. At 2 months he began sleeping thru the night, then suddenly at 6 months woke up, seemed hungry, I fed him . . . I just figured it was a necessary evil, that he must be going thru a growth spurt. A week later I mentioned it to our pediatrician during a routine appt. -- he said that a 6 month old baby should not be waking in the middle of the night for hunger, their stomachs are large enough at that age (and much sooner, actually -- as it was in the case of Aaron, who was able to stay satiated thru the night when he was only 2 months old) to hold enough food to keep them satiated thru the night. So even tho Aaron gladly nursed at these late night feedings, my doc said he really wasn't hungry . . . so what was the reason for wakening? The doc said that some babies will sleep more restlessly -- to the point of waking up -- when they are approaching a big milestone, like sitting up by themselves, walking, or crawling. He said that offering Aaron food at these late night wakings was disruptive not just to my sleep and health, but also to Aaron's . . . he suggested I stop the feedings and re-teach Aaron that nightime is for sleeping, and that if he wakes up, he's OK, he should just relax and let sleep take over again. So that's what we did. The first night, he woke, I took him out to the living room (so he wouldn't wake his twin) and I "bounced" him and patted his back. He cried for 15 minutes or so, wondering why I wasn't feeding him. I kept cooing to him "It's OK, time for night-night, we love you" etc. Then I put him to bed. Then the next night when he cried, I went into his room and just patted his back. He cried for a good 10 minutes, then gave up and slept. The next night, he cried, I patted his back, I said good night, and 2 minutes later he was quiet. The next night, we never heard a peep from him. That's not to say he didn't wake up, but because he knew food wasn't in the cards, he didn't even bother to expend the energy to cry. I'm guessing that his sub-conscious didn't even allow him to wake, knowing that there was no "reward" in it. He wasn't starving in the morning when he got up, so we knew that it wasn't a hunger issue. Interestingly, he soon learned to sit up after that, and he suffered some restlessness before other milestones -- crawling and walking. Anyway, it's going to be hard to let your little one cry it out, but believe me, it's worth it in the end. Unless she's crying for an hour or very hungry in the morning, I think that these night time wakenings are just part of her getting over her cold, or getting used to less attention from her parents now that she's not sick anymore. It is healthier for you AND HER, if she learns again how to sleep thru the night. It might take a longer amount of time for your daughter to "get the message" than it took Aaron or it might take a shorter amount of time. It's so worth it when the night comes that she cries for 15 seconds and then calms herself, or she doesn't cry at all! Also, some advice that was not asked for: skip the juice entirely. Just give your kid water and formula until they are 2 years old (or older!). By that point they will appreciate the taste of water and milk, and they won't be one of those kids that only wants to drink juice. And don't worry about your baby not getting the vitamins from fruit -- they get all they need from formula, and when she can start drinking water, she will be drinking the most perfect beverage in the world. When my kids were toddlers they got their Vitamin C from tomato sauce and other healthier avenues. It's not that juice is evil (altho it's certainly not as good as we were led to believe in earlier years) -- the problem is that kids love sweet things, and if they are exposed to juice at an early age, that's all they want to drink. And juice has so much sugar (even 100% juice), it's so bad for their teeth, and starts laying the brickwork for a preference for sweet-sweet drinks (pop) for the rest of their life. When your daughter is a toddler, start her on fruits that she can gnaw on safely . . . those are so much better than juice. OK, thanks for letting me put my 2 cents in. Good luck!

You are probablly right that she is either catching from being sick or having a growth spurt. Mine both did that too. They eventually outgrew it. Giving her juice might not be the greatest thing though. The sugar might be keeping her up and it isn't good for her teeth.

She probably is going through a growth spurt, give it a week or two and see if it gets better, otherwise you may want to contact your doctor. If she is getting over being sick, you may have to help her get back into a normal schedual again.

It seems time for a growth/developemental spurt. Most babes will have a sleep regression like this when they are growing and/or learning someting new. Major sleep regression are at 4, 9, and 18 months. Just hang in there it gets better.

My son woke up and cried for like 15-20 minutes right before he started to crawl. I just let him cry it out. I know most moms don't like doing that. So if you must go into her room DON'T turn the overhead light on just have a nightlight or lamp on. Do NOT say a single word to her. I mean "Shhh it's ok" a couple times is fine but don't say anymore than that. And the most important thing is do NOT take her out of the crib! Unless you suspect that she's pooped. Make sure she is getting 3 snacks a day. And if the only snack food she likes is cheerios than so be it. Give her cheerios! She doesn't need to be eating at night at this age. If you MUST give her something during the night give her water. Pretty soon she realize that it's not worth it. Question? When she wakes up in the morning or from her naps do you immediately run to her the moment after you hear the first peep from her? If you do I would suggest stop doing that. Leave her in her crib by herself for 5-10 minutes. This will teach her that she doesn't always need mom, dad, or whomever entertaining her. She'll become more independent. And that will also help her fall back to sleep when she wakes in the middle of the night. Another question? Does she have a "lovey"? A lovey could be anything from a stuff animal or a particular blanket or soft toy. My son has a horse that has a cord you pull and it plays music. If you have something like that give it to her and teach her how to pull the cord. Then that way she has something in her crib at all times to comfort her and she can pull the cord anytime she needs to.

Don't be afraid! Most likely it is a growth spurt, and you will experience many of these in your child's life. Feed her! When it passes, she will refuse extra food. Babies are good that way - they know what they need and if we offer but don't push, they will self-limit food intake.

SAHM of seven