9 month old is waking up for 1-2 hours at night now

[salpizo2011]

My baby has never been a great sleeper although he has done longer stretches lately. But recently when he wakes up he will be up for an hour or two before finally falling and staying asleep. It seems like he is tired because he will keep his eyes closed but if I try to set him in his crib he wakes up and cries. I used to bring him into bed with me but now it seems like that is disruptive too. He will toss and turn. Sometimes it actually wakes him up more and he starts to babble or want to climb around. I end up rocking him until he is asleep but I am exhausted. Looking for some reassurance of other parents who have experienced something similar. I know he’s at a huge developmental milestone with learning to crawl and pull up plus I believe separation anxiety can kick in around now? Thank you from one new parent to the next!

 

[mykkah]

@salpizo2011 The learning the new skill is possibly part of it - usually split nights have to do with too much daytime sleep! How are naps? I know you’re exhausted I’ve been there.

 

[salpizo2011]

@mykkah His naps are ok. We have good nap days and bad nap days but he seems to be going through this phase regardless of day sleep. Although the worse the day sleep the worse the night sleep it seems. The split nights started when he started all the new movement.

 

[woonkle]

@salpizo2011 Hi I was thinking about his day sleep as well,

developmental stuff for sure can increase waking but in my experience its more like, baby was half awake suddenly on all fours or sitting up in the bed and angry that he wasn't asleep anymore.

He only gets up to happily practice stuff in the middle of the night when he is either overtired OR undertired. Go figure. But, if your baby is still on three naps or sleeping for more than three hours total in the day (some babies really do better with 2-2.5), it might be more to do with his schedule than you think.

Also, this age had a lot of night wakes for us, I don't know if you can really get around that but I hope you can stop being awake with baby for hours in the middle of the night, I know that really takes a toll!

 

[salpizo2011]

@woonkle Thank you! It’s comforting knowing that it might be a lot of developmental stuff. I feel like we might be going through some transitions where we might have to cut down on day sleep. But yesterday was a mess of a day and he only got one nap but napped for 2.5 hours. He was awake in the middle of the night for 3 hours. So I have no idea..

 

[dtom]

@salpizo2011 Normal. It’ll pass.

 

[saurnik]

@salpizo2011 Look I poop o l

 

[terrapin]

@salpizo2011 How's your baby now OP??
I'm going thru this now

 

[salpizo2011]

@terrapin He’s 15 months now! Still wakes at night but it’s usually once sometimes twice. He will still sometimes be awake for an hour. I’m tired but it doesn’t feel quiet as bad now. I never did any sleep training just pushed through and we had a couple weeks of surprisingly good sleep where I thought we might have made it through to the other side but one bad cold and some teething set that back. It does seem that a couple bad weeks (which usually feels a lot longer) lead into some good nights of sleep which help for the next time your baby has some rough nights. Currently we are in some of those rough nights but last night he woke up once so hopefully we are getting through them again. I wish I could say it magically stops forever but I think at this age there’s a lot of pushing through those rough nights.

 

[terrapin]

@salpizo2011 Thank you for your response makes me more hopeful. I also don't plan on sleep training. These days she has 5 teeth coming it at once and waking every 30 mins to 1 hr to comfort nurse. We also went through Covid 2 weeks ago so thst was tough. Before that she would wake only 2-3 times per night! These LOs got a lot going on wishing you a restful night soon!

 

[salpizo2011]

@terrapin We got a 8 hour stretch last night! It was amazing! Tonight could be a different story haha but they do seem to start to sleep longer although it is random for us. They certainly do have a lot going on! 5 teeth is a lot no wonder she wants you! I always try to remind myself that this world is so new and they don’t understand why their mouth hurts or they don’t feel good and it’s our job to make them feel safe during those confusing times. You’re doing great!