When he shows signs of sleepiness, eye rubbing, yawning...I push him around the dining room table in his stroller in the most reclined position. He falls asleep, and sleeps well. At night, i just take him to bed with me and he falls asleep, then i move him to the crib.How is your nine month old sleeping?My nephew is at the same age and he is the same, but i think it's because he's teething too, just cut his first tooth, my son went through stages also. Make sure you daughters room is very dark in the day, even if it means puttin a dark sheet up at the window, my son only sleeps well in the day if it's really dark. Good luck, i know it's a tiring time, just when you think you've mastered something, there goes another stone in the cogs! The joys of parenthood.How is your nine month old sleeping?My wife and I went through this, and you must know, THIS is hell. You have my utter sympathy, however there is a great hope.
You may not like this answer, you have to let her cry. Our son did the exact same thing. Great sleeper then at nine months the the bottom fell out. I got the most sleep between the two of us, about five hours a night, and my wife did not get more than two or three consecutive hours. Our son went from being sweet, darling, smart, and inquisitive to being quiet, very moody (laughing and then crying literally a second later), and lost most of his energy.
We lost most of our ability to communicate because we were exhausted, and the arguments only got worse. My wife after two months got so bad she would forget what she was doing as she was doing it, and I would go to work and zone out (which is bad for truck drivers SCARRY!).
Then we read a book. %26quot;Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child%26quot;
We had a choice to make: Which was more important, how we felt hearing our little lovely boy scream, or his health and well being.
It really does come down to this and I hope you don't hit the brick wall as hard as we had to before learning what needed to be done.
It was a simple instruction but the hardest effort of willpower. You must begin a routine which will not deviate. Decide what you want to be in the routine and then stick to it. At 6pm, you wash up and get the pajamas on, then have your last bottle for the night. (This is important you MUST fight the urge to use the bottle for a answer to fussiness. Between bed and morning you have to eliminate the nightime feeding or you will never have a normal night of sleep) After the bottle, you sit and read or sing softly or which ever activities are calming and soothing and then at 6:30pm you place the child in the crib and walk out of the room shutting the door behind you.
You have to understand, when your baby is rubbing her eyes and acting tired you are anywhere from a hour to two hours TOO LATE. That's right too late. By the time the baby is showing she is sleepy her need for sleep is past the point where she will just sleep. Her body will send a boost of energy because it's confused as to why she's not asleep yet. You cannot wait for this, you must get her to sleep before she is tired. That is why the constant sleep time is important. If there is a bedtime, then it doesn't matter if your baby %26quot;looks%26quot; tired or not, she will go to bed. This goes for naps as well, stick to the schedule as best you can and do not by any means go by how sleepy your girl appears.
Then you must not go back into the room til at least 6am preferably 7am, although we normally go in by 6:45 every morning. Now barring any sign of actual distress (which we NEVER experienced) like choking or something startling, you must not go back in.
The first night our son cried for an hour and a half. The second night was longer nearly two hours. The third night was thirty minutes, and we thought %26quot;Oh my, we are winning! This is actually working.%26quot; Then the fourth, fifth, and sixth night were back up to an hour, but we noticed something.
We would put him to bed he would cry himself to sleep, but then he would sleep til almost 7am. By the second week, we were putting him in the crib, walking out and shutting the door, and our darling was not crying. He was going to sleep without even a muffle. He would sleep until 6:30 or 7am. We were a little apprehensive thinking maybe this was a fluke, but it has been over a month and a week and I have to say, I have never been more rested in my life.
Our son came back to us. During the day he started laughing all the time. He would talk non-stop and read his books and play with everything not nailed down. He started standing up and crawling faster and is nearly walking now.
And naps? Oh they have become this: we take him into his room at 9am put him down and he goes to sleep until 10am or later. At 2ish we repeat and he sleeps for a hour and a half. No crying no huff.
This really will work, but it is so hard to do. It required my wife going into the bedroom and crying while I listened for any sound of problems (which again NO problems ever happened).
Also as a result of him sleeping, my wife is getting her own 8 or 9 hours of rest, and I am getting 7 or 8. She laughs now and is back to being her self and I do not even feel tired after 12 hours of work. This has made our home a great place to be, awake or asleep.
Next stop... potty training AARRGGHHH!!!!
Just kidding.
Good luck and believe me you are a week away from bliss.
