9 month old wanting to go to sleep later....

[Shanti]

Hi,

My little girl is nearly 9mths (next week) and has been wanting to go to sleep later and later every week it seems! She used to go to sleep around 630pm every night after her bedtime routine of dinner, bath, cuddles, boob, bed. Lately when following our usual routine she will REFUSE to go to bed at that time and screams if we put her down in her cot!! Most of the time she self settles off to sleep after boob but also alot of the time she will fall asleep on the boob and we put her in the cot and she's off for a few hours....

Lately, her bed time has been 8pm/830pm..... it means we don't get much time together as a couple at night time and I'm also sooooo tired from such a big day as DD isn't a very good day sleeper and never has been She only sleeps 30mins in the morning and only about 45mins-1hr in the middle of the day. She stopped her afternoon sleep a few weeks ago. I'm really tired... like today, she only slept a total of 45mins.... I'm exhausted and my eyeballs sting

Is this common for 8/9mth old babies to want to go to bed later in the evening? She's also waking up earlier at 5am and not wanting to go back to bed so we bring her in with us into bed with us after feeding her. Sometimes she'll fall back asleep, sometimes not. I know summer is here and the sun is up earlier maybe that has something to do with it At one stage she used to sleep 630pm to 7am and only wake once....that was so good! lol but in saying that, i knew it may not last....

I know it's normal for babies at her age to be waking in the night for a feed still (and she's BF) and waking in the night to feed her doesn't bother me but what should I do about her going to bed later and waking up earlier????
Should I keep to the routine and keep trying to get her to bed at 630pm???

Last night, she refused to go to bed when I put her down as she was really sleepy after having her boob and as soon as she went in the cot she screamed out and would not have a bar of it! We ate dinner and she played on the floor in front of us. I don't really want to make a habit of this though.....

[Jakabella]

Oh Ren - I wrote a post pretty much the same not so long ago!

Bella used to go to bed for the night @ 6.30.. now its more like 8.30 -9.00 and I CAN NOT get her to go any earlier.. so no advice but Ill be interested what other say! We have just started doing what we need to do after we feed her and just letting her play and then put her to bed at 8.30.. but she also now sleeps in - some mornings she is still asleep @ 9.00 am (and so am I!!) so she still gets her 12 hrs straight..

Im not that worried as she seems to be ok with it all and I am just going with the flow. She has actually increased her days sleeps - she had 2 x 2 hrs sleeps today - probly why she has started going to bed later.

She has also started crawling so I thingk her mind is racing and she finds it hard to wind down like she used to!!

Sorry not much help Ren, but know that I know EXACTLY what you are going through!!

Kate

[Shanti]

Kate... does Bella wake up at night at all though? See I'm up 1-3 times a night still..... she still feeds once a night which is fine....

I'm totally exhausted because I'm not getting enough rest... day or night

I'm feeling so down today.... it's all feeling very overwhelming.... I really hope she starts sleeping more soon.... I've been so patient with it all and hardly ever complained....
Poor DH, i have NO energy for him by the end of the day.

I'm lucky if DD has a 2hr sleep in the middle of the day.... that might happen once every fortnight??? It's that Rare.....maybe when she is crawling she will be more interested and more tired.....????

[Jakabella]

Aww Ren,

Bella "wakes" but only if she spits out her dummy - she doesnt get out of her cot - or very rarely. When she was sick this week with infection she was up a few times and I know how tiered I was then - thats nothing compared to you your poor thing.

I have been trying to get Bella to bed earlier as I know what you mean about no "you" time or couple time and I miss that also.

When Bella does wake in the night (espec when she was sick) I would put her in our bed and she would go straight back to sleep.. maybe give that a go?

Im not sure about the feeding thing as I was not able to BF so bella has been on Formula - and she rarely feeds over night at all.. only when she was sick.

I have been doing the 15 on and 15 off thing - I will put her down and let her lie awake for 15 and if she is protesting then up for 15 - only usually goes for 2 cycles - IF she gets upset though I will not leaver her there - only if she is playing or just giving little grizzles. Dont know if that would help?

I really dont have any answers as Bella is still up right now as I type this and that si not unusual now - I thinkI have just gotten used to it to be honest!

Some times DH goes and lies with her on our bed when she has been protesting and just sings to her and she will fall asleep.. maybe another thing to try??

Sorry again no real help!!

Kate

[boomba]

Aww hun Ds was like this too. So we just did what worked at the time and slowly changed it back.
I so get you on the "adult" time! She wont be like this forever and you wont spoil her by letting her stay up a bit later.

Hun i so feel for you right now cause ds was the same no big sleeps ever and even now he only has an hour and half.

If you let her go to sleep later does she get up earlier or later? How dark is her room! Could you possible put her in your bed when she wakes and maybe she may go back to sleep? We did this wiht ds and I used to get at least an extra 2 hours!

Wish I could come hug you cause I know exactly how you feel Your doing a great job and should be so very proud! xxx

[Nai]

Arrgh! My DD is doing this RIGHT NOW! She has been screaming every time I try to put her to bed for the last hour and a half She did it 2 nights ago too. I hope it is just a phase.

[sneakysparkle]

I know its hard no having mummy & daddy time but for me - Id rather DD happily go to bed later than fight it (making us both frustrated) going earlier!
Eva has always gone to bed 8pm-ish. Both my girls are up super early now too thats qld spring/summer for you though!
I think youd find that Ava would adjust her daytime sleeps as she needed to - so maybe just try the later bedtime and see how you go??

[Shanti]

She's just gone to bed! Fingers crossed.... DH played with her heaps this afternoon to help tire her out even more... her eyes were so red she must have been sooo tired.

Jakabella - yep we bring DD into our bed of a night time (and day) if she won't sleep in her own cot but I don't sleep well with her in our bed and once she falls fast asleep i then carry her back to her cot anyway... i feel she is safer in her cot than in our bed. DH and I are rollers and roll around alot and have the doona over us I worry DD would get overheated etc.
Yep we do the 15mins/15mins thing too some nights.... but if she's really upset I don't do it I just let her stay up with us until she's really tired.
Thanks for your posts

Boomba - she seems to get up the same time in the morning regardless of the time she went to bed.... Her room is always nice and dark but in the morning the sun seeps through the cracks around the blinds, i'm sure that doesn't help. We are moving soon so maybe the next room might be better Yep she will fall asleep with us in our bed but sometimes she wont... she'll lie there chatting away thinking its play time very cute but not when i just wanna sleep.

Sneaky - I am the same... I don't like the whole fight to get her to sleep thing so I don't try for long and instead just bring her out with us of an evening so she can sit and watch us eat dinner etc or have some more cuddles. Thing is that is upsetting me about it all, is the fact that it's such a loooong day for me because DD doesn't sleep much in the day time and wakes earlier in the mornings lately so with all of these things happening i'm one exhausted Mummy

I think her going to bed later in the evenings, would not bother me as much if only she slept more throughout the day time you know??? *sigh*
lucky she is cute .....

[olive]

oh gosh im getting worried now hope things get better soon ren and nai

[~Kim~]

Ren I'm so sorry to have to say this, but you've made me feel so much better. Thankyou.
Nate is doing EXACTLY that. He's killing me. Plus he still feeds some 4 times+ every night. He screams his heart out if you even try to put him down. Until 2 nights ago he fell asleep after his last feed, and even though he wasn't completely settled until about 9.30 he was still asleep.
He started crawling a few weeks ago and is now cruising furniture so I know he's usuing his energy....far out you'd think I'd have some clue this time around wouldn't you?

[Jakabella]

Sorry Ren.. I dont have any more advice! Bella is now in the bed room with Dh and he is trying to get her to settle and go to sleep.. looks like it will be a late one for her tonight!

Ohh I can hear her screaming ... one very very over tiered little girl!!

Hope you get a good nights sleep tonight ren *finger crossed*

Kate

[Jakabella]

Well it seems that we are all in the SAME boat!! Lets hope its just a phase that we all need to ride out and will return to normal???

Kate

[Shanti]

she's awake.... bugger

She only settles for me... not DH. Even though he tries and tries. She just wants me

He's with her now trying to settle her but no doubt i'll end up giving her boob to calm her down.....which I don't mind doing.... ugh just need her to sleep for us.

I don't understand how they can be sooo tired but not sleep!!?

[Jakabella]

IF it makes you feel any better Bella is still awake.. she is so tiered and very agitaed!! HHmm might be a long night for us too..

[Nai]

My little one has just gone to sleep now - hope she stays that way

[Shanti]

Ok... she's back down again... I held her and she fell back asleep just with a cuddle from me.... it's hard though when she won't settle with DH's cuddles....

Sorry to hear of you other girls having unsettled nights too.... hope we all get at least some sleep tonight. Gosh these days im happy to get 4-5hrs in a row!!!

I just ate dinner now and am so tired, wanna sleep but I can't yet as I have a tummy full of food....

Oh Kim big hugs to you!! it's hard hey??? Even though he's your 2nd bub, they are all so different remember.

I'm going to log off and give DH some time now while we can.... will post tomorrow let you know how we went.

[Jakabella]

DD just going off now with the help of DH laying on the bed with her...

[~Kim~]

Ren hope you're getting some peace.
Nate went off about 9.30. DH is on night work. Thank goodness Darcy is good at going to bed.
FWIW neither of my kids would be settled by DH. Nate won't even sit with him....it does (thankfully) pass though. I will hang onto that to get me through.