9 Months... A phase? Growth spurt?
Printed From: OHbaby!
Category: Have A Baby?
Forum Name: First baby? Second or more?
Forum Description: Want help? Need support? Want tips? Men and women share advice and tips in this supportive community
URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=33661
Printed Date: 23 July 2025 at 6:26am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: 9 Months... A phase? Growth spurt?
Posted By: WestiesGirl
Subject: 9 Months... A phase? Growth spurt?
Date Posted: 26 May 2010 at 12:38pm
|
Over the last few weeks Jackson has been difficult to put down to bed at night and waking during the night up to 4 times. We have a nightly routine which we do every night (and havent changed), he feeds to sleep and is usually asleep and in bed by 7 - 7.30pm.
Once he is asleep he will often wake up a few times up to about 9pm, sometimes he wasnts booby sometimes not, and I just settle him and let him sleep on my chest until he's asleep again before I put him back in his cot. Last night he was asleep just after 7pm and woke again only once shortly after. But woke at 12am, 2.45am and 5am. He was previously sleeping 7pm to 5am. So whats going on? Is this a growth spurt? A 9 month phase? I go back to work in 2 weeks so I really need the night wakings to stop but not sure if I should just ride it out or get 'tough'  ------------- Our Angel July 08  Gone but not forgotten
And to complete our family, our princess has arrived 
|
Replies:
Posted By: kiwisj
Date Posted: 26 May 2010 at 1:54pm
|
It's probably "just a phase" (don't you hate that catchall!!!). 9 or so months is around about the time separation anxiety starts kicking in. I'd just keep going with your night time routine and doing what you're comfortable with for the night wakings. When it happened here we found C would start waking at the same times after about 3-4 nights and that's when I would leave him a bit longer before going in (up to 10 mins). He would usually start going back to sleep on his own and then we'd be back to normal within the week.
Hope it works out as easily for you! ------------- SJ Callum - Dec 2008 Daniel - Oct 2010 |
Posted By: whitewave
Date Posted: 26 May 2010 at 3:02pm
|
Sounds like 9 month-itis to me! That was what I called it - usually a combo of what they call a "developmental spurt", learning new skills such as crawling, and sometimes separation anxiety.
Definitely a phase, you just have to try and ride it out. |
Posted By: Shezamumof3
Date Posted: 26 May 2010 at 3:03pm
|
I think it must be a phase as Isabella has started doing it as well, and she is 9 months tomorrow.
Im feeling the effects of it now, as its been happening for a few weeks now  ------------- |
Posted By: minik8e
Date Posted: 26 May 2010 at 3:59pm
|
Amber did something similar, except she refused to go to bed at all - we had to get her to sleep on us, then transfer her to bed. They have started random night waking too. I'm hoping we go back to normal soon...they've also started waking at 6am instead of 7am which makes mummy very very when you combine it with 3 or 4 night wakings.
|
Posted By: millymollymandy
Date Posted: 26 May 2010 at 4:31pm
| Sorry if I'm starting to sound like I stuck record but...to be honest I think its because he feeds to sleep. We had waking 5-6 times a night at this but stopped feeding to sleep and taught bubs to self settle. And ever since then she's slept for 10-11 hours with only a dreamfeed at 10 pm and, fingers crossed, unless bubs is sick, it should continue. |
Posted By: minik8e
Date Posted: 26 May 2010 at 5:52pm
| We don't feed to sleep millymollymandy. They self settle at night - we put them to bed awake. So that's not necessarily the case. |
Posted By: FreeSpirit
Date Posted: 26 May 2010 at 6:07pm
|
Yep, sounds like ninemonthitis to me! All of the babies in my born-in month went through similar issues when our little ones were nine months old - it's a phase, they grow out of it. Symptoms included hard to settle at night, clingy during the day, random night waking, and general random grumpy child syndrome. ------------- http://www.babysfirstsite.com"> 
|
Posted By: WestiesGirl
Date Posted: 26 May 2010 at 6:50pm
millymollymandy the only time he feeds to sleep is at night and thats cos he falls asleep on the boob, not cos he cant self settle. He self settles during the day, so for us I dont think thats the problem. We've been doing that for months and its been working so Im certainly not going to try and keep him awake 
Thanks girls. Sounds like 'a phase' and I'll have to ride it out. Sheena and Kate I agree, it definitely makes for a very tired mummy thats for sure
ETA FS thats exactly what Jackson is like! ------------- Our Angel July 08 Gone but not forgotten
And to complete our family, our princess has arrived
|
Posted By: millymollymandy
Date Posted: 26 May 2010 at 7:46pm
|
Cool. No worries you have probably got lucky. All going well it will fix itself. javascript:AddSmileyIcon('')javascript:AddSmileyIcon('')
But if it doesn't bear this woeful tale in mind....We didn't get so lucky. javascript:AddSmileyIcon('  ') A lot of my friends with babies the same age had simliar problems to what I did.
My DD used self settled beautifully during the day and fed to sleep at night only too. At around eight months she got so much more alert and aware of her surroundings and freaked out when she woke, wanted to go back to sleep, but was alone and no boob. If she first went to sleep without feeding she put herself back to sleep without feeding if she woke fully. Then she started wanting to be feed or rocked to sleep during the day too (who wouldn't) and only napping 45 mins. Kept waiting for phase to pass but it didn't. Nobody got much sleep for a month. Putting myself in her shoes helped me work out how to approach the problem. when they get to certain stage babies learn what to do and how to behave by doing the same thing over and over again. DD is pretty textbook, she needs consistency if the same thing happens each time she catches on and is happy and secure. If we do something sometimes and not others, its stressful and confusing for her. So after a while she wasn't sure what to do and we had a very tired and grumpy baby. I have found doing lots of going away coming back games really helpful for dealing with clinginess and making a big fuss when I come back into the room. Good luck and big hugs. |
Posted By: millymollymandy
Date Posted: 26 May 2010 at 7:54pm
| Oh and ...PS I know that separation and other issues can cause waking too. I read somewhere the key to understanding why they wake is when they wake, and from early evening waking, 12am, 3am ish were classic sleep association waking times. This is exactly when we would get woken up every night without fail. |
Posted By: Aquarius
Date Posted: 27 May 2010 at 8:08am
|
we have been going through the same thing too!!! soul destroying!!!!!
for us....i am too tired to deal with it at night so i just feed (BF) him again and again...until recently when i thought f**k It!!!! it was getting ridiculous.. for the past week i made sure he was all geared for bed, put him down and walk out!! the first nights were horrible with him crying/grizzling for well over an hour...but a week into it and he is HEAPS better...he grizzled for a few minutes last night and has been sleeping through again for the past 5 nights. you have to break the habit...it sucks but it helps if you have a supportive person with you.(partners are good if they are abit hard arse, which mine is) Vanda is realising that he has to sleep now. by the way....he is my third child so i have others i need to tend to in the evenings . thats why it was creating such a problem for me... plus as said, i was wearing thin!! you can go in and shhh them every so often but that just created more issues for us... so i would peek in to see he was actually okay and leave again without him seeing me... i feel very liberated...plus, dont let them win!!!!!!! ------------- http://www.magicalkingdoms.com/timers/"> 
mum to mr 16 & mr 10 |
Posted By: Aquarius
Date Posted: 27 May 2010 at 8:11am
|
ps......i think our boys were born on the same day. ------------- http://www.magicalkingdoms.com/timers/">
mum to mr 16 & mr 10 |
Posted By: kiwikid
Date Posted: 28 May 2010 at 8:15am
|
Yep sounds like good ole ninemonthitis to me, I'm one of the other mums in Free Spirit's thread and we all pretty much had a rough ride at 9mths and were glad to see that back of that particular phase!!
Have faith this too will pass xxx ------------- 
|
Posted By: WestiesGirl
Date Posted: 28 May 2010 at 12:02pm
|
Thanks ladies. Im happy to ride it out, for now at least. Last night was much better, he only woke a 3am and 6am, but was a little harder to settle at bed time. Slowly but surely.
Aquarius yes I think they are, 20 August ------------- Our Angel July 08 Gone but not forgotten
And to complete our family, our princess has arrived
|