Why is my baby acting like she's on crack?

[Auraji]

I'm going crazy here. I know all about the 9 month sleep regression, but she's 10 months now and instead of it getting better it's actually getting worse. She's going to sleep late and the whole time of me trying to get her to sleep it's like a fight because she doesnt want to, but at the same time is grumpy. She today woke up at 7am, which she never does. It's usually 9-10Am and has been so WILD. Grumpy because she didnt get enough sleep, doesnt want to take a nap, crying, but at the same time with so much energy, keeps beating me up. Her new thing is to bite me while she's comfort nursing, she seems to think it's funny. I try to just say no and remove her from the breast and then try again, but then she does it right away. She keeps doing things she's not supposed if we're in bed, she tries to throw herself of it, knocks down the dvds, spills the cat's water bowl, knocks over the trash can, doesnt want to eat because she cant stay put in one spot. I just never seen her THIS wild.

[odoole]

yikes. my 7 mo is also wild when he's sleep deprived. and then he's impossible to put down for naps or bedtime. it takes a long time to get it corrected. that's why i'm SOO strict about not letting him skip a nap or wake him up earlier than he's supposed to. i hope things get straightened out soon for you!

[Verloren]

DS is like that when he's overtired too. I call it "bipolar baby" because one second everything is hilarious and the next he is melting down like he's being tortured. The "ups" are pretty funny but it is so frustrating.

When he's like that I get him to sleep with very loud white noise (a loud vacuum works well) and rocking. He struggles at first but very quickly gives in and passes out. Until I discovered that trick it was taking an hour or two to get him to sleep.

We are battling overtiredness right now because of a cold. It sucks!

[Kelly1101]

I'd second the over-tired... my 10-month old is pretty good recently but if she misses a nap or wakes up early and I can't get her down, we're in for a rough day.

As for what you should do... hmmm, really it's a tough one. As far as the biting while nursing, this may not be the most GD thing but when she did I would say "NO" very firmly, and that was it for nursing. Not for forever, but for at least 10-15 minutes. If that set her off crying, we would rock, or walk around holding her, pretty much anything else except nursing, until she calmed down. It actually did work well, after 5 or 6 times she never bites any more. Well, not while nursing. She'll still sink her razor fangs into my shoulder if I'm talking on the phone or "ignoring" her *sigh*.

For just going wild and getting into stuff she isn't supposed to, I know how frustrating that is right now when you can't reason with them or explain to them, but they have the physical ability, you know? Let me ask, do you have a "safe area"? We have baby-gated off this little half-room that has shelves for her toys (and my books on the shelves she can't reach), and we keep her high chair there, and that's it. Keep the floor clean, put plugs in the power outlets, and she can just go wild in there as much as she wants, she can't hurt anything. It's big enough that it's not like a playpen or crib, we can play in there with her and she has plenty of room to crawl around (or, lately, walk around hanging on to the gates and the walls), but I don't have to keep pulling her away from things (because man does that get old).

For today, do you have a good baby carrier? If so, plop her in it and go for a walk. If the weather is bad, go to a mall and/or department store and just walk around, get out of the house, change of scenery.

Good luck...

When all else fails, "This too shall pass" is the mantra...

[Auraji]

Verloren I too sometimes call her the bipolar baby. She's been sleeping really bad lately and I dont really know what to do. She's always been a late sleeper and I tried getting her down by 8-9pm and it worked for like a week, but then she turned 9 months and it all got crazy. She has always been difficult to get to sleep always took between 1-2 hours to get down and I had to always do a combination of things, nursing, walking, rocking, bouncing, singing. Not one thing works all the time. Giving her a bath every night helps her realize that it's time to relax, but I still have to do all of the rest. The thing is if I dont give her a bath one day for whatever reason, she's gonna be WILD.

She ended up taking a nap at 1pm and after that we went to run errands. The day is kinda cloudy but it was warm enough to be walking around. It always helps to take her out and that's what I usually always do. It helps her and me, because sometimes walking within the same walls makes ME crazy.

Kelly, thanks for all the advice too. Im gonna try the time out from nursing next time she bites, because OUCH! Her safe area to play is dss's room. It has toys and everything is safe, but the thing is I have to be in the room with her, so if I need to go downstairs to do anything, she has to be there. I was trying to do dishes, clean the fridge, but it was just insanity. I definitely think this is a consequence of her being really overtired, but I dont know what else to do to try to get her to sleep better. The crazy baby and the tired mama dont make a good combo.

I wish I had enough space in the living room to make a little play area, but it's so tiny, there would be no walking space if we did that. Every stage definitely has its thing and once you get the hang of it, they have move on to the next lol

[birthangeldoula]

We moved her bedtime a half hour earlier when the regression hit and it seemed to help.

[Auraji]

It did! I got her to sleep last night like an hour earlier than usual and she has been the happiest baby all day today.

It really puts into perspective how important sleep is when I see how it affects her. No wonder Im so grumpy all the time!

[Kelly1101]

Yay!


Over on this end, I'm typing while holding sleeping baby because she WILL. NOT. NAP. in her crib. All week she's been like this. Remind me that one day I'll be able to do things like, oh, eat a snack or do some dishes or go to the bathroom while she's sleeping. Argh.