Is 9mo just a bad sleeping stage?

[yippiehippie]

DS has never been a good or even decent sleeper. I've never gotten over 4hrs out of him and that has been rare. For naps I nurse him down and normally have tried to put him down earlier and earlier to where he is bounced to sleep after getting drowsy nursing (a la the Pantley method). He would sleep 1/2 to 1 hr and wake when I would be able to bounce him back or nurse him to sleep. (By bouncing I mean laying him on tummy in crib or bed and patting him hard enough to bounce). Nighttime is the same, though we co-sleep and he, for a long time, woke every 1-2hrs and I nursed him back to sleep.

Well, the poor guy, I turned his world around by moving accross country in w/my MIL a few wks ago. At first, in the motel stays on our way here and the first few nights, he slept soooo well! Now, I practically have to nurse him into a deep sleep before slipping away. During the night he nurses almost constantly. Then, he wakes up btwn 5 and 6 and I feel like zombie and a horrible mother bc of my bad mood.

I feel like we were making progress, it was at least manageable, but now...WTF? Please tell me this is a bad sleeping age and he'll outgrow it soon!!! He just turned 9mo. He's been on solids for a couple months, been crawling a couple months, has 8teeth and I don't think the molars are coming in but could be wrong. I'm trying to nurse him tons during the day so he gets his mama snuggles in then.  Also, DH just started working and hasnt for a while, maybe he's thrown by that?

[Unlikely Mama]

8-9mo was a difficult sleep time for my DD (and by extension, me). She has recently come out of it (now 10mo). I am super consistent with her naps and nighttime routines and I religiously follow an age-appropriate schedule (by that I just mean wake times from morning wake-up or last nap). I only mention that because while I think that all of the changes and travel your DS has experienced recently haven't helped his ability to sleep, you can probably get him back on track with a little consistency moving forward.

Also, when he has lousy nap days, don't hesitate to put him down for the night at 5-5:30pm. I have been doing that for months and it totally changed our whole sleep life (in a good way).  GL!