I WANT SOME SLEEP!!!!

[newmama2011]

My 9 months baby is driving me crazy...Everybody I know describes me as being over patient...But then I was getting enough sleep ppl...She started walking about a month ago and with it started her night episodes..Usually she would fall asleep aroud 10:30 and wake up at 12....then stay up for 2 to 3 hours..so obviously im not sleeping till 3 am everynight....and considering I have to be up to work at 6 am!!!!!! Its horrible...Im falling asleep at work...always tired and irritated... continuous headaches.....ect...

That would sound pretty much a normal thing for every mom....But the thing that worries me the most is that she wants to sleep but can't!!!

she lies down...hugs her teddy and closes her red sleepy eyes shut but then she starts fussing and turning and stressing about it.... She can't sleep...I tried everything I could think of to help her relax .....TV,music, stories, singing, rocking(which she really hates), turning out all the lights and sleeping with her,,,,even dancing for gods sake!!!! nothing seems to work!!...I can feel y baby getting really frustrated coz she really is tired and wants to sleep....but can't......

she still has no teeth and I think his is hurting alot so I give her some panadol every night before I put her to bed....But even if she is sleeping she is restless.....and cries in her sleep like she is having a nightmare!!!! she is 9 months old for gods sake!!!

During the day she is calm and active...she likes to play alot and super intelligent...and Im not joking...she sometimes scares me coz she does things much older than her age..I took her to a specialized doctor...she told me nothing new (all she said was that my baby was hyper-active and bye bye)

I really need some advice...is something wrong with my baby??????

Am I doing something wrong????

Please reply Im desperate!!!!!!!

[pek64]

When my son was a baby, we got pretzle shaped, water filled, teething toys. He would hold the part with the air and put the frozen part in his mouth. It was the only thing that helped his sore gums. I don't know if those are still made. When you find something she likes, buy extras! I wish I had! Do you have anyone to help you? So you can get some more sleep on the weekends?

[newmama2011]

thank you for your reply...well actually I get to have some sleep on week ends since my husband and I take turns....and about the toys yea they still make them and I have a dozen of different shapes and colors but my naughty baby doesnt like them...she prefers biting her hand or a old cucumber or carrot....she still hasnt teethed yet....when did your son start teething?

Thanks again for your reply i really appreciate it.. :-)

[newmama2011]

bite    bite            bite

[skycheattraffic]

Does she nap during the day? My kiddo was a terrible napper at that age which made sleeping at night much worse since she was completely exhausted. I would check with her DCP to see how she naps during the day and if anything can be done to get her to nap more if needed.
My DD needed blackout drapes to nap or she just couldn't wind down. They also help at night to keep out streetlights. We have a very dim nightlight on for her at night. I also found white noise to be helpful. I turn on a fan, aim it away from her and let it go whenever she is sleeping. The noise covers the other household sounds so she isn't woken up as easily.

My DD also went through a period of partying in the middle of the night. I closed the door, put her on the floor with a few toys and let her crawl around to burn up some energy. I then curled up on the floor and got some light sleep while she did her thing in the baby proofed nursery. After 3 to 4 hours of this, she started fussing so I got up, changed her and nursed her to sleep. It wasn't ideal sleep but it was better than being awake for hours on end.

Do you nurse her? If so, would you consider nursing her to sleep lying down and cosleeping? I don't do it often but it's my go-to strategy when all else fails and I need to sleep. If not, have you tried a pacifier? A lot of bottle fed babies fall asleep much easier with a binky (mine did before we were able to establish nursing around 10 weeks or so). Some moms like a twin mattress on the floor so there is no worry about an active baby falling off a high bed.

With teething, I can't reccomend cold things enough. Carrots are a favourite here too along with ice cubes and frozen peas (peas not at night). There were also a few days where teething was at its worst and nothing, absolutely nothing helped except a dose of infant tylenol. Now at 15 months she is going through another bout of teething (2 molars and all 4 canines at the same time!) and she is a fitful sleeper. I often end up sleeping in a recliner with her in my lap, latched on to the breast for hours. She was an early teether: first 2 teeth by 4.5 months. The worst were the top incisors around 6 to 7 months or so.

She may be needing mommy more than usual right now. If your hours are long at work then she may be trying to reconnect with you at night. If you work a lot of hours, can you somehow cut back? Make sure she gets lots of your undivided attention whenever possible so she doesn't look for it at 2 am.

These are just some ideas. I hope you find something that works for you. Sleep deprivation is the pits :-(

[newmamalizzy]

I would REALLY suspect teething.  That fitful, trying to sleep but can't - that spells teething in our house every time.  If you're not opposed, you might try giving her an appropriate dose of ibuprofen at bedtime as a test.  I would do ibuprofen over acetaminophen because it lasts longer, so you'd have more time to see if there was truly an effect.  My daughter was actually awake for a few hours last night, too.  She hasn't done that in ages.  I looked in her mouth today and - voila.  Visible molar starting to push through.
 

[skycheattraffic]

I use acetaminophen because I personally can't take ibuprofen. As PP mentioned, ibuprofen does last longer (and many people prefer it) but acetaminophen is enough for my DD. I only ever needed to give her one dose per night just to help her fall asleep by dulling the pain at bedtime. When she wakes up later at night while teething intensely, she just nurses down like usual. Ibuprofen is a good alternative, it just interacts with something I need to take so we don't usually stock it.

[forestmushroom]

My little guy walked at 9 months and had previously been an okay sleeper... but when he started walking his sleep got all messed up.  He would wake in the middle of the night to practice walking and was just grouchy from lack of sleep!

Try to get her to nap because sleep does beget sleep...

The only thing that got me through was 'this too shall pass.' at 12 months he settled down again and slept better.
 

[pek64]

Hope you've gotten some helpful information and are getting more sleep tonight.

[pek64]

Additional thought. It is summer, is it possible she is hot and/or thirsty? Maybe a bit of cool water to drink would help her sleep.

[newmama2011]

A big thank you ladies for your priceless advices.. Ive actually tried Ibuprofen once and it worked like magic..but then I knew that it can cause some stomach problems so I only use it when its absolutely necessay.. I had some good sleep last night, then I read my post from yesterday and noticed how sleepy i must have been.

The thing is, when my baby sleeps she is not bothered by light...but by sound....I cant even whisper or she will wake up! And when she wake up she is up and running in like 2 seconds!!!

I will give you an example of her sleeping pattern:

The night before she couldnt sleep till 4 in the morning and I left to work while she was still asleep.

She ended up waking up at 2 pm.....10 straight hours of sleep..(I wish she does that when Im at home)

She then napped from 4 pm till 5 pm...I put her to bed at 10pm last night.

Last night we had some minor wakings and I could rock her back to sleep. She slept till 9 am this morning(so again 11 hours)

The problem is that I need her to sleep at 10 pm each night and not stay up till 2 or 3 am..

She doesnt breastfeed and she hates cuddling...

Also letting her burn up some energy while I curl on the floor in not nearly an option....her favorite game is climbing Mount Mommy!!! Not to mention her fascination in tearing out my hair..

Thanks again ladies and give me your thoughts....

[organicviolin]

There are a couple more things you can try. One thing is the homeopathic verbuterol (spelling) as well as arnica. Those both help with teething. Another teething remedy is camillia. It seems like she needs to go to bed way earlier and be on a more consistent little kid schedule kwim? Perhaps she's also way overtired? At that age, both of my boys we asleep by 6.30 pm and slept mostly through the night and then would have 2 naps. One in the morning, one in the afternoon. The shorter of the 2 was 1.5 hrs and the later 2 - 3 hrs. Now they are both on 1 nap a day lasting from 1-4 ish...The baby (14 mo) is in bed by 7/7,30 and sleeps until 7-8 and the eldest is in bed from 8/8.30 until well it depends on the day. 

I think it could be an issue of overtired and odd sleeping times as well as teething issues. Best of luck - that's the worst.

I recommend Dr Weissbluth's sleeping book.

http://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Sleep-Habits-Happy-Child/dp/0345486455/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342138069&sr=8-1&keywords=dr+weissbluth