I don't know what to do anymore

[princess_peach]

Dd2 is 9 months old. She has never been a great sleeper, but it's getting worse. She never has longer than a 3 hour stretch of sleep. I've definitely been tired, but it hasn't been too ad since she will usually fall right back asleep. Tonight she woke up at 11:30ish and didn't want to go back to sleep. She would nurse for a few minutes and then start squirming and rolling around. She would nurse again and then do the same thing. She just wouldn't relax. After about 45 minutes of this she started biting while nursing. She also started getting fussy so I gave her a couple teething tablets. I also put some lavender oil on her feet to help her relax. Nothing helped! She just got more fussy and nothing would calm her down. I refuse to CIO, but I'm exhausted and don't know what to do! Help!

[littlelambe2]

Sorry to hear! I know first hand how frustrating that is! My first woke every 1-2 hours for the first 6 months. That's how we ended up cosleeping, so I could get more than 15-60 minutes of rest at a time. She gave me a glorious week of one 5 hr stretch per night at 9 months. Then, it was back to waking to nurse every 2-3 hours. She'll be three in July, and I have yet to get a full night's sleep. Not her fault, though. She finally slept through from night until morning after she was 2 years old. But by that time, I was heavily pregnant and waking on my own anyway.

I didnt share that length of time to make you depressed. They do sleep through when they are developmentally ready to. We didn't CIO. Bed sharing was a life saver. She really did need to eat in the middle of the night. Even after she weaned during my pregnancy, I still had to get up in the middle of the night to make her something to eat.

You're not alone, and you will survive. Our bodies a great at adapting. Hugs. 

[larissalarie]

Not much you can do except give it time and know it won't be like this forever. Obviously make sure you keep to a good routine. My middle child was my terrible sleeper and we had to keep to a strict schedule to have any hope of sleep. I'd even wake him from his naps in the daytime to keep him on schedule many times.
Also all of mine, even the good sleepers, got to a point where co-sleeping & bed sharing was something that kept them up. If they were in my bed especially, but even my room, it was just a big game and kept them up all night.

[MrsSamMerlotte]

I can't help you. My 2 year old still wakes up every 3 to 4 hours, sometimes more. It is the worst, ever.

[bloomsr]

I'm in the same boat w my 13 month old. Moving him across the hall into a room w his brother and sister helped a lot (we moved him around 12 mos old- he started waking up every 1-2 hours and I figured it couldn't get any worse...). I thought moving him would be the worst but it has been great. He still wakes up 2x a night to nurse but bc I nurse him while sitting on ds1 bed I don't fall asleep like I did in our room and I return the baby to his crib after about 5 minutes.

Hang in there!!

[princess_peach]

Thanks everyone. Honestly, I'm ok with her waking up to eat a couple of times a night. It's when I can't get her to go back to sleep that I'm struggling with. Sometimes cosleeping is what keeps her up so I will put her in the crib in her sister's room. Sometimes it works and sometimes (like last night) she screams the second I put her in and ends up waking dd1. I will try keeping a more set schedule throughout the day instead of just at bed time.

[catholicmamamia]

Hang in there.. :o)   

[catholicmamamia]

Teething 

[jconney80]

9 months old is a HUGE growth spurt. My daughter won't sleep when she goes through them. She does the same exact thing where she is so restless and stays awake for hours. It's awful. Hope it gets better soon!

[KJH78]

Do you think she's teething? She may need something stronger than the teething tablets. We used Motrin to help get our dd through teething, as she struggled with the pain without it.

[Mrs.Salz]

*hugs* Our toddler has insomnia now and then and it's really hard to deal with. Calms Forte (homeopathic supplement) helps sometimes.