6-9 Month Baby Sleep Guide
If your baby is in the 6-9 month age range one of two things is happening:
Things are getting dramatically better!
Your baby is taking longer more predictable naps, you’re down to 0-1 feedings at night, you’re no longer wearing flannel PJ pants to the grocery, and you’re reading enough to show your face at your monthly book club meetings. WOO HOO!
Things are bad or possibly getting even worse!
Your baby is taking short unpredictable naps, bedtime is a dreaded chore, and you’re up so often at night you wish you could go back to the newborn phase because that was easier. (If so keep reading!)
You’re probably done swaddling your bigger baby but some older babies still need to be swaddled although I promise you you’re very close to being done with wrapping up your baby Houdini. You’ll want to continue to use loud white noise and work hard to make sure you aren’t keeping baby awake too long. Your 6-9 month old baby is hopefully taking somewhat longer and more regular naps (check out Baby Sleep What is Normal for more details on this). Most babies at this age are napping ~3 times a day. The first 2 naps are serious where the 3rd nap (which falls in the late afternoon/early evening) is generally more of a cat nap.
Teaching Your Baby to Fall Asleep
You can no longer nurse, rock, pat, etc your older baby to sleep. If your 6-9 month old baby is sleeping poorly THIS is the problem. It’s not the teething, growth spurts, wonder weeks, learning to roll over, or any of those other changes that make parenting an older baby so exciting. The problem is that they haven’t yet learned how to fall asleep on their own.
The process of gradually reducing the amount of nursing, rocking, and butt patting you do can be frustrating. But it’s REALLY important. Also? Failure to do so almost guarantees you will never ever sleep through the night. That’s how important it is.
I know it’s not easy but trust me, the longer you wait to deal with this issue the more likely it is that you’re headed towards cry it outsville. I’m not saying you can’t avoid this path, but as your baby get’s older, it get’s harder to do so. So really, now IS the time.
Further Reading
Ultimate Guide to Vanquishing Short Naps
How and Why to Use and Loose the Paci
Weaning Baby OFF the Swing
When Night Weaning isn’t Working
Bedtime What Time?
Why Your Baby Hates the Crib
Are You Keeping Baby Awake Too Long?
Sleeping Through the Night Part 1
Sleeping Through the Night Part 2
What You Need to Know About Sleeping Through the Night – Part 3
And of course the ever popular – Baby Sleep What is Normal?
I'm Alexis and figuring out how to get your kids to sleep better is my secret superpower (I was hoping for the ability to shoot laser beams out of my eyes but c'est la vie). I swoon for pop culture references. I'm not nearly as funny as I think I am. And I believe you can never have too much wine, cheese, or Game of Thrones. 
I have a 6 month old baby girl from birth untill now she has not slept in her crib not through the night. Majority of the time i have to hold her to sleep. When she sleeps if i put her in her crib after an hour shes crying if i try to let her self sooth it doesnt work after a little my husband gets up to get her and 9 times out of ten she ends up in bed with me and my husband sleeps in guest room because he has work next day. She doesnt sleep through the nigh most nights she wakes up at 230 or 330 am i stopped feeding her i try to get her to go back to sleep but it usually takes a couple of hours. I have tried to eliminate the afternoon nap, i bottle feed i try to make sure she has had enough to eat. During the day she wants to be held all the time and if i put her down she cries non stop. I am exhausted i have major back and neck problems. This is causing problems in my marriage i am at my whits end and i do not know what to do please any advice is welcome. Thank you!
Hey sorry to her ur having problems…
When u first train then for crib take her into bed 1 hours before her actual bedtime and dim the light and leave her in the crib AWAKE sit beside the crib and read a book in soft voice or sing a song. Let her calm down in the crib if she cries pick her up soothe her put her back in the crib. It might take a long time but she will understand ur gonna put her back in. Just patt her bump while singing or try white noise in low volume. Keep trying for few days it will work (1week)
Don’t give up and put her back in bed with u
Also day time do u have bounce for her? If not u need one of those
Leave her in there and sit infront of her and make her smile and talk to her
She is feeling insecure for some reason when if she cries give her a toy she is trying to grab attention trust me it’s what we train the babies my guy is 7 months old he was like that they love our body heat and secure hold.
The more we run to them when they cry they try and create attention through crying when u know she is crying becaz she wants to be held don’t just go talk to her day it’s ok mom is here . If u need to be in the kitchen pull her in the bounce let her watch u from the entrance and u do ur stuff….
Best if luck
Hello my almost 9 months old granddaughter is still swaddled but also sleeps in a rocker sleeper she likes sleeping on her side with her little face almost buried Into the little bunny ears of the head rest. We have tried the credit b it just doesn’t work. We have tried putting a plush soft blanket in it to help her side sleep. Doesn’t work mattress too hard..Doesn’t work if we put a wedge we’ve tried…Help
Crib
Hey sorry to her ur having problems…
When u first train then for crib take her into bed 1 hours before her actual bedtime and dim the light and leave her in the crib AWAKE sit beside the crib and read a book in soft voice or sing a song. Let her calm down in the crib if she cries pick her up soothe her put her back in the crib. It might take a long time but she will understand ur gonna put her back in. Just patt her bump while singing or try white noise in low volume. Keep trying for few days it will work (1week)
Don’t give up and put her back in bed with u
Also day time do u have bounce for her? If not u need one of those
Leave her in there and sit infront of her and make her smile and talk to her
She is feeling insecure for some reason when if she cries give her a toy she is trying to grab attention trust me it’s what we train the babies my guy is 7 months old he was like that they love our body heat and secure hold.
The more we run to them when they cry they try and create attention through crying when u know she is crying becaz she wants to be held don’t just go talk to her day it’s ok mom is here . If u need to be in the kitchen pull her in the bounce let her watch u from the entrance and u do ur stuff….my mistake with my baby he won’t let go of his paci at night and it’s problem when he sleeps
Best of luck
Thank you for the advice i will try it hopefully is works. But what about the waking up in the middle of night she wants to play and usualy stays up for an hour or two?
Hi Lena,
If she wakes up don’t interact with her let her lay in the crib she will eventually get the point it’s night time not play time and even mayb learn to soothe her self to sleep. The more we talk to them or interact they will want to play.
Even if u want u can give her a diaper change and put her back in but don’t speak a work to her or smile at her. Will take few days but will get the point. again babies are all abt attention seeking.
Try not to put her to nap after 5 pm
Your baby is not ready for crib yet…don’t force it. Your baby will grow to be a very secure lady if you let her tell you, when she is ready!
Hello thanks for reply my baby has to be in the crib as she stands now and moves wayyy too much. I think she is very attached to me.
Hello , I had to this i hope it works Put fun things in her room to look at on the ceiling for her to look at and play a little music so it can make her very sleep.
I disagree that this has anything to do with the crib. The fundamental issue is that she doesn’t know how to fall asleep without you. You sneak her into the crib, she wakes and you’ve mysteriously disappeared! The issue is how she’s falling asleep.
Hello, thanks for reply! She is now 7 months still not sleeping through the night i am trying a routine but shes still waking up at least twice a night. Now however she doesnt always cry but plays so i leave her. A lot of time she poops so i change her lol and she will go back to sleep.
So what do we do?? I have the same issue with my now 9 month old son. Waking up every 20 mins now. We tried not picking him up and just giving hug and kiss saying night night but if he lays back down and we leave he gets up short time later standing in crib screaming.
My 3rd baby and he is 6 months old and waking every 30 minutes. I haven’t slept tonight. He dpes NOT cry it out. He just cries. I gpt desolate and we went to 2 hours of him just wailing. I have tried soothing him, but he wants held, and will scream harder if I don’t. So I HAVE to pick him up. I get him calm he starts screaming again if I put him down and HARDER if I walk away. Idk what to do. I’m exhausted and need to function through the day. I’m so irritable.
I have 6 month old twins who share a room. they sleep in separate cribs though. My lg sleeps through the night but my lb wakes often through the night. I don’t have a problem putting them to sleep. I put them down and leave the room. there is white noise playing.they both fall asleep easily. from about 12am to 5am I probably have to get up 5 times. my lb cries in his sleep. I leave him sometimes but am scared he will wake the lg so get up. he doesn’t really wake up but cries enough for me to go and give him his dummy again.
im tired! not sure what I should do?
Am pretty sure your root issue is all wrapped up in the pacifier. give this a read:
https://www.preciouslittlesleep.com/how-to-use-and-loose-the-pacifier/
I have an 8 month old who previously slept through the night starting at 1 month until 6 months. She started waking through the night and would not go to sleep until I nursed her despite everything I tried. I was never a fan of the CIO method but at this point I am up to trying anything. Her bedtime is between 8-9 and she usually wakes up between 11-12 and sometimes 3:30 and then may be up for a good hour or more. She then wakes up again around 6:30-7:30 nurses and sometime will go back to sleep for another hour or is up for the day. I have always nursed her to sleep and we lay in my bed when I nurse her and then when shes asleep, my husband will move her to her crib. What is the best thing to get her back to sleeping through the night?
Baby will keep waking up if you nurse him at night. Stop the night feedings as they are not necessary. Do it gradually by feeding him 30 min before you would normally until the feeding time is at a normal feeding time. He is basically getting addicted to the nursing at night. It is not necessary to feed him at night constantly at that age. Not that it matters as he is now over a year but maybe it will help someone else.
Sorry, I meant She not he.
I have a 6 month old who is a great routine follower all day. She’s up at 6 and follows an eat, play, sleep schedule every 4 hours. When it’s time for nap she calmly gets herself to sleep. Until it’s night time and we get her to bed. She just recently started having trouble getting herself to sleep at night. She self soothes sometimes during the day, I feel, but at night she just screams for hours. Once she does go to sleep – she’s fine. She maybe gets up once during the night to nurse. We let her CIO to an extent but when she gets to the point of not being able to take a breath because she’s crying so hard we cave and rock her or nurse her or do whatever we can over and over until she falls asleep.
My 8 month old was always amazing at self soothing and putting himself to sleep with minimal help from me. Until he learned to crawl and sit up on his own.
Now he goes in the crib, sits up, bounces and laughs like a maniac. This can last for hours.
How do I get him to stop playing and just sleep? He shows all the signs of being tired before he goes in and he seems to perk right up as soon as he gets in the crib.
I lay him down gently, rub his back and tell him softly that it’s sleepy time. And he tricks me! He closes his eyes, his breath steadies and I sit down, letting sleep take over.
And as soon as I walk away he pops back up and it starts all over again!
How can I help him realize the crib is for sleep??
Hi Alexis. I have an 8 month old boy and CIO is not seeming to work. It worked for nights fine but now I am trying naps and it is a nightmare. I’ve been following the bedtime routine (books, songs) but when I put him down in the crib he cries/whimpers the whole hour. I take him out, play quietly for an hour, try again. He did this three times in a row…. So 9 hours without sleep! I thought for sure he would cave in but he never did. The next day he did the same exact thing. Should I just continue with this method even though he never cries “to sleep”?? How long do I keep trying it for? Should I try something else? I’ve also tried getting him super drowsy but as soon as he touches the crib he starts crying. I just hate to keep doing the CIO when it seems like it doesn’t even work for him…. Thank you. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
I have the same problem with one of my 6 month twins. The CIO worked very well for sleeping through the night (took 2 nights for them to understand) but naps are a nightmare. We do two naps of 2 hours (9-11 and 1-3 plus a 30 min optional cat nap at 5 – schedule was based on them showing signs of tiredness). The pediatrician said to only leave them crying in their crib for 30min max during nap time and if they’re still crying, take them out and try again later. Half the time he’s asleep right at the 30min mark and the other half of the time he won’t nap unless nursed. I’ve been trying for 2 weeks and it doesn’t seem to be getting any easier. He knows how to fall asleep on his own as he sleeps through the night… I’m wondering if this is a sort of tantrum simply because he doesn’t want to nap? Versus unable to fall asleep…
So my guy seriously did not nap AT ALL for a week and a half! It was horrible. But then all the sudden he did it! I was leaving him for an hour. I just set my timer. Then we would stay up together for about an hour, and try it all over again. It was not fun. Now he’s doing pretty good. I have a monitor which really helps cuz I can see if he’s standing or if he’s lying down but just not sleeping. It helps me determine when to “give up” on the nap or not. We went to the beach for one day though and I had to start all over again. I had to disassociate nursing and nap because he thought they were connected. I don’t nurse in his room at all anymore. Good luck mama!
Hello!
My baby will be 6 months in 3 days. She sleeps very well at night (usually sleeping by 7 or 7:30 pm the latest and goes until around 7 am with one feeding during the night around 4 or 5 am. I wake her up at 7 am if she isn’t already). But naps are something that I can’t figure out. Every day is different. She does sleep on her own, I do a nap routine and put her on her crib awake (she either plays a bit with her lovey and falls asleep easily or cries and I go in to soothe her doing PU/PD until she settles and falls asleep). She used to sleep 1:30-2 hours in the morning and have longer naps during the day, but now she almost always sleeps for 45 min only. I can’t figure out what is wrong, because she falls asleep on her own, I guess she should be able to connect sleep cycles. I try to put her down every two hours, when she is showing sleepy signs, but every day is different, sometimes she will sleep a little longer or she will take more time to settle and go to sleep and this makes every day look different, which is upsetting. What can I be doing wrong?
Hi I have a 6 month old she puts herself asleep but wakes several time through the night. I feed her each time. I put her down around 7 she usually wakes at 10is, then 1, then 4, and 6. Sometimes it’s closer and longer. It’s getting super hard. She takes 3 naps a day and does great naps. But hard through the night. I’m not huge on the cry it out either. She only feeds for 10-15 min not sure if she is getting enough food to sleep longer or what. I feel she isn’t that’s why I keep feeding her. Not sure what to do.
Hi, I have 6.5 month old that I’ve had “trained” to sleep since 15 weeks following the Babywise method. STTN and two 2 hour naps plus cat nap. Over the last week or so this has all gone out the window. She sleeps all night but can’t self soothe at all. She screams for over an hour before bed at night and at naps. She used to do this at night as an infant but would eventually go to sleep. CIO used to work but now it’s not working. She cries for over an hour and gets so worked up nothing that used to work works…paci, sleep bag, rubbing forehead. I end up picking her up and holding her. I know she’s tired because during the day she’s falling asleep at the breast. I feel like all of my hard work is going down the tubes and I have zero patience for my older child. Heeeelp
Hi Megan, we are in the same boat. Our 7 months old does exact same thing. Did anything improve for you guys. Please share :))
I have 8 month old twin boys and not only will they not sleep in their crib they won’t even play in it. I’m under the impression they don’t like their crib and I feel like they won’t be comfortable to sleep in the crib until they at least can be in it without hysterically crying. Please if there is anyone that can help if really appreciate it I’m at the end of my rope!! Please help!!!
Napping so much harder to control with 2 kids! OK so I have a 4 year old girl at school and a 7.5 month old baby. Baby girl was a great napper, we learned to self soothe early on and always had a routine. She started sleeping through the night at 6 months so all was well. She’d awake at 7, nap 9.30 till 10.30 then from 12.30/1pm to 3pm then bed at 6/6.30. Then she got ill a few weeks ago with a cold and naps and morning wakening all have gone to pot. She’s well again now and has been for nearly 2 weeks but we now have lots of tears putting down for both naps even though she’s tired. She eventually nods off for 30 mins sometimes less and then wakens wanting to play or crying again. We try soothing back to sleep but it never works. Also she now wakens between 4.30 and 5.30am which is exhausting. I have to keep her awake till 9 in the morning and waken her in the afternoon by 3 for the school runs. I just can’t seem to get it all back to normal and I know she needs to sleep till at least 6 to manage through till 9 but she is in bed by 6.30 so really she’s had a good night already. I can’t move the 6.30pm bedtime back because of the school run. Please help! 🙁 BTW your websites been my sleep bible for both kids (started when it was troublesome tots) and I recommend to all! By far best advice out there so also thank you for all your help!
I am in similar boat- 4 year old just started school and just-turned 8 month old, finding navigating the school runs and nap times really trally challenging- every day is different and all the school and daycare germs are coming home with both kids so constant colds…… Exhausting…..!!!
Not just me then. Very hard at the moment but sure it will get better. Also started night feeding again as no other soothing method in the night works (we have full on screaming till we feed). She does take a full bottle then too so playing it out for now before deciding if it’s a growth spurt or habit! Lol we love them though 🙂
My 8 month old has always been a good sleeper- she has taken plenty of lovely long naps and can go to sleep by herself. But for a week something evil has been going on, she is fighting the second and third naps and nighttime sleep has utterly fallen apart- she wakes every two hours… What on earth is going on?? Is it just the dreaded 8month sleep regression and growth spurt?
Hi Kirsten,
We are going through the same thing. Our 7 months old was a great sleeper until a month ago when he started waking up every 2 hours. He is not hungry but he will not calm down until we pick him up and hold him for about 10 mins.
He is sleep trained and he does fall asleep on his own, however come night time waking he will not go back to sleep on his own.
He does love his pacifier and would not sleep without it though. We tried getting rid of it but I have never seen my baby cry like that before so I caved in and gave it back to him. I hope you have improvements in your sleep 🙂
Great article!
My just 7 month old still wakes up every three hours or less every night! He won’t stop crying until I nurse him. And he drinks up so i know it’s not a cuddle thing.
He’s onto solids for about a month now.
Any suggestions to getting more sleep at night?:(
We have a 7 month old little girl who wakes up every 2 hours crying for a bottle. We’re not sure if she’s actually hungry or just doesn’t want to put herself to sleep because she’ll gulp 4 ounces each time and then fall straight to sleep again. She’s at daycare every day of week – Monday thru Friday – from 07:30 to 16:45. From there my wife drives to my work place and from 17:00 – 18:00 our little girl is in the car with her where she is fed and has a little nap. We arrive home at about 18:30 and it’s straight to the bath for our little one. After bathing we put her to sleep, which is usually at about 19:30 at the latest. She’ll be fine until about 23:00, and that’s when the “every two hours” starts. We have a food processor so we buy the fruits, the veggies, the meat and the pasta and my wife makes the food herself. Our little girl also eats yogurt as well, which she loves, and also drinking 100% juice, so it’s not just formula she’s consuming, but come 23:00 formula is all she wants every two hours and will scream bloody murder if you don’t give it to her. We don’t know what the deal is. I have issues with my head and tinnitus so I don’t hear anything when I sleep. This means my wife never sleeps through and is so tired all the time. We don’t know what to do.
Hey Derrick,
I have a few thoughts for you:
– The car nap on the way home is not your friend. IF she’s napping at ~18:00 that’s going to make it hard for her to sleep at 19:30. I mean yes she’s DOING it, but one of the reasons you need an age-appropriate amount of wake time prior to bedtime is so you can FALL and STAY asleep. She’s nailing the FALLING part, but struggling with the STAYING. Most 7 month olds need to be awake 3+ hours prior to bedtime. That means if your goal is 19:30, she shouldn’t be sleeping 3 hours prior.
– How does she FALL asleep at 18:30? Is the bottle in any way involved? Is she falling asleep 100% on her own? If not that’s your problem right there.
– The “every 2 hours” pattern to me is a sleep association – she can’t cycle through light sleep without eating. It’s not really about how much yogurt she did or didn’t eat that day. Again I would look at what’s happening at bedtime (not awake long enough, feeding too closely to bedtime, etc.) and figure out how to make changes THERE that will result in less demands to eat at night.
– Note I said “less” not “none.” She’s USED to eating loads and will continue eating loads until you a) remove the sleep association issues at bedtime and b) gradually wean off night consumption.
Hope that helps – good luck!
Hi Alexis
Thank you so much for your wonderful blog. We live in Namibia and it is so hard to find good advice when it comes to sleeping babies!! I have a question..
Weve just started cio with our beautiful 7month old baby girl and she hates it ☺. I confess that sofar I have been breastfeeding my girl to sleep. This has made everything so difficult because she constantly wakes up looking for me in the night (4-5 times she just nibbles a bit and falls back to sleep) and my husband cant put her to bed or comfort her for a lack of boobs! Sooo, teaching her to fall asleep by herself seems to be the right thing to do for all of us. Her bedtime is 7 o’clock and her routine sofar has been dinner, bath, massage, pjs, boob , bed.
Id appreciate your expert advice on:
1) is 7oclock a good bedtime & I read in your other replies that I should completely separate boob from bed time?
2) when she wakes up at night should we leave her? And can I keep 1 or 2 nightfeedings? (I dont mind 1 or 2)
3) When should we go in to console her (ive heard to console her when the crying gets very intense?)
4) nap times I have completely stopped nursing to sleep and started to let her cio with me near her. Is this ok?
Thank you so much in advance, it really means alot to have someone who takes an interest in my sanity Eva
With the night feedings, you said night weaning and cio are two different things. Does this mean that cio is just for bedtime ☺thanks. This is all starting to make sense to me now
So some people may say I dont have an issue. I keep reading that naps are common to be short. I had this issue for a very long time. He would only take 30min naps about 5 times a day. About 1 month ago he started taking 3-4 naps a day. First nap about 1:15-1:45 (somedays 2 hrs) and second nap around the same, last nap about 30-45 mins. Pretty normal I think. BTW he is 1 week shy of 6 months. He was so great a naps!! He would fall asleep in about 5 mins. Now… he takes almost 30 mins to fall asleep. He will still take long naps but now I am wondering if he is getting too much sleep during the day. He used to fall asleep really easily at night. (no cry at all) and now it takes anywhere from 30 to 45 this last week. I feel so bad that he’s having such a hard time. He started rolling so we stopped swaddling and we took the pacifier away 3 weeks ago. If I give it to him now he just pulls it out and tosses it to the side. He only wants his lovey and will chew / suck on it til he falls aleep. He now sleeps on his stomach for most of the night. I cant seem to put my finger on it! What could make it so difficult for him to fall asleep. Mind you there is no feeding or rocking to sleep. He has slept in his crib since 4 months and we use a white noise machine.
I’d love a little insite if possible. Maybe I am asking too much from him? But it is a very dramatic change for him.
Hi I have a 7mth old Son and we still sleep train him for the last 2 weeks and it seems not improving. Not sure what we have do wrongly. Since birth he was nv slp in crib before. 1) We decide to create a sleeping environment for him using a playpen as his bed instead of crib bcos at his age he will keep standing and fall hitting his head on the crib. 2) we start training him nap and night together, his napping never improve at all, but night time do have some improvement but not consistent, 1 night good 2 night bad. 3) we create a bed time routine Everyday by giving him a bath before bedtime.
We stop night feeding after a week of night training
So my question is what we have done wrongly?
Should we do the training nap and night time together?
How and when should we do the nap training if not together(night and nap)?
He will keep standing and fall inside his playpen, sometime he will just let go and fall back on the mattress with his back of his head landing on the mattress, and we worry if his head can withstand the shock. This is the main reason I thinking of stopping the training. How to prevent this? We really need some help here. Thanks in advance.
We sleep trained our 7 months old when he was 4 months old, we used a shush and pat method and he was able to fall asleep on his own within a week with no tears. The book we used was called baby whisperer. Good luck.
I have a 7 month old girl and she used to sleep very well when she was like 3 months to 6 months but now its getting to the point i can barely get any sleep myself. Her naps are like 15 to 20 mins and when it hit around 6:30 i give her bottle and change diaper put her down she immediately starts crying for a lttle bit and fall asleep. Then she wake up again i give her bottle and change her diaper put her back in the crib and sometimes she will just lay there for 30 mins or cry til i pick her up. I dont understand her sleeping because when i pick her up after she cry all she wants to do is play lol im trying to teach her night time is sleep time im hoping its get better. I do the crying method and just let her til she sleeps and so far that is the only thing that works i hate that she cries for about 30 til an hour but it works
Hello, I have a six month old that has been co-sleeping pretty much since day 1. We had a bassinet by the bed that he won’t go. He screamed and tries to pull himself out. He can see me and I even put my hand on him, but he still cries. We really want to transition him into his crib. We started where I stay there and try to soothe him but he cries (screams actually) and starts to cough because he is crying so hard. I end up feeling back and caving in and bringing him back in bed with us. He sleeps so long in bed with us; which makes it even worse, but if “if it’s not broke, why fix it” but we really need to get it sorted out before he starts crawling. We don’t know what to do. Do you suggest we try the Ferber method? What do you do if he doesn’t stop crying (i.e. pick him up and soothe then set back down)?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Hi,
My 7 month old was a perfect sleeper from 7 weeks until 6 months of age. We would put him down drowsy and he would sleep 10 hours/night with 2 sizable naps in the day. At the 6 month mark, a switch was flipped. He is IMPOSSIBLE to put down and will literally scream (cry it out was a massive fail). He is up multiple times a night and will scream until I nurse him (I have not night fed him since he was about 7 weeks). He falls alseep withing minutes, so I know it is not hunger. We have changed nothing and do not put him down with a soother necessarily. He will NOT nap during the day anymore and will scream if I dare try.
He is currently screaming in the crib while I blare music to drown him out because I literally cannot do this anymore. I am fried and I am done.
Did you find a solution? This is exactly the same as what we are going through
Yes. Please share if you found a solution. I’m going through this with my 7 month old right now. Until 10 days ago she would show signs of sleepiness, I’d put her in her crib, and she’d put her thumb in her mouth and go right to sleep. 3 naps a day totaling 3-4 hours, and sleeping 11.5 hours at night. In the last 10 days getting her to sleep has become a nightmare. She will only nap at the breast, and has become a bear to put down at night. Please help. She’s been a great sleeper since 7 weeks, and I have no idea what to do.
For almost every nap my daughter takes she wakes up after 30 to 45 minutes, talks for 10 to 15 minutes and then goes back to sleep for another 45 min to hour. She is just over 6 months old and I keep her up just over 2 hours between naps. She sleeps through the night from 7 til 7.
So does 2 45 min naps without me going in there equal 1 1hr 30 minute nap?
My just over 6 month old wakes up at almost every nap after 30 to 45 minutes, talks for 10 to 15 minutes and then puts herself back to sleep for another 45 minutes to 1 hr. I keep her up for just over 2 hrs in between naps.
Why does this happen?
Do 2 45 min naps count as 1 1.5 hr nap?
Hi Alexis,
Thank you for your excellent blog and all your hints for successful sleep. I have a question about putting the baby down awake after nursing. Inevitably, my little one falls asleep while nursing- so I am struggling to put him down awake. He is going to be 8 months, and still up every 3 hours at night. I truly believe he doesn’t know how to fall asleep on his own, but not sure how to tackle the issue. When he awakes at night, I have been weaning him off nursing but he still falls asleep after just a few minutes.
Any help would be appreciated!
I am struggling with this as well when I initially put my son down. He falls asleep while nursing and I want to nurse him right before he goes to bed as he usually sleeps through the night but when he does wake up he doesn’t know how to put himself back to sleep. Have you had any luck?
Hi, my son is six months old. I’ve been trying the weisbluth method but my question is what do I do about night waking? He has gotten. In such a bad habit of waking up every two hours and I’ve been breastfeeding him every time I go in. Some nights I get no sleep. What is it I can do? I know he doesn’t need to nurse that much so do I just leave him or go in? Thanks
Hi. I have a 7.5 month old whose naps have progressively gotten worse over the last 2 months. she gets up every day at 7 and is down for a nap at 9. she used to always sleep 1.5 to 2 hours. now i barely get 1.25. she goes back down after about 2 hrs of awake time. she used to sleep about 1.5 hours for the second nap, now i get 45 minutes. then another 2 hours, until the last nap which used to be 45 minutes and is now 20 minutes. i have tried playing with her awake time to make it shorter after a crap nap, but that doesnt seem to make a difference. she is always put down for naps and bed awake and we do about 10 minutes of calming down, reading and singing before she is put her in her crib. sometimes in the morning she would sleep 45 minutes, wake up, talk for 10 or 15 minutes and then go back to sleep for another 45- 1 hr.
she is still in her magic sleep suit as i tried to switch her into a sleep sack at night time and it was awful. she does sttn and has done so for the past 2.5 months.
need nap help!
thanks!
So if I haven’t done any of the previous steps should I start at the beginning? My 8 almost 9 mo the old doesn’t sleep. Like, ever. She naps an hour during the day, if I’m lucky, and sleep nurses through the night. I go to bed at 2 am (on a good night) she sleeps in her bed for an hour, and then ends up in ours, cries anytime I try to unlatch her at all. Doctor says she’s healthy, and gaining great, doesn’t seem underfed or unhappy. She is the happiest baby in the world, until 9-11 pm on.
My 8mo on the weekend of his 8mo just stoped napping. He could sleep on his own, always. Now he screams literally for 2-3h and no sleep in themorning. Same in the afternoon after lunch and after being awake for 6h. No sleep. I just cant stand this anymore. Nothing changed in his routine, nothing. Any help? Idea?
My little is almost 7 months, EBF and always slept in her crib (except a handful of times in her bouncer when younger). Right now we’re having a hard time with naps- I see the tired signs and instantly rock her for a few minutes to make sure it’s time. I try to put her in the crib but she wakes and just cries! A week ago I was able to put her down and she’d continue sleepong. She’s slso very clingy right now and cries if anyone else holds her or watches her for a couple hours. Any thoughts?
My son just turned 7 months and we started putting him in his crib two and a half weeks ago. He will fall asleep and only stay asleep for about 15-45 minutes and then he will wake up and cry for an hour up to 3 hours! We will go in every so often and put his binkey back in and then walk out. He will eventually fall asleep and stay asleep all night long. After two and a half weeks he is still doing this every night…I just don’t understand why he is waking up and crying for hours? It’s getting so hard to listen to when I want to go pick him up but I know that’s what he wants and he needs to learn to put himself to sleep. What can I do to help him? Any suggestions of why he is doing this every night?
My baby is now 7 months old, she was sleeping through the night and naps were great. Recently she been having a hard time going down for naps and for bedtime. I don’t know if it’s because she has mastered crawling and pulling shelf up so she doesn’t want to go down, or am I not stimulating her enough so she is tired or is she over tired. Please any suggestions would help.
I have been given temporary custody of my granddaughter and after weeks of trying to rock her to sleep in my arms, I had to find some other way to put her to sleep. So one doctor suggested letting her cry herself to sleep. How horrible and inhumane that is. My grandbaby heaved and threw up. Not again!!!
When I found this sight, it saved my sanity. I started paying attention to the sleepy signals and then at bedtime I bathed my grandbaby, took her into the bedroom, got on my bed and fed her, then reduced the area that she could roll around in and laid her down with a pacifier (yeah I know). I patted her back and rubbed her tummy singing softly and whispering. Fed her again, then repeated. I also covered the light to dim the room. Within 15 minutes she was asleep. I waiting a few more minutes and tucked her into bed. God is good. This is what I will be doing from now on. Good luck everyone!
I totally agree with you , i don’t like the idea of letting the baby cry to sleep . My baby boy is 6 month now I never let him cry to sleep . They baby cry for a reason . Something they just want to be in ours arms next to us . I let my baby sleep with us in the bed a work for me and for my family and his sleep though the night and everyone is happy . God bless
My almost 6 month old has been waking up at night screaming every hour and a half for the past 4 weeks. Ive tried everything to console her, paci, pick up put down, shushing, patting, rocking. The only think that gets her settled is to nurse her. I’ve always laid her down awake for her naps and bedtime and she’s always put herself to sleep. I’ve tried to let her cry it out but she gets so worked up she starts coughing and gagging. I thought maybe it’s separation anxiety but she doesn’t settle down when I go in and talk to her or pick her up. She just keeps screaming. She takes a solid 2 to 3 hour nap in the morning and two more catnaps during the day. She goes to bed around 7 and I wake her up in the morning at 6:30. I know she’s not hungry bc she eats like a champ during the day and only sucks at night just to fall back asleep a few mins later. Any advice would be helpful. Thanks!
I understand what you going through I know you doing your best ,but I don’t like the cry out . I believe they baby get sad and lonely feeling. What work for us is give him all my attention. My son is 6 month I still breastfeeding at night when he needed . Try to put her down at 8pm change a hour later give her a nice warm bath and let it down with her or rocker and sing until she fall sleep a I wish you the best .
Hi!
My baby girl is now five months 19 days, and I have not been able to predict when she will settle well or not at all. For nap times, she sometimes needs a simply shushing and patting, sometimes a bottle, sometimes a 3 minute walk, sometimes rocking walking and a bottle…I watch her queues very closely, and i take her in as soon as she’s getting sleepy (which is usually around the same times every day).
Bed time has become increasingly tough the past few days, where it takes almost an hour and a half to put her in bed, although she’s tired, she refuses to sleep and keeps trying to play (although the room is quite dark). She goes to bed at 6:30/7:00 p.m. every night and she sleeps anywhere between 6-7.5 hours at which point she wakes up for a feed (around 2:00 a.m.), then wakes up almost every hour till 7:00 a.m. needing help to get back to sleep. She has another small feed at 5:00 a.m. I’m not sure why she’s able to soothe herself for 7 hours for the first half of the night but cant do so for the second half or for daytime naps?
She sleeps with an arm swaddle (sometimes i unswaddle one arm an alternate for naps), but she has a strong association with swaddling and sleep. She always sleeps in her cocoona baby that is placed in her crib (although she’s getting big for it, but she prefers side sleeping and i’m too worried to let her sleep with swaddled arms on her side in her crib).
I’ve tried to gradually remove some steps from bed time (as per the gradual retreat method), but when she doesn’t settle for a while i give up and do whatever I can to help her sleep. I’m not comfortable with letting her cry it out at allll so i have never done that and i don’t want to reach the point where I have to.
Is it too soon to worry about this? Do i just give it some time? I work from home, so i’m doing both at the same time. My husband and I split the night so we can both get a couple of hours of decent sleep.
Any help for be great 🙂 :). Thank you so much!
A few thoughts that aren’t entirely specific to what you’re asking about:
– If she’s side sleeping she needs to sleep fully unswaddled, even if she has a strong sleep association with swaddling. She’s almost 6 months old so honestly it’s time. The swaddle must go. Speaking of things that must go…
– The cocoona baby shouldn’t be in the crib. This isn’t something that is common in the US but we have similar items that people LOVE to sneak into the crib. Please don’t. I know it feels “kinder” to have these large padded props in the crib but they’re potentially hazardous so since we’re ditching the swaddle, let’s ditch that too.
– She does in fact need to fall asleep independently and I suspect your bedtime battles (as well as the hourly wakeup after 2 AM) are ALL rooted in the fundamental lack of independent sleep AT bedtime.
Since the swaddle and cocoona need to go AND lack of independent sleep at bedtime is causing bedtime battles and frequent waking.
I know you were hoping to avoid any sort of tears but this is where you’re at, I think. Honestly it’s not the tragedy you imagine. HOW you achieve independent sleep at remove the swaddle/cocoona is of course up to you, but at the end of the day, that’s the bar that needs to be crossed.
Thank you so much for the quick response. I really appreciate it.
She was in fact cleared by her pediatrician to side sleep swaddled in the Cocoona (because she can’t really roll over when she’s in the Cocoona). Mainly because of her reflux issues (yet another reason for me to feel it’s too early to let her cry it out) :(. But yes, you are absolutely right, it’s time to ditch the swaddle and the Cocoona. Working on it, wish me luck 🙂
Thanks again!
My 6 month old daughter is having problems with napping and sleeping at night… generally, she cannot stay asleep unless she’s in motion. A “good” nap for her lasts 40 min, and they are rare! She’s usually held/patted while she falls asleep, or just on the go in the car. She goes to daycare and deals well with noise.
We’ve put her in her crib to sleep on her own from the day she came home, so she’s very comfortable in her room/crib. In the evening, she has the same routine daily … around 7, we read a book, put jammies on, and I hold/pat her (no rocking chair, so no rocking) and give her a bottle/pacifier, and she falls asleep. She wakes slightly when I put her down, but she falls totally asleep on her own. She then proceeds to wake up (usually) HOURLY throughout the night and is typically satisfied with being given her pacifier (which yes, she can find on her own for the most part, but that doesn’t satisfier her) or she takes a small bottle around 2am nightly. Each time she “wakes up” she’s very whiny and you can tell she’s even mad she’s awake. This obviously gets exhausting pretty fast, so our “go-to” has been putting her in her swing around 4am when she wakes up and from 4-7 is usually her only solid stretch of sleep. As soon as I turn the swing off, she wakes up within 5 min. Needless to say, she loves being in motion.
She’s very fidgety when we watch her on the monitor… it’s like she can’t get comfortable a lot of the times. When I put her down in her crib, she immediately rolls onto her left side, but hasn’t mastered staying on her side which might affect her comfort. PLEASE HELP.. we both get up at 6am for work, and are walking zombies!
Hi Alexis. My 6 month old sleeps soundly from half past 6 till 11 then wants a bottle and sleeps again till 2, wakes up again for another bottle then sleeps till 4, another bottle and then wakes at 6 and doesn’t want to sleep any more. He doesn’t cry immediately when he wakes he just moans but if you ignore the moaning he starts crying. How do I get him off the bottles. He does have a dummy and when he finished his bottle he takes the dummy. I don’t need to take him out of his crib when he wakes. But if I don’t give him the bottle he screams blue murder. I have tried just to give him his dummy a few times but to no avail. Please can you help me
My 6 month old sleeps in bed with me, but everyone tells me he needs to sleep in his crib. Im worried because he’s older now, do u have any tips for me.
My 6 month old daughter sleeps through the night in her crib, she’s been sleeping through the night since she was 2 or 3 months old. What we are struggling with is getting her down at night time. I am spending at least an hour eveynight trying to get her to settle. This usually involves a combination of going on several times to put the soother back in her mouth, sometimes nursing her to calm/settle her down and sometimes pickings her up. I know these things are potentially making things worse but we have tried the “crying it out” method and she doesn’t. She just cries and cries, getting more upset… I have left her there for 50min one time before finally getting her up. Any help would be soooo appreciated! I am loosing my “me time” in the evenings but cannot bare to leave her cry for an hour!
Hi,
My 8 month old sometimes sleep 8-9 hours on his own, but that’s like 20% of the time. Most of the time, we put him to bed at 8pm, and he wakes at 2am or 4-5am to feed. We always have to feed him because he would just scream for milk. His daytime naps are adequate, 2-3 naps totally around 4 hours, and he’s feeding 7oz per meal every 4 hours. We tried putting him to bed at 8pm and then waking him at midnight to dream feed, but he still wakes at 4-5am. Any idea we can train him to sleep 8-9 hours without waking to feed? Thank you.
Hello there,
My 7 month old does not sleep through the night. Breast feeds 2 or 3 times. Sometimes not much. So many problems. He has a late bedtime because sometimes we dont get home until 7:30. He sleeps in the bed with us because some nights im too tired to get him in his crib. When he does, he sleeps consistently to 12:30 then fusses to eat. We get up early at 5:30, he usually falls back asleep at the babysitter but takes 20-30 minute naps after 11am. He eats 6oz bottles and sometimes doesn’t finish them in one sitting. I would like to stop nursing at night. I already created a monster. I know