
At 9 months, you would think that a baby sleeps through the night, right? Wrong. At this age, many babies wake up at night, which can be super tough as a parent.
This post includes my tips to a mom asking for help because her 9-month-old baby won’t sleep at night. She wakes up to feed several times per night.
You will also find comments from many parents offering their tips, asking for help, or just acknowledging that they are in the same boat.
We are all in this together!
Mom’s question:
My 9-month-old baby won’t sleep at night. My daughter has never been a sleeper but it seems as she gets older she sleeps less and less at night. She wakes up almost every 2-3 hours wanting to eat.
I’ve tried giving her less food, giving her water, giving her a pacifier, a bedtime routine, letting her cry herself to sleep. Nothing works. I NEED SLEEP!!!! What can I do? Any advice. Any other tricks?
Sara (Fort Wayne, IN)
Baby Helpline:
Tricks When 9-Month-Old Baby Won’t Sleep At Night
I can imagine how tired you must be. If her waking up more often started at around 7 months, it is likely to be due to separation anxiety – that happens to many babies as their mind develops and they start realizing that they are a separate person from their mom.
This anxiety is why they wake up so often and won’t settle alone. They are simply scared and very dependent on knowing that you are still around. Cry-it-out at this point in time often only makes things worse.
With a 9-month-old baby, I would work on two different issues in parallel. The two issues are:
- To try to minimize the number of times she wakes up
- How you act when she does wake up
Here are some things you can try:
- Try to limit her naps in the day time. Find a sleep schedule by age here.
- Try not to let her nap after 5:00 pm.
- Give her a warm bath before her last feeding.
- You may want to try some cereal before her last feeding. I would put 2Tbls of cereal in 8oz of formula for my son’s last feeding.
- You can also keep her room just a little cooler than normal this sometimes helps little ones sleep.
If she is still waking up very often then you may try to swap who tends to her when she wakes up at night. Is she breastfeeding? If she is, try to let her dad be the first one to attend to her at night, trying to soothe her with a cuddle, pacifier, or rocking for 5 minutes before she gets to eat. If the suckling is more about comfort than hunger, this is highly likely to make her wake up less often within days.
You can read about the benefits of letting your baby nurse sleep here.
And in this article, you’ll find more tips on how to stop your baby nursing to sleep.
Best Wishes, Paula
More Babies That Wake Up At Night
Find comments below.
Paula Dennholt founded Easy Baby Life in 2006 and has been a passionate parenting and pregnancy writer since then. Her parenting approach and writing is based on studies in cognitive-behavioral models and therapy for children and her experience as a mother and stepmother. Life as a parent has convinced her of how crucial it is to put relationships before rules. She strongly believes in positive parenting and a science-based approach.
Paula cooperates with a team of pediatricians that you find here. They write or review all health-related articles.
I have a 9 month old baby too. She always wakes up at night time before but she sleeps better now after I give her one more pillow. You can try to wear a t-shirt for a day ( of course don’t make it so dirty ). Take off your T-shirt, put the pillow inside and put next to your baby. It’s work for me but I don’t know can help you or not. Wish you can have a good sleep soon!
My 9-month-old will not sleep through the night she gets up 4-5 times a night. We have tried to let her “cry her self to sleep” but all she ends up doing is throwing up on herself in frustration. I have tried cereal, cooler room, letting her fall asleep herself…everything! I don’t know what to do!
Hi,
You know, at the age of 9 months old, many babies tend to have quite a strong separation anxiety. They have figured out that they are their own persons, separate from their moms, and that really scares them.
Hence they want to be close, be carried, be in the same room, and become inconsolable if left alone in the bed.
Using the cry it out method is very likely to just make things worse at this age. Instead, trying to respond to this little person’s needs, by really letting him or her be close is a much more effective way to make the anxiety go away.
There have been studies showing that babies that are held a lot become independent faster. I guess they gain the security they need to face the world again.
I know it is exhausting! I was about to snap when my daughter woke up every hour at this age. Take turns to cuddle your baby, consider co-sleeping part of the night if necessary and remember to let dad help out at night too.
It will pass! And faster if you try to respond to the little terrorist’s needs. 😉
Hope this helps a little bit!
I have a 9 month old & he will not sleep at night. He wakes up we leave him to cry but he just keeps crying until we bring him into bed. We would just love for him to start sleeping all night.
Hey! So my 9 month old has always been dependent on nursing for sleep. I am pregnant again and my OB doesn’t want me nursing anymore in 5 short weeks and I’m desperate. She has NEVER taken a bottle. Literally nursing is the ONLY form of comfort she will ever accept. She hates being held,cuddled,rocked. We talked to a sleep consultant and tried a gentle cry method with check-ins and it seemed magical as it worked right away the first week. However since then it’s been an absolute nightmare. She will scream and writhe for 2 straight hours no matter what! No amount of cuddling will work…it almost makes her cry and writhe more. The ONLY thing that calms her back down is nursing. She goes back to sleep in her pack n play awake after nursing and falls right back asleep without problem. However she repeats this cycle every 3 hours and it isn’t feasible anymore with a baby on the way and a nursing prohibition from my OB beginning way too soon. HELP!
I thought I was the only one! My almost 7 month old will not sleep more than 3 hours straight on a good night! I have tried everything! He goes to sleep in his crib fine but is then up in 2- hours. Some nights he will cry 10-15min then go back to sleep but then up again in another 2 hours. There are other nights he will cry for an hour! Those nights I take him out of the crib and just put him in bed with me.