Sleeping FAQ: 9-12 Months – Night Waking

Since our return from the States my 9.5mth son has started to wake every evening and needs help to resettle himself

We have just returned from a holiday to the US (Florida) and we are now having big problems with my 9.5mth son sleeping between about 8pm and 11pm. He was a very good sleeper before, going through or occasionally waking at 5am for water. Whilst on holiday he slept well also but we have been home a week now and do not know how to solve this problem.

All his day naps are now back to normal but when we put him to bed after his usual night time bottle routine he goes off to sleep no problem then stirs at around 8pm and we then are up and down to his bedroom for the next 2 hours. He falls straight back to sleep on us but it is like he only goes into a shallow sleep and cries every time he stirs. We don’t want to get into a bad habit but he does not seem to go back to sleep without us. We have resorted to giving him a little more milk at around 10.30 pm sometimes with a 1/2 dose of Medised and he then sleeps though until morning but we then have to wake him at 7.30am.

In the beginning the time he was awake seemed to make sense with the time difference but 7 days on this cannot now be the reason.

My son feeds at 7.30am 6ozs formula, bowl of porridge, 12midday 4 cubes of meat or fish with potato and vegetables, yoghurt. 2.30pm 4ozs formula, 5pm, 3 cubes of meat or fish with potato and vegetables, fruit puree pot, 6.30pm, 8ozs formula. My son weighs 21lbs.

He naps at 9.15-10am and 12.30-2.15pm. He settles at 7pm.

Jet lag does not usually affect babies and small children who still have regular naps in the daytime. It may take them a couple of days to fully settle back into their usual routine providing you move them onto local time as soon as you land.

Too much sleep in the daytime could be the cause of the present problem with your son. During the second part of the first year the daytime sleep needs begin to change. Your son may need his daytime naps slightly adjusted to help with his evening restlessness. As he is able to stay awake for slightly longer stretches of time his naps may need to be moved forward.

Begin to move his morning nap on towards 9.30am and shorten it to 20-30 minutes. To avoid him being too affected by this change move this nap on slowly, by putting him down 5 minutes later every few mornings, until he is used to the new time. The effect of this shorter, later morning nap is to push the lunchtime one on slightly or possibly lengthen it to nearer 2 hours.

Make sure your son is not too tired when he is going down to sleep in the evening. At his age he may be using up a lot of energy crawling and cruising around the furniture. If you are aware that he falls asleep exhausted at 7pm only to wake an hour later, bring his bedtime forward to 6.40pm and see if he will settle himself to sleep after a spell of 15-20 minutes chatting to himself in his cot. Once he stops waking in the evening, slowly move his bedtime back towards 7pm.

As your son takes a small milk feed at 10.30pm one other thing to consider is his food intake, especially at teatime. A baby who is tired at 5pm may eat less than he really needs to get him through the night. Making this meal into one he can eat easily should help. If your son has taken his daily 2oz portion of protein at lunch make his tea a carbohydrate rich one. Look in The Complete Weaning Guide for ideas. Meals he may enjoy and find easy to eat are thick vegetable soups; pasta and vegetable bakes; homemade pizza pieces; jacket potatoes served with grated cheese or baked beans. All these will fill him up and help him to settle well in the evenings.