During the first year of a baby's life, caregivers often focus on establishing an eating and sleeping routine. By the ninth month a baby may have established a predictable sleeping routine that consists of one or two naps and a full night of rest. While it is important to allow a baby some freedom to establish his own sleep schedule, caregivers are still responsible for ensuring the infant gets enough sleep to promote health and development.
Time Frame
At about 9 months of age, a baby is sleeping between 11 and 14 hours per day, according to BabyCenter. This may be broken up into one or two daytime naps and one long period at night. How the baby divides these sleep periods can vary greatly from one child to another. MayoClinic.com suggests that once a baby is over 6 months of age, she may sleep for nine to 12 hours in one stretch at night. Caregivers have to determine what is best for the baby and how to make this happen.
Sleep Training
Around the time that the newborn regains his birth weight, caregivers may not need to wake him every four hours for a feeding. This should be determined after consulting with a healthcare professional. When the professional supports letting the baby sleep for longer periods without food, a method of sleep training can be utilized. Establishing this training method early in the baby's life can make it even easier to maintain a routine by 9 months. Numerous sleep training methods exist. Some are parent-directed, meaning the parents enforce sleep periods regardless of the baby's response. Other sleep methods rely on the baby's behavior throughout the day to determine what is best. Regardless of the method of sleep training, once a baby learns to soothe herself to sleep or back to sleep if she wakes during a sleep period, the 10 to 14 hours of sleep she needs should be easy for her to obtain.
Hunger
Hunger plays a large role in sleeping. Around 9 months of age, a baby can go through a growth spurt. She may require more food more often or larger quantities within one feeding. This can lead to a baby waking up during the night when a sleep pattern had already been established. A baby who slept 10 hours may wake after eight hours due to hunger. Many parents offer their baby simple solid foods at 6 months of age and continue adding solid food meals to the baby's routine at 9 months.
Milestones
A baby reaches numerous milestones during the first year or two of life. At 9 months, it is possible for him to wake suddenly in the middle of the night or fight sleep more than usual. This can be due to growth spurts or milestones. A baby who has learned to pull himself to a standing position may practice this in his crib instead of sleeping. BabyCenter points out that the baby may even be so excited about the new skills he is learning that he can't get to sleep.
Considerations
Between 9 and 12 months of age, a baby can develop separation anxiety. This can cause parents and the baby distress. As soon as the caregiver is out of sight, the baby becomes upset. Separation anxiety can make sleeping difficult. Caregivers have many options in overcoming this issue including staying in sight of the baby until she falls asleep or continuing to adhere to normal sleep training methods until the baby falls asleep on her own. This may consist of letting the baby cry herself to sleep, also known as crying it out.
Mothers who are breastfeeding may experience some complications when the baby begins sleeping longer stretches through the night. She may opt to pump or express milk and store it or she may practice other comfort measures to help her milk supply adjust.
Babies who don't take naps during the day may become over-tired by night and struggle to fall asleep. Caregivers should continue encouraging or enforcing daily naps if the baby is overly fussy by bedtime. Sleeping 12 to 14 hours through the night without day time naps may seem like an accomplishment, but at 9 months of age the baby needs some sleep during the day.
