Problems settling at 9 months

My little man is just 9 months old and has recently started refusing to settle for sleep both during the day and at night. He used to be a really good sleeper and we have no idea what has changed to make him so upset.

Usually we have a feed-play-sleep routine and we are still wrapping him or he pulls his dummy out. He's just started really fighting the wrapping if he doesn't want to sleep and he rolls around until he gets out and then stands up in the cot, falls down and screams.

Is this separation anxiety? He only screams as soon as we leave the room and doesn't want to settle unless you rock him to sleep in your arms and then try to sneak him into the cot without waking him.

Should we still be wrapping him at 9 months? And what is everyones opinion on controlled crying? At first we heard it was good to use and about a month ago I started reading articles saying it produces children with low self esteem...

My 8 month old daughter sounds similar to your son. She has always been a great sleeper but recently takes ages going down after breakfast and especially in the afternoon, some arvos, she doesn't even have a sleep. She is a real wriggler and now is standing up in her cot. I am also still sort of wrapping my daughter, which would horrify the clinic that I go to, mainly to try and keep her from moving around so much, but as soon as I put her down, she gets out anyway. I am a bit naughty as with her dummy I put it on a clip and clip it to her clothes, so if her dummy does fall out, she can find it easy. I wrap her, cuddle her for a bit, then before she falls asleep, put her in her cot. She also cries a bit when I leave her room, I have also thought about the separation anxiety thing aswell, but not sure. Some mornings like this morning, down to sleep first go. I don't have an opinion on the controlled crying as I haven't had the need for it, but I don't think that I could do it, hearing her cry like that, it would break my heart.

Hi Jackie
I also have a 9 month old, and I am still feeding him to sleep. Everyone tells me how bad this is and do you know what I dont care!! I havnt wrapped my son since he was 2 wekks old, he wouldnt have it so I didnt do it!! I also got told this was bad!! I sometimes let my son cry but I have only put him in his cot when he wouldnt fall asleep to cry a few times and do you know what it dosnt work for me my son thinks its fun to be in his cot awake he just sits and stands and laughs and throws him self from one end of the cot to other giggling he loves it! So again I just dont do it!! He falls asleep in my arms and I put him to bed. He falls asleep on the floor or on the chair by himself to so its not like I have to be holding him. I am proberly not helping but I thought telling you what I do could help and i belive that do what you feel is right!! I always tell my son its bed time and when I put him down I always kiss him and tell him I love him and sweet dreams, this has worked for me!
I hope you find something that works for you!
good luck,
meli

my children have never really enjoyed wrapping, probably cos i wouldntdo it tight enough cos i didnt want to hurt them and then they would end up all tangled and clumped up in blankets...hehe Unless your son hurts himself when he falls in the cot i would leave it for a while as my 9 month old son has discovered that if he falls and cries someone comes but all mums can tell the difference between a hurt cry and a sympathy one. As with all my three kids when they fell we would chuckle at them or laugh depending on how funny they looked and say funny things about using different sounding words like splat and then they would laugh along too. BUt going right off the path there, sorry i let my son feed himself his bottle in bed as he generally falls asleep just as he has finished and then i remove it otherwise he will wake again and be off ready to play. My friend wrapped her son till he was nearly 12 months or more i think and he loved it so it would just be a matter of personal choice, as no choice you make for YOUR son is a bad one.

On saying all that thoughmy son just went through a week and a half of waking and screaming as he has previously had gastro and through belly pains etc it was a nightmare and when he was fine he kept doing it, but then all of a sudden stopped, so maybe in time things will ease. I hope you have some luck.