How to make an 8 to 9-month-old baby sleep

Having a baby at home is really a delight, full of delicious moments, with baby smells and cute little things. Not to mention those beautiful little smiles that no one can resist.

However, bedtime is sometimes stressful, difficult and very tiring, isn’t it?

Babies with difficulty sleeping is a common problem for mothers. At dusk, preparations begin for the baby to sleep, but he is alert, and never falls asleep.

They cry, get angry, eyes wide open, agitated, and parents are tired, stressed, desperate and hopeless

Babies 8 to 9 months old, have the need to sleep about 11 hours a night, and less hours of daytime naps, time stipulated by the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics as essential and vital for physical and mental health.

Based on this information, you know that the baby who does not sleep enough hours is irritated, tearful and also having difficulty sleeping.

Then comes the following question: “How do you make an 8-9 month old sleep?”

First let’s better understand how baby sleep works.

Recognize the sleep signs of an 8 to 9 month-old baby

The best way to prevent your baby from getting nervous and not wanting to sleep is by paying attention to small signs that your baby shows when he needs to sleep or when he hasn’t had enough hours of sleep.

Babies usually don’t have dark circles under the eyes or tired looking faces or rub their eyes, ears or face. It is also worth paying attention to other signs such as yawning, hiccups or sneezing.

When babies are sleepy they don’t focus on simple activities like playing, don’t have the strength to suckle or eat well, and they sleep easily inside the car.

These are some signs that should be observed to identify that the baby is not getting enough sleep and is also sleepy.

How to teach an 8- 9-month old to sleep

Babies often have good nights of sleep when they feel they are in a safe environment. Remember that babies this age are already familiar with the environment and the moment of sleep, need only a routine for bedtime.

Sleep time should be prepared with affection and should be a daily routine.

Creating fixed daytime naps and also sleeping at night is a great start for your baby to get used to this routine.

Many things can be done within this routine to help your baby prepare for the sleep time.

Schedule a ritual with relaxing bath, massages and more comfortable clothes, music or soothing noise, stories and less stimulating games, reduced lights or preferably completely off.

It is interesting to start this step-by-step from the first days of the baby’s life. Gradually, he will understand when and how he should sleep, and in less time than you expect, will do it alone, in the crib, in his room, without any fighting, crying and irritation.

Remember that this sleep ritual can also be done for daytime naps.

Researchers from the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Semmleweis in Hungary and the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom published a study confirming that daytime sleep contributes significantly to total sleep time, being related to cognitive functions, emotional processing and self-regulation. (source:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5851571/).

This study also shows the association of daytime naps as a preventive measure of the harmful effects of lack of sleep and factors such as the health of the immune, neuroendocrine and cardiovascular systems.

In other words, babies need to sleep a few hours during the day to have good nights of sleep and optimal physical and emotional development.