# 9 month old afraid of the dark?



## ochoco (Oct 19, 2005)

Hi,

Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this. In the last two nights, DS has suddenly started crying when we turned the light off, and will continue to cry until we turn the light back on!

Our usual routine is for me to nurse him to sleep around 8:00; he's asleep by 8:30. We have a lamp on in the room covered by a towel or something, so there's some light for when DH and I come in to bed. We're usually in bed by 10:00 or so. Often DS will notice when we come in and wake up slightly, nurse for a minute or so, and then fall back to sleep without any problems. But now the fear of the dark. It's odd, bc he's in my arms, I talk to him, and he even nurses (although not much - he pulls off to cry!). And he yells - this boy is not much of a cry-er, never has been, but when he's upset he really lets us know! When we turn the light back on he settles down and nurses back to sleep.

My thoughts are that it's probably related in some way to his separation anxiety. He's a mellow baby in general, but he's definitely clingier now and will cry if he isn't comfortable with someone taking him. Perhaps not being able to see us, even though he's next to me, is scary? He also just cut his first tooth today (yay!), so he has been a bit off recently. Still...anybody gone through this? I'm hoping it's short-lived! We will dig out one of our nightlights and see if that helps...


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