Successfully sleep trained using Huckleberry, but now 9.5mo baby is more tired and cranky? Is this normal?

Hello everyone,

I’m looking for some insight because my baby’s reaction to sleep training seems completely backward, and I'm starting to worry.

Before training, our baby (now 9.5 months old) slept very little—averaging only 10 hours total in 24 hours. She would regularly pull 7+ hour wake windows with only a single 30-minute nap, or have 3-hour split nights (middle of the night parties). Despite this, she was an incredibly happy, energetic, and alert baby.

We implemented a Huckleberry sleep plan and used a Ferber variation for both nights and naps. It worked in terms of duration! She has successfully transitioned to a solid 2-nap routine and is now averaging 12 hours of sleep in 24 hours, which is finally in the age-appropriate bucket.

Even though she is sleeping *way* more, she seems **so much more tired now**. She is super groggy and tired every single time she wakes up (in the morning and right after her naps). While she is still generally happy, she is noticeably more cranky and fussy during her wake windows than she used to be.

Has anyone experienced this? Does her body just need time to catch up on a massive sleep debt, or could our new schedule be wrong for her?

Our current schedule from our tracker:

* **Wake Windows:** Averaging around 3 / 3.5 / 4. She typically wakes around 7:00 AM, takes nap 1 around 10:00 AM, and nap 2 around 3:00/3:30 PM.

* **Naps:** Total nap time is about 2 to 2.5 hours total (usually one long 1 hour nap and one shorter 30–60 min nap, sometimesits still thee naps).

* **Night Sleep:** Bedtime is around 7:00 PM – 7:30 PM, and she sleeps through until about 6:30 AM – 7:00 AM (approx. 11.5 hours of night sleep).

Any advice or reassurance would be amazing. This change just doesn't make sense to me!