Night waking and crying out 7 month old, had some stress in her life

[Pavlovthecat]

Hey guys, any advice would be appreciated;
My 6, almost 7 month old baby is a fantastic baby, smiles and laughs all the time, has a great temperament and is always happy. She is crawling, fast, and can pull herself into standing position and play like this for ages before falling. The problem I have is sleeping pattern which has changed recently. She used to go to bed at 7:30pm, have a dream feed (breastfed) at 11:30pm or so, and wake at around 4am, then at 7:30am. All fine there. We went to USA just before xmas which, along with at the same time getting a stinking cold and ear infection, threw her sleep out, and it has not really been the same since, waking up between 2-6 times during the night and only going back to sleep when nursed.
My mother passed away last thursday after a horrible illness, and my little ones routine has been thrown out for a while now, including a lot of travel from Devon to London. although we always go through normal bedtime routines, story, sing-song, food and cuddles, where-ever we are.
However, in the last week, coinciding with the death of my mother, she has started yelling, an earpeircing sound, during the night, and will quieten when nursed. Once I stop, she arches her back a little, tosses her head and makes the same blood-curdling sound. She does not initially appear to be awake, but if I do not nurse her immediately she will wake herself up and become miserable. The last two nights before last she would only sleep once she was taken for a drive in the car.
Is it teething (calpol and Anbesol does not help this time), is it my fault for going to her when she cries? (I have tried to leave her, when she moans a little she will go back to sleep, but this yelling she cant do it), is she picking up on the events around her (i have tried to remain calm around her, and to be hones grief not quite hit me fully yet). Or is it a consequence of her extreme activeness, she wont ever keep still when she is awake, not even to feed these days!
Any ideas if this is something I can do anything about, is it as a result of external factors, can I do anything to get her back on track, or will I just have to ride it out as a normal part of baby development? I am desperately tired emotionally with everything and with my poor little baby, but can cope of there is light at the end of the tunnel.
BTW her mood during the day is still fanastic and does not seem to be adversely affected by the lack of sleep. Just her parents!

[Pavlovthecat]

I would also like to apologise for the lengthy thread, but so many factors, I do not know what is relevant. Me and my partner and new parents, we love it and it has been easy up to the last 6 weeks!!

[Weegle]

I'm really sorry about your mum, it must be a tough time for you.

Can you take LO to the GP just to check her over as the back-arching etc would indicate maybe she is in pain? If you can eliminate pain from the equation then at least you know if you do choose to leave her for a while she's not in discomfort. Could it be a new food she is struggling to digest, causing painful wind? Generally though from all my friends with similar age babies their sleeping patterns have gone out the window with teething and developmental milestones and our general consensus seems to be there is nothing can be done except ride it out. We used to have a 7-7 sleeper and now at 8 months he is worse than he was when newborn! It's tough because of everything else going on in your life but try to repeat mantra "this too shall pass". Sorry not to be much help, it's exhausting and so difficult when you can't see an end in sight. Hopefully someone more experienced will come on with some words of wisdom.

[Pavlovthecat]

Thanks Weegle, some-one else said it sounded like wind too, she did not cry like this last night, and only woke three times! We been looking at her diet and nothing has been introduced that she was not already having...have not had time to cook new things for her! Thanks also for the sympathy, I think its our LO that makes it all feel rather surreal and like nothing has happened, so far...
If it is just something we have to ride through, we certainly can do this, as long as we know she is not suffering uneccesarily.
BTW, she is still in our room...is this making things worse? (I think I know the answer and am not going to like it!!)

[Weegle]

I wouldn't say having her in your room will make it "worse" just maybe harder for you to handle but that one's always a matter of personal preference! When we finally decided we would leave LO to his own devices a bit more when he woke in the night (for hour long babbles) the only thing that made it bearable was the fact we could shut the door to his nursery, turn down the monitor and only hear a muted version through the wall! But you need some consistency in your life at the mo so if moving her feels like a big step then I would maybe wait a while. I'm glad last night was better though

[Pavlovthecat]

Neither me or my DP like the idea of her being in her own room, we love her smiles through the cot first thing in the morning! However, she has to move sooner or later and maybe her being unsettled is a good time to do it...well, after next week anyway.
If it does not settle we may well do it, but not whilst she is yelling out the way she has been...
How old is your LO now?

[Caththerese1973]

I was wondering: have you had her ears checked? My dd (now nearly four) had frequent ear infections, and there was definitely a difference in her 'waking up cry' when she had sore ears. I.e, she wouldn't wake up grizzling but howling, as if in pain. After half an hour or so of being breastfed or carried around upright, she would settle, but shortly wake again after being put down. Sometimes it's difficult to pick up ear infections because when the child is awake, the fluid and mucous produced by the infection is lower down in the ear canal and hence not putting pressure on the eardrums. So a child with an ear infection can appear well and happy in the daytime, but at night, after lying down for a few hours, the fluid builds up and causes pressure, pain and very distinctive (as you put it) 'blood curdling' howls.
If I were you I'd get her ears checked by a doctor ASAP: treatment is easy (antibiotics) but if you neglect it the infection can really settle in there and cause speech delays further down the track (because child cannot hear properly) and then you need to get grommets and all the rest of it. Or, at worst, the eardrums can burst from the pressure of fluid.
I don't mean to be alarmist but it does sound like the sort of night waking my dd when she had bad ears.

[Pavlovthecat]

Thank you for this. She has already had one ear infection actually, just before xmas due, we think possibly the plane journey to USa. She is pulling at her ear, we thought i was tiredness but it could well be ear infection and the tought did cross my mind today. We have Drs appt tomorrow morning anyway as she has a cold and I am going to my mum's funeral in a different part of the country so want to get her checked out. I will be sure to get him to check her ears.
Thank you so much for advice & information.