My one year old daughter is usually a great sleeper (settles herself easily, two naps in the day, sleeps 7-6.30/7 overnight) and is in a routine of three breastfeeds a day plus three meals and a snack. She’s normally a very happy baby - always smiling and laughing, hardly cries at all. However, she had her 12 month vaccinations on Tuesday and has been incredibly unsettled since then. She wants to breastfeed constantly, is really irritable and seems to have completely forgotten how to self-settle. Naps have gone completely out of the window and the only way she gets to sleep at night is by breastfeeding for at least two hours, then holding her until she crashes out on me from exhaustion. I feel like I have a newborn again 😬 I’ve tried putting her in her cot when she seems tired and I know she isn’t feeding from hunger but she won’t settle at all - she stands at the edge of her cot screaming and the cry sounds different to any sound I’ve heard her make before. It’s not a tired sort of grizzle, she sounds genuinely in distress. Obviously I get her out and cuddle her then she carries on feeding before eventually falling asleep on me. I then try to transfer her to her cot but she usually wakes up and starts screaming so it all begins again. I’m really not sure if she’s uncomfortable or in pain or just getting used to extra cuddles and feeds from me but she just seems to have lost all of her independence.
This is really unusual behaviour for her and I’m starting to get a bit worried. Did anyone else’s babies react like this to their one year vaccinations? Is this normal and we just need to ride it out or should I be concerned? Any advice or thoughts (or reassurance!) from anyone with any experience of similar would be really appreciated - thank you so much 😊