Why has my 8 month old dd suddenly turned into a nightmare sleeper?

[mollysawally]

She normally sleeps 12hrs a night and has two naps a day but this past weeks she wont go down for naps, she screams like a banshee and is waking at night and doesn't want to go back off.

What has happened to her?

teething?

She's not showing any signs of teething when she's awake

My ds went through this at exactly the same age. He used to sleep through for 11 hours a night but ten he hit 8 months and the brown stuff hit the fan! It was a nightmare, I was so tired but it passed by 10 and half months. i think it could be separtaion anxiety in the night and just generally being more aware and unable to 'switch off' in the day. It also coincided with ds being able to sit himself up from laying down which meant instead of laying down peacefully and dozing off, he would sit up and scream!

DD is now able to sit up unaided so maybe thats sometihng to do with it, she's absoluty worn out but just won't nap

My 8 month has started waking in the night (up til now has slept from 8.30pm til 6.30am), last week it was approx 3/4am and the last 3 nights it's been about 12/1am! He isn't teething, and is tired, but every time I put him back down he screems the place down. I KNOW I SHOULDN'T but have resorted to putting him into bed with us then he goes off strait away. I know people say this is the worst thing to do but in the middle of the night everything 'sensible' goes out the window. Does anyone have any tips on what else I can do?

Sounds like the same problems as me Alfies1mum, must be something to do with being 8 months

oh yeah, that's exactly what happened with my DS, whatever you do don't start giving them milk again to get them back to sleep! we did, and he woke up every night, until we resorted to control crying which did the trick.

Thanks for that minniebeast, I nearly resorted to a bottle of milk last night, will give the controlled crying a go tonight

is he learning to pull up? that pretty much buggered everything for us at around that time. Also teeth even if you cant see any evidence yet. one will probably appear in two weeks time and you'll think 'oh so there was a tooth on the way...'

she, sorry.

It might be a tooth but wouldn't she be crying when she's not going to sleep as well IYKWIM

depends how distracted she is by other stuff during the day. Any discomfort is worse at night cos they're all alone and have lots of time to think about it. I might be totally wrong tho

i don't think theres always a reason for it really, but once they start they realise it's all goody getting into bed with you and having milk, so they keep going with it unless you show them whose boss!

The main reason is likely to be teething, even if you can't see anything close to the edge of the gum yet. Once my little boy became mobile I put him in a growbag (sleeping bag) and tucked it into the bottom of the mattress so he couldn't roll over or come out of the covers.
my little one only cried at night for a whiel but now i can see the tooth coming he cries in the day too.

Another possible cause which my little one neevr suffered from before is wind, since weaning he seems to get more wind which doesn't always come up when i wind him after milk.

oh god i'd totally give milk... i did do in fact. i figured she was hungry. in fact, when this happened to us the lovely mrsbadger advised that we move dinnertime earlier precisely so that dd could drink more milk before sleeping. but then i wouldn't resort to cc without much experimentation prior.

I think moving dinnertime is a good idea and I'll try that first and hope she'll drink more milk.
I haven't tried cc yet but I will try it if nothing else works

we pushed it right forward to 4pm, if that helps.

That is early! But if it means she drinks more and sleeps through I'll defintly give it a go tomorrow. Thanks Aitch.
Just been reading your other post about BLW, I didn't realise that birdsye fish fingers were fine for young babys, have you got any other ideas for quick lunches? I hate all the mess created by cooking something elborate at lunch time.
I haven't done BLW with dd as I hadn't heard of till a few weeks ago, I have always felt confident in giving her finger food, she regulary has toast soliders, houmous sandwhiches, slices of fruit and veg. I would like to encouarge BLW at lunch times .I like the idea of her feeding herself and it just seems like a natural step on from the finger food I have been giving her. It also seems like a lot less hassle.
Today for lunch dd had a pack of them steam fresh vegtables on her highchair tray with some strawberries and sliced banana to follow, does this sound ok?
I've hijacked my own thread, sorry for rambling!

totally, imo. i think that the birds eye fingers are just frozen fish, tbh, and as i said i used to nibble the topping off if i was feeling saintly/greedy.
lunch... hummous and sticks of veg is a good one. likewise philly (loosened with a bit of milk if needs be), one egg omelettes (i add frozen peas) etc. tbh dd ate dinner leftovers for lunch more often than not, i used to whack them in the freezer and microwave them. or a bit of my sarnie. and don't forget that you can keep steamed or roasted veggies inn the fridge for a day or two. i very, very rarely cooked at lunchtime, but there was a strong likelihood that she'd end off with leftover plain pasta from the night before mixed with a bit of philly and pesto or somesuch.

Been wondering whether to give her pesto or not, wasn't sure, now I know. Nice easy lunch.
Thanks for the ideas, I'll be buyin a tub of philly tomorrow, and a pack of fishfingers!

actually, if you can get mascarpone (cheap at lidl) then it's much the same but has less salt.

Thanks Aitch