One year old is screaming and screaming.....again !

[herbgarden]

I'm sitting here listening to my one year old crying her heart out upstairs. She woke up at 8.30pm upset so I went up and gave her a cuddle - she wouldn't settle so I gave her some calpol. I then lay with her for a while and she settled but did the classic wake up and scream as I left her. She normally is a put her down and walk away kind of girl so somethings up. Last night she woke up at 3.30 and was at it til nearly 5am.....

I've just started moving her to cows milk but have been mixing it with her formula rather than moving over completely. Monday and Tuesday I mixed her formula with semi-skimmed (so maybe 2floz cows and the rest 4floz formula) and then when I got full fat on Wed I mixed that night and tonight with full fat...half and half. Could that be the problem - or might it be teeth??! I really don't know what to do with her - nothing's settling her - she's not hot.

My 3.5 year old just woke up too clearly a bit upset by hearing her crying - DH is out on a leaving do with work. I'm knackered !

Any thoughts ?!!

is she exactly 1 or is she older? i dont know much about the milk but i had this problem with my ds who was a good sleeper then suddenly started waking distressed. someone on here pointed out to me they develope there imagination around 16 months so unfortunately can sometimes suffer nightterrors. does she have a nightlight?

Could be her digestive system taking a while to get used to the change of milk and digestion does slow down at night.

Have you thought about introducing the cows milk in the earlier part of the day and sticking to formula just before bedtime for a while.

It could be teething, tummyache, bad dreams or just her age, monitor for a day or two and see what happens.

One hint I read somewhere else is if you can hold off giving the calpol until just before you go to bed, then at least everyone can get the benefit of a few hours sleep until morning.

You could also try bringing in the full fat cows mik a bit more gradually. We did 1oz cows:8oz formula to begin with and then gradually increased the cows milk every couple of days.

Or maybe it is just her age. My DS is 15 months and I've noticed that we're settling into a pattern of 2-3 weeks really good sleeping followed by a few days of not so good. Unfortunately we're currently in the not-so good! I don't know what causes it. I have heard that their sleeping goes to pot if they're learning a new skill. Or maybe she's just slightly unwell. It's difficult when you can't just ask what the problem is.

addictedtolatte - this sounds a bit like my DS. He's 15 months and woke up a couple of nights ago really screaming. I went in to see him and he was standing up and looked really stressed. A quick cuddle and a dummy and he was straight back to sleep. I wondered if it might be a nightmare.

Best of luck herbgarden. Hope she settles soon. It's horrible being up at night when you've just got used to sleeping properly again.

Thanks all - she did settle eventually about 11.30pm !!.....She wasn't satisfied with a quick cuddle unfortunately.

I said to my DH about the cows milk and he said that as she has it in the morning why would that be the issue but I could hear her tummy gurgling and when she got upset a bit later on (and after the calpol) she was a little bit sick (and it was proper acidy sick) so I did wonder whether despite the fact she'd had cows milk earlier that perhaps her digestive syste couldn't take much more later. She's also a bit snotty ! When I got her up this morning she did have one very red cheek and one not so red so I think that's what did it really. She's a also cruising the furniture at the moment so is on her way to walking....so much for one so little !

Anyway, she's off to my Mums with DS tonight for a sleepover - yay! - amd I'm hoping to go to bed early and get a good nights sleep. Granny is on cuddling duty...

May well be teeth - have you tried neurofen instead? Calpol did nothing for Ds when he was getting canines and molars..

agree with the suggestion of cows milk in the day, and then formula for the evening feed as well, this definitely helped DS.

Is she ill? I assume so as you are giving Calpol - what is the matter, do she have a temperature and does this normally affect her sleep?

I think it's normal to have a period of wakefulness that coincides with a development change, such as walking. Just remember that it will pass and do what you can to help her.