Gentle sleep training making things 10x worse - help

[Dontknow828]

My 10mo baby was sleeping well through the night witn maybe one waking but for weeks now has been stuck on 30 minute naps. She wakes tired but is very difficult to get back to sleep and I end up sitting in a chair in her darkened room for 2+ hours a day. As she wasn't getting enough sleep and having done some googling I decided she needed to learn how to self settle. She's a very alert and active baby and never seems sleepy and really fights sleep generally.

Anyway, we've been at it with sleep training for a week now and she's gone from sleeping through the night to waking every 0.5-2 hours. Last night I got 3 hrs broken sleep - it's like having a newborn again. And her naps are worse than ever, more like 5 minutes!

Help! I really don't know what to do. My instinct is to go back to old way of doing things but she now won't fall into a deep sleep in my arms so I can't settle her to sleep then transfer. Even in her cot when she does finally settle she isn't deep sleeping and wakes when I leave the room. I feel completely stuck and like I'm failing at her most basic need.

I'm not willing to do cry it out sleep training as she becomes hysterical very quickly if I leave her awake in her cot.

My daughter has never had great sleep and I have never done any form of sleep training. Her sleep rarely gets worse for no reason and because her needs have increased. For her it is usually reflux coming out of control or her allergies are playing up.

I would stop the sleep training see if you can figure out the pattern and maybe see what other tips you can come across that would help within your comfort zone

A good day when my daughter was 10 months was only waking twice a bad day was 5+ times.

I've tried to stop the sleep training but it's as though she's stuck now between not wanting to settle in her cot and not wanting to settle in my arms. Tonight it took me 2 hours of alternating between cuddling and cot to finally get her to sleep, I felt at my wits' end. Don't know how to proceed.

It might not have been the sleep training that made it worse, she might have had worse sleep anyway. My DD is also 10 months and for the past 2 weeks she's woken pretty much hourly. I think it's because she's teething and almost crawling.

It's really hard but it's probably not anything you've done or haven't done.

Hey, sounds really hard!! I hope you can get some support in the day and maybe get some rest too.
I have never sleep trained so don’t know much about that.. But I do have a nearly 10 month old who has never really been a great sleeper!!
She has definitely been worse recently due to teething. So a bit of calpol and ambesol has helped a bit there. And basically a lot of support with sleeping - cuddling, feeding, rocking as much as she needs. I do co sleep though so snooze through a lot of extra feeds.
Is your little one teething? Is it a developmental thing E.g learning a new skill… Crawling?
Hopefully it’s just a temporary thing and once the phase passes (teeth come through/masters the skill) she will go back to her usual sleep pattern.
I would just try and support her through this as best you can (get support if you can too). Everything (the good and the bad) is always temporary!!

Thanks for the responses, it could be just a coincidence about the timing but it seem unlikely - who knows though. No major developments recently that I've noticed, she's been crawling since 7mo and on her way to walking but not there yet.

Last night we were up pretty much every half hour but finally had some good naps today. I've stopped the sleep training anyway so hopefully will settle back to normal soon. I'll maybe try again when she's older