Teething or something else?

[Foxandrobin]

I am really struggling with 13mo at night. She seems fine in the day, maybe a bit more grumpy but the nights have been hellish for nearly two weeks. Bedtime is fine but I am spending hours at night trying to resettle her. Last night she woke at 9.30pm and was not back in the cot until 12.30pm (she carried on waking the rest of the night too but this was the worst bit) most of the time I am stood up rocking her whilst she fidgets and moans but as soon as I put her down she screams hysterically. Last night it got to the point where she was screaming even in my arms so I had to put some Tv on as it was the only thing that calmed her down enough for me to eventually start rocking her back to sleep.

Prior to this she had started sleeping until around 4am where she would have a small bottle of milk and go back down for a couple more hours. She now seems to want to drink endless amounts of milk at night as sometimes it’s the only thing to calm her when she gets worked up.

She’s got top and bottom central incisors through already, there was sleep disruption with these but absolutely nothing like the scale it is now. The only other teeth I can see coming through is one top lateral incisor.

Any advice or reassurance gratefully received as my back and arms can’t take much more, and neither can my mind!

Silent reflux? Frequent night wake ups coupled with desperate for milk overnight is always an indication that my daughter silent reflux is now not being controlled by her medication. She went through an awful relapse at 13 months which was as bad as her newborn days.

Thanks @Superscientist that’s interesting, she did have silent reflux as a newborn but it cleared up on its own after a few months. I’ve no idea if it’s something that can return later on, might have to do some research on that!

@Foxandrobin the biggest lesson I have learnt in the 4 years of having a daughter with reflux is it's not a linear journey!

My daughters reflux goes in and out of being under control. Things that trigger it are growth spurts, teething and colds.

Does she settle with calpol? Is she sticking her fingers in her ears or is there anything (dried goo) on her pillowcase to indicate a possible ear infection?

@Superscientist are there any other indicators which lead to diagnosis and medication for your daughter? She seems ok in the day time, just wondering if there’s anything else I should be looking out for.

@MeinKraft Ive not noticed either of those things but will keep an eye out. Last night we gave calpol at 10pm but it still took 2.5 hours after that to get her back down asleep in her cot.

Could be an ear infection.

My 3 year old was similar - could not work out what on earth was the matter. Turns out she had threadworms! They can cause awful night time irritability. She had no other symptoms and never complained of itching or discomfort. We treated with OTC meds and has been fine since.

We can hear her refluxing which is the main indicator. You have the be quiet and listen carefully we can hear her bring up the milk and swallow it again. She gets more hiccups. She has to be in my arms to sleep and her preferred position is lying across my body and uses my face as a pillow..

When it is really bad you can hear it in the day too but since about 8 months her reflux has been almost exclusively at night. She has been on omperazole since 8 weeks. Gaviscon from 6 weeks to 8 months and then from 15 months. Domperidone from 7 -9 months and then from 16 months.

The best time for her reflux was 10-13 months. We were able to drop down to just omperazole and we were on the verge of stopping that too. It coincided with her growth stopping she only gained 200g in 6 months. As soon as she started gaining weight again at 13 months it returned and by 15 months we were back on all of the medication. Since then we have periods of stability and then it goes out of wack and we need to get the meds adjusted again.

@Sipperskipper oh gosh, that sounds awful! How did you know that’s what it was?

Thanks @Superscientist thats really helpful to know. I gave her some gaviscon with her bedtime bottle last night and she seemed to settle easier but then was really unsettled and upset again from around midnight onwards and only milk calmed her every time. I might try some gaviscon in her nighttime milk too to see if that makes any difference.

@Foxandrobin her nursery mentioned there had been threadworm noted (although not DD specifically) - so I just treated her as a precaution.