7 month-old suddenly won't settle - HELP!

[ExistentialistCat]

DD, 7 months old, has been utterly miserable for 4 days and 3 nights now. She's hardly taking any milk and refuses all solids. She will only settle to sleep on my/DH's chest, day or night. We've had 3 nights of hourly wakings and a long awake spell between 1.30 and 4.30. I'm so tired (also newly pg - what were we thinking?!) that I can't stop crying.

HV recommended GP visit. GP said nothing wrong and vaguely muttered something about a virus or teething. Not that helpful.

I'm happy (ish) to do this settling-on-my-chest thing if this is something DD needs because she's ill and needs a bit of extra attention. Or if it's the infamous clingy phase that everyone talks about at around this age. I'm worried, though, a) that I will not physically be able to sustain this for as long as she needs it and b) that it might become a long-term habit for her.

I'm so exhausted I can only see this situation in terms of either settling her on me for the rest of her life or doing hours of controlled crying, the thought of which makes my stomach turn.

Does she have any teeth yet? Is she dribbling a lot? Sore bottom, red cheeks?

Is she BF or FF?

If my LO's were like this, I would give them some teething gel first to numb the gums and then a feed after, to soothe them back to sleep and lay them down in cot again. They'd then sleep for about 3 hours until teething gel wore off, then I'd repeat again. Only way I got through this stage. If the teething was really bad I'd give them calpol or calprofen every 4 hours.

Whenever they get ill they do need lots of cuddles, it will pass and they won't do it forever, you can do some gentle sleep training once they're better again, if it has become a habit. I always use the Baby Whisperer sleep training method as it's not so harsh.

But co sleep for now if it works for you. I always popped them back into cot once dozy again myself.

Sending you a big big hug x