Hi
Am new to mumsnet and posting in desperation as need some suggestions for getting my daughter to sleep through the night again.
Having started to sleep 7pm-7am, my 8.5 months old daughter has now started to wake in the early morning hours (anytime from 2am - 6am) and scream and scream until she is fed. (am BF at night and in morning). She has breakfast, lunch & dinner and loves her food - until last week was refusing all day time milk but will now have a small bottle mid-afternoon. I hide milk in food and also she has cheese, yoghurt etc to try and make up the shortfall. Have tried to increase the amount of food she is eating to see if that makes a difference - but she might go one night until 6am then the next until 2am with no appreciable difference to daytime food/routine.
Each time she wakes we try to settle her first without feeding - she's also been teething and had a short bout of illness so those threw things out a little - but she screams and screams and screams. Once fed she will go back in her cot wide awake and put herself back to sleep in total silence ... hence I am pretty sure that hunger is playing a part and it's not just a search for comfort/solace.
She's really good at getting to sleep on her own, and was quite good at putting herself back to sleep - have been able to put her down awake ever since she learnt to suck her thumb at around 3mths - but it's just these early morning wake-ups that have us foxed.
To add another potential spanner in the works, I went back to work 3 days a week when she was 7 months, and she started nursery which she seems to be fine with so far (as far as you can tell anyway).
So ... is the night waking really hunger again - it can be anytime from 2am - 6am and no real pattern? She's also recently started crawling and pulling herself up so constantly on the move and presumably using up more energy?
or is it the start of separation anxiety? has going to nursery and things changing just upset the balance? and she's after comfort rather than food and we're going to have to resort to some sleep training?
It's getting to be a problem because I am finding it difficult to get back to sleep and then get up for work - as well as being incompetent as a restul of sleep deprivation. Also much more stressful if we do spend 20 mins settling her before resorting to feeding.
Has anyone experienced anything similar and can give me some wise words of wisdom?
Thanks