Development milestones disrupting sleep - but why?

[excusethemess]

Hi everyone

My DD is 7 months old and has never been a fantastic sleeper, but we settled quite happily into a pattern of bed at 7.30pm feed around 4am and up at 7am.
The last couple of weeks her sleep has gone completely to pot, waking at 2am ish, being restless, screaming for an hour at 4am, ending up in every possible angle in her cot.
She is on the cusp of crawling and when I mentioned it to HV she said this is the reason. But why? Why would crawling cause such sleep disturbance - I thought she'd sleep better.
Anyone elses babies do this? I'm so utterly tired today, last night was so awful. I really don't know what to do with her.

I think you just have to ride it out. Her sleep should settle down when she has learnt to crawl. I think their sleep is disturbed because the new skill is occupying their brain. There is a book called the wonder weeks which explains all about developmental milestones and when to expect them.

My DS (7 mths) is doing exactly the same, we are encouraging him to crawl all the time in the (vain) hope it may speed him up - and stop the protracted night wakings........

moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/2006/02/qa_what_are_sle.html

The above article explains about development and sleep much better than I can! For what it's worth my DD (7 months and also a rubbish sleeper, day and night) has been through this and we just had to ride it out. A combination of learning to crawl and teething. If the crawling round the cot situation is getting you down, I strongly recommend getting a video monitor (if you haven't already). It's revolutionised our life! DD needs to have a crawl and a roll for about 10 - 20 mins before settling off to sleep, and once we'd stopped going in and 'rescuing' her she settled a lot faster. We could watch through the monitor for peace of mind in case she got stuck. Also invested in wraparound things for the cot, not bumpers just breathable material things that Velcro to the sides to stop her getting head, fingers and hands caught in the bars. Oh and she has suddenly turned into a tummy sleeper which has also helped!
Sorry for bit of a ramble but hope it helps :)

moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/2006/02/qa_what_are_sle.html