Waking in the night from previously sleeping through....

[KSmed]

from 6 months old, our daughter has slept through from 7.00pm to 6.30am - bliss! She is now just 7 months old and has started waking frequently in the night (sometimes upwards of 8 times).

She generally starts waking up sometime between 1am and 4am. She isn't hungry, doesn't have a dirty nappy and most times she can be ' shushed' back to sleep within seconds with a reassuring hand on her head. I have tried leaving her and sometimes she settles herself but sometimes it builds and she becomes quite distressed.

She generally has a 30min nap at 9am, an hour midday and another 30mins around 3-4pm.

Putting her to bed is really easy. We bathe and feed her and put her to bed whilst she is stil awake and she settles herself and goes to sleep within about 15mins of putting her into her cot.

Can anyone help explain why she might have suddenly started waking and becoming distressed? And does anyone have any top tips to get back to our blissful sleeping through the night?

Sounds like sleep regression. Have a read of this. Is she just starting to crawl or stand up? Eating? Exploring? Their minds are developing so fast that it can disrupt their sleep patterns too.

My dd now sleep crawls (10 months, been doing it since 8 months) because all of sudden she can!

It could also be teething. Recommend Nelsons powders, gel and painkillers if really bad.

No other tips I'm afraid. I will say that we've just come out of about 7 weeks of hellish nights. Teeth, regression, tears, repeat x 100000 She'd just got in to a lovely pattern too from about 7.5 months (going to sleep without breast, having naps at similar times) it ALL went out of the window at 8 months!

There is no magic solution to get them to sleep, as once you do, they cut a tooth or start doing something else new and their 'new' development affects their sleep.

My best advice is to be more prepared for lack of sleep - so I've napped when I can, housework has gone to pot and I've gone to bed early to grab a couple of hours before it all starts.

Hope she comes out of it soon

Thanks for the advice and the link. She is eating, becoming more mobile and has 5 teeth through - the last 3 in the last three weeks... which maybe goes someway to explaining the new awakenings.

Thanks