Please help! 13 month old hysterical

[Anniemay82]

My daughter has never been a great sleeper but recently things have become unbearable. She goes down ok with same routine since week 5 but at the moment she wakes at really erratic times, sometimes screaming for over an hour and won't be comforted. Some nights she wakes every 45 mins. Both her father and I work full time so we are all at wits end and exhausted. Need to do something but Surely controlled crying is not appropriate for an hysterical child? She is walking (has been for last 2 and a half months) and very active in the day. She should be exhausted. Meals times are a headache too (bit that's a different story).

I am not against CC in principle but not sure if it is appropriate.
I try to make sure she gets a good nap in the day and would love to go back to a few weeks ago when she only woke for a bottle twice a night and go straight back to sleep.
I realise this maybe a phase but we can't take much more... Both at breaking point. I am also pregnant with number 2 and dreading 2 that won't sleep...

is she waking up because she is hungry and do you feed her when she wakes up? sorry to ask obvious questions.
it does sound like a nightmare.

It does indeed sound like a nightmare. It also sounds like there could be a medical reason for the upset. Our baby was waking every 45mins in pain due to an allergy which was gradually injuring her intestines. Please do not do CC. It sounds like your baby really needs your comfort and ruling out medical issues would be a good first step IMO.

Been to see dr in desperation this morning and she couldn't see any medical reason why she might be waking up but how would know about the allergy?? Is there some key signs? When she wakes up on a normal night she just wants a bottle and goes back to sleep. That's twice a night. At the moment we are trying extra bottles in desperation but they were not working last night.

I'm not sure if it's the same for every baby, but our's was waking up very upset and wriggly every 45 mins or so. The only way to comfort her was to hold her upright and walk about. She's never been a great sleeper and, like your's, has always been very active in the day. The GPs (we saw three in the end!) weren't much help, to be honest, and it wasn't until I insisted on getting referred to a paediatric gastroenterologist that we got a proper diagnosis. The allergy had been there all along (I exclusively breast fed for six months and she's been getting the cows milk protein through my milk which had injured her gut). Solids introduced at weaning irritated an already sensitive belly and we had a nightmare few months with things gradually getting worse and worse. The allergy was confirmed when we did an elimination and challenge diet and we could then see that she had a definite reaction to cow and goat milk. We're both on a dairy free diet now and things are back to normal.

If it's not an allergy, one other thought I had on your situation is that my daughter (11months) is currently going through a lot of separation anxiety and gets particularly upset at night. You mention that you're both working. Could it be that she's missing you during the day and it's coming out as hysteria at night? This site has some good info on it
m.parenting.com/entry/view/id/7995

I really feel for you all. It must be awful trying to hold down a full time job with this going on at night.

Teething? Ds is hysterical when teething and he wakes up regularly. Cal pol and bottle usually settle but calpol has to be topped up every four hours

Weird q, maybe, but are you sure she is actually awake? Ds had Night terrors regularly from about 15m and especially when over excited / over tired or feverish . Repetitive screaming but eyes side open, often saying the same thing over and over or pointing, but actually fast asleep. It is very unnerving, and we found that any intervention or attempt to comfort or wake just provoked and prolonged the episode. It was usually full on shout/ screaming, not grizzly crying.

Could it be that ?

What do you do blu ?

About night terrors?
We just made sure he was warm and safe and lay next to him not speaking or touching him.
It would happen several nights in a row, then stop for a few nights, then start up again.

You could have described my ds until about 2 weeks ago.

He was just like you describe, awake 10 times a night, really unsettled etc.

My mum said she thought it was milk. I wasn't so sure, but eventually I bought some goats milk and stopped all cows milk. He is like a different baby. He's slept through, he's happy and settled, his permanent cold has dried up and his nappy contents has returned to normal.

I'm going to take him to the GP after new year to see if I can get a proper test done. I'm amazed at the difference in such a short a unit of time. It was like a switch. It took 24 hours for the change. I have bought goats milk yoghurt and butter and cheese and just cut out all cow milk.