Up 12 times last night and 10 the night before

[Kaz4755]

Hi

Just wondering if anyone has any advice, the last two nights have been horrendous. My dd is 7 months today and sleep was awful until about 5.5 months then it was only me getting up twice a night but the last two nights she has been awake and screaming virtually every 45 minutes from when we put her down at 7. Does anyone have any ideas? She doesn't have any teeth yet, she is bf apart from 1 bottle before bed and i changed the formula from aptamil 1 to aptamil follow on 2. Help! I finally thought we were getting somewhere with sleep...3 nights ago she did 7pm-5am....

Firstly - could it be a temporary sleep regression? Is she learning a new skill? Teething or sick?

Secondly, what happens when she naps or you co sleep? Is it an issue then? Could it be the cot, separation anxiety or wind?

Thirdly, could there be an underlying health issues such as digestive disorders or aches and pains from the birth?

I would look to answering those questions first? If you conclude that she is just not a good sleeper you could starting looking into some gentle sleep training?

Hi walktheplank

Thank you for replying. She has learnt to roll recently so perhaps it's that or I'm thinking teething. I don't know what we do for her though, we have her ibuprofen after i fed her and then calpol four hours later but that didn't seem to help. She can self soothe, sometimes anyway! Putting her down for day time naps now are generally pretty successful. We only put her in her own room a week and a half ago and things we're going pretty well, perhaps she is waking up realising I am no longer right there. We do do some sleep training, we leave her for two minutes and then go in and soothe and then repeat which 9/10 we only have to do once but perhaps I'm getting that wrong. In the night I probably whip in quicker. We started weaning about a month ago and so far that has gone well but perhaps something isn't agreeing with her. I feel helpless when I can't soothe her...

So it sounds like she was doing fine? And she is moving towards being a good sleeper with this as a blip? Is that right? If she is a good napper that would suggest there are no underlying sleep or health issues.

Weaning, rolling and a new room are big deals. I would hazard a guess she's going through a development leap and her little brain is working hard. I would Imagine that she is just a little unsettled at the moment.

My advice is to sit it out and let it pass. My DS1 would have a sleep regression with every major milestone that would last exactly three weeks. In the end we would split the night and do shifts so we each got a block of sleep and didn't do much ambitious in the day. Once I was at work I co-slept! Moved a mattress into the nursery and slept with him (safely so no pillows or duvet Just a sleeping bag). He slept fine with me which told me that what he needed was me. Once he started to settle a bit more (we'd try him on his cot every night) we would sleep train again and it would be fine. I think you know when the phase has passed.

HTH

The milestones that unsettled him were: rolling, standing, walking, house move, nursery, holidays. Also teething and language development set him off. We are potty training now and we have a new baby so he often comes to me for a cuddle ATM. But I will say that he is a great sleeper usually and goes to sleep at 8 and sleeps right through to 8 and has done since he was 1. He goes to sleep easily and now often asks to go to sleep and have a nap. Moving into a big boy bed never fazed him. I firmly believe being kind when he was unsettled has given him a healthy sleep approach.

Thanks walktheplank! Congratulations on the new baby! I suppose the sleeping side of it I have found so very hard and much tougher than I ever imagined! But i don't want her to be upset and i go in and try my best to help her withou getting her out of her cot. I don't think she should be too phased by her cot as I have been putting he down for naps in it since she was 3 months old to get her used to the transition and she settles in the cot at my parents quite well so far so perhaps it is developmental. She is very tired and cranky today!

Kaz

How's it going now?