10mo sleep going downhill

[vgiraffe]

Can anyone help me figure out why??

My DD started sleeping much better in the last couple of months. She was usually self settling at night and most naps, then waking once or twice in the night and being bf almost to sleep quite quickly.

In the last week or so (before we went away for xmas so not that although I'm sure it didn't help), she has been waking in the night and not going back to sleep for 1-2 hours. Not fully 'it's morning' awake but just not sleepy, however much I bf her! She has also stopped self settling mostly, and will cry if left. But won't stop crying if I go back in or even pick her up.

Separation anxiety? Teething (think her molars are coming but doesn't seem to bother her much in the day)? Some sleep regression or growth spurt?? Due back to work soon so feeling a bit anxious about her being able to settle without me.

I would say she's ready for night weaning, so find an alternate way you get her back to sleep (in the cot) at night wake ups.

Do you think that will help? When her sleep has started to improve before, we were starting to work on reducing her night feeds, but now that things have gone downhill I don't know how she'll be able to resettle at night without milk if I can't even settle her with it!

Is she waking at about the same time? If so you could try the wake to sleep method. It worked for my DD. Good luck!

No, she is waking most nights just once now but times are quite random... She did self settle to sleep this evening with no crying so that's great. Now to wait and see if the waking pattern continues tonight.

It sounds like the 8-10 month sleep regression has arrived late for you which is what happened to us. Night weaning may just mean a baby that wakes still anyway without a feed to get them back to sleep quickly.

It won’t last forever and it’s best to ride it out and get as much rest as possible when you can x

No advice but solidarity from me! DS also 10 months old and is waking a lot from 2am onwards, not really hungry (also breastfed) and seems cross that he can’t get back to sleep! We’ve co-slept part of the night every night for the last week... which is fine, but I find it so uncomfortable. This morning he was awake from 3-4:30am and I was so annoyed by the end of it, that I couldn’t sleep!
A couple of weeks ago I was telling people how much better his sleep was. Serves me right.. Really hoping it’s the 8-10 month regression and will pass soon.
& OP.

Thanks for the support! A few days ago I thought her sleep was improving but apparently not. She has actually been sleeping 9 hours the last few nights but still waking in the early hours. My current technique is feed for a while, put in cot and let her play for half an hour so I can go back to bed and then when she cries again I feed her again and she goes back to sleep! For naps and bedtime still trying to put her down as per usual routine but mostly she ends up properly crying and I feed her to sleep... please tell me I'm not getting her back into 'bad habits'!

We’re still having lots of waking too but like you say I think it’s getting marginally better. He is fighting naps and bedtime hard when he used to go down like a dream (we then had other issues like lots of waking through the evening but you know, can’t have it all!)

At the moment, I’m of the opinion that “this too shall pass” and you do what you have to do to get through! For me that means bringing him back into bed with us and napping with him if I have to! If it means feeding her to sleep for you, and you’re happy to do so, then do it! You can always change it again when things are more settled.