10 month old- what's wrong?!

[GrumpySausage]

My 10 month old DD has always been a hit and miss sleeper but it's really deteriorated in the past few months.

She started sleeping well except for one night feed around 5 months and all seemed well. However since Christmas there's no predicting what's going to happen each night despite us following the same routine each night.

This week for example we've had a night of one wake up but then alternate nights of going down at 7 like a dream followed by constant wake ups every hour combined with constant whining. It's not a cry but more a whine. We try and settle her but it carries on as soon as she's down and can go on for a while. We've tried feeding her but she sometimes refuses a bottle. Last night she must have been up 4 hours on and off.

She is suffering with a bit of a cough and the inevitable teething. She also had two huge nappy explosions last night which required a whole outfit change.

I'm just not sure how to tackle it as I don't know what she wants! She doesn't always want milk, she's fights cuddles sometimes and it's not always her nappy. It's really getting to me as each night is so unpredictable. Also my DS slept like a dream from 3 months (I know ) so I've not dealt with this before.

Has anyone any ideas? I'm really starting to struggle mentally with the lack of sleep and routine.

How are naps during the day?

It could be the teeth really bothering them too, poop explosions always seem to go alongside this with my little one.

Thanks for replying @Haz. Naps are good- for example yesterday she had an hour and half in the morning and two and a half hours in the afternoon- she self settles in her own cot and there's none of the whining.

I think it may all come back to teething. She has 7 already but I can see an 8th coming through. Like with the sleeping, my DS never batted an eyelid at teething so I'm so unsure what is normal or not?

Combination of teething, cold and the 8-10 month sleep regression I expect.

Sadly there are no answers (I have two really shit sleepers).
But it will get better again. Who knows how long for, before the next teeth/cold/ developmental leap kicks in.

Hang in there

Thanks @Foodylicious -the perfect storm I suppose.

My 10 month old has 6 teeth, but 2 more coming through now which are bothering him waaay more than the others did.

Maybe naps are actually too long? If my little one has one long (1.5hr plus) nap in the morning, I usually cap the next one at an hour, otherwise he will wake up really early the next morning or won't seem tired enough at night. I know they're all different though, but it might be worth a try.

Thanks @Haz, that's worth a try.

I've downloaded the huckleberry app so I can keep track of her naps. She's just gone down for a nap now so will let her sleep then cap this afternoon. Fingers crossed 😊

Does giving nurofen at bedtime make any difference? My DS suffered horribly with his teeth, even with nurofen and anbesol his sleep was very disturbed by the pain.

I've been giving her calpol at bedtime-doesn't seem to be having much effect. Is there anything else that might help the pain?

We always found nurofen was better for teeth so might be worth trying. I would normally give nurofen at bedtime and then calpol in the night if he woke and I thought teeth might be responsible.

Also anbesol liquid was good for numbing the gums whilst the painkillers worked.

Great, thanks sunshine, just off to boots so will stock up.

No advice but my 10 month old is similar so sympathies, except I wish she would whine, she cries instead, and often wakes up instantly hysterical, screaming on and off for up to 2 hours til we get her back to sleep! Does your DC whine and then self-settle eventually? Because if so I would just leave them to whine! The only reason I have to see to DD is cos she gets hysterical, I would deffo just leave to moan if she was just whinging and would go back to sleep! But as you say it's different every night, it can be Mon - sleep all night no bother, Tues - sleep ok but wakes up crying for a few mins twice and needs us to give her dummy but then back to sleep, Wed - wakes up at 11.30pm screaming hysterically, does a poo, nappy change, refuses milk but won't go back to sleep, rocked in rocking chair til asleep, tried to put her down, woke up screaming, repeat and she's not back down till 1.30am. - Thurs - sleeps all night again - Friday - wakes up at 3am screaming hysterically, drinks 5oz of milk but then resumes the screaming, rocked to sleep in rocking chair and eventually in bed at 5am....etc!! Exhausting on the bad nights

Oh @MeadowHay I feel your pain! That's exactly how our week is. When I say whine, it's a cry though not a full blown one. We do tend to leave her for a while but then sometimes it escalates to hysterical and other times she self settles.

Its maddening isn't it, the unpredictability. When she was waking for 1/2 feeds at least I knew what to expect/sleep when I could but now I go to bed dreading what's going to happen.

And as I type this she's just woken up crying.

I have a ten month old who so far has been a rubbish sleeper. We had a month from 8-9 month where he slept better and only woke a few times and was quickly settled but he’s back to waking every two hours and is usually up for at least an hour then. He only naps for an hour and half in morning and usually max an hour in the afternoon (I wake him up), I found any longer and he is up more in night or wakes incredibly early. You have my sympathy.

Thanks @crazymare20. It's nice to know I'm not alone.

I've settled her but it's taken a bottle and she's gone straight bs k to sleep which is good but I'm expecting the whining to start again soon.

The only way I can describe the noise is 'yayayayayayaya' but continuous and with her fingers in her mouth. I think it must be her teeth. But all of the teeth take years to come in right?

Grumpy I just read your post and then DD just coughed loudly on the monitor and is now grumbling... I get the dread when I go to bed as well. it doesn't help that she's in our room still and probably about a third of the time when we go to bed it wakes her up, usually she goes straight back to sleep either herself or just needing me to help her find her dummy, but occasionally she wakes up properly and cries and needs anywhere between 10 mins of patting back to sleep to a bottle of milk and 2 hours of input...but tbh she's been a bad and unpredictable sleeper on and off since birth, I remember the newborn days of the first 2 months when I was still breastfeeding and she was waking every few hours for feeds and very difficult to put down to bed asleep and I would have the worst anxiety and dread about how much sleep I would be getting that night especially if she was restless in bed and I'd be just waiting for her to kick off crying even though I'd spent most of the last 5 hours with her attached to my breast...so tbf now is better than that still...but still hard. I have an anxiety disorder so I get irrationally anxious about stuff because I know there's no point worrying about how she'll sleep, it's not going to change what she actually does! As a general rule I go to bed around 10/10.30pm most nights, sometimes earlier because I never know when it's going to be a bad night. It's the worst when I dare stay up late and go to bed at 11.30pm and she sets off hysterical at that time and then I don't get to bed til the early hours of the morning! So I rarely chance it. I'm sorry to hear it's tough for you too but I'm ngl I feel slightly better that it's not just my DD that has something 'wrong' with her that is doing this. Nobody else I know babies does or has done similar and the GP seemed concerned (but not just because of this, she's also a 'high needs' baby that cries loads too). What time does she go to bed and does she nap well, out of interest? And is she in your room?

Hi @MeadowHay. DD goes down at 7 as a rule and has always self settles which is about the only good bit of her sleep habits. I tend to head to bed around 10 too but the past week it's been as early as 8.30! ( started back at work ).

No she's not in our room, she went into her own room at about 4 months as she was too big for the Moses basket. She naps well at the moment but she has had phases where she doesn't. I have an older DS and I was conscious she was always napping on the go so I try and get one nap in at home as she naps better then.

I'm sorry to hear you're feeling anxious. I've not been diagnosed but I suspect i have some mild pnd. I've had some really dark times past few months but I haven't had the courage to go to the GP.

DD hasn't stirred since the bottle but I'm tuned in to her. I miss the days of no child deep sleep. I swear you never sleep as deep once you have kids. My DS was a dream sleeper but I always have half an ear out for him too.

I hope your night isn't too bad.

We wanted to move DD into her room after the Easter weekend was the plan - but week running up to Easter she was up for hours every single night so that put paid to that idea, don't see the point in moving her when it's going to be even more work for us going in and out of her room all the time! She sorted herself out last time I posted and now is up and absolutely hysterical, DH is with her.

Actually, thinking about it, she was kind of doing a 'yayayayaya' type cry initially too . She has her first two teeth coming through, maybe this is all just teething, but then as you say we are in for a looooong road in that case...!

Not sure if it helps but I had a fantastic sleeper until I went back to work and then we had a couple of months of exactly what you describe. In the end I put it down to DC trying to make up some 'cuddle time' as it wasn't always milk that they wanted, just to be cuddled. Teething didn't help the situation.

It nearly broke me - the sudden unpredictable waking in the night was far worse than knowing that I would be up 2/3 times.

The good news was that they suddenly went back to sleeping again and has been a fantastic sleeper ever since.

Hang in there, try to make the night waking as bearable as possible. I used to have lots of fleecy throws on a chair in DC's room so that I could stay cosy. I had a travel mug of tea upstairs that I made before I went to bed and had some sleepy music that I could play in DC's room.

It will get better, just try to see it as another phase.

It might simply be that you have a child who simply does not like to sleep or need a lot of sleep. I have a sn dd and she's always been like this. She will happily bounce round her bedroom to 11pm and be up a few times during the night and then start the day at 5am 😮😳 it leaves us all 😬 but we just get on with it.

Thanks @RomaineCalm and@UnPocoLoco2 .

@MeadowHay I imagine teething does make them feel pretty rubbish- think when we have toothache. Must be much harder when they little.

DD woke about half hour ago and I've ended up settling her with a bottle. I was going to give her some Nurofen but she fell asleep on the bottle so I quickly transferred her and she's staged asleep. If she wakes soon I'll give her some teething powder too.

Hope your DD got settled x

DD slept until 4.30 but no amount of settling or bottle would please her after that. Cue 3 hours of 'yayayayayaya'. I'm so tired. I'm also overwhelmed with the constant noise.

I work part time but long days (10 hours) from 7am and I'm already feeling exhausted about work tomorrow.

Oh Grumpy, sorry you had such a shit night. Ours wasn't as bad comparatively but still grim - she woke hysterical about ten to 11, wouldn't settle, gave Calpol, settled down with DH walking the room with her but wouldn't take her dummy just cheewed on it and cried so we think our current problem must be teething?! Then just set off screaming again randomly, wouldn't have any milk, so we gave her Nurofen and DH finally got her to sleep pacing the floors with her about half past midnight. Then she was up screaming at 2.15am chewing her dummy again and hand, got her to drink 4oz of milk and then I rocked her in the rocking chair and she took her dummy after a bit and thankfully got her asleep in her bed by 2.45am, she semi woke with DH doing a loud snore a few mins later so he had to pat her for another 5 mins or so and replace dummy but she went off. Then up at 5.45am which is when the Nurofen would have wore off? Replaced dummy and patted her back to sleep within about 10 mins then up for the day at 7.45. She's been difficult today too, lots of bursts of hysterical screaming and dummy chewing/refusal. Had Calpol and Nurofen this morning and a few doses of Dentinox. The Calpol seems to make no difference tho so going to stop that now. She had two 30 min naps in the whole day and finally fallen asleep about 10 mins ago after trying for over an hour! Dreading tonight. DH and I are both at work tomorrow.