Screaming to sleep

[Ali170]

Hi, does anyone else have this? Our 8 month old baby girl has always been a terrible sleeper, and for the past few months basically screams the house down to sleep. Nothing we can do seems to stop her from doing this. She goes absolutely mental clawling at the cot, standing up etc. Won't be fed or rocked to sleep. We've tried holding her, sitting with her, changing bed time but nothing seems to work. She is delightful when awake during the day and only screams once in the cot both at nap and bedtime Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated as is horrible seeing her so upset as well as I am sure driving our neighbours insane.

There is a sleep regression around this time at it’s also peak seperation anxiety. The worst will pass! How much does she nap in the day? She could be quite overtired (overtiredness is like caffeine to a baby!)

She naps ok I think, about three hours over two naps. She just screams regardless of what we do - whether it be sit with her, pick her up, leave the room etc. She has always cried to get to sleep (including in the pram or sling) but now seems to be so much worse. Can be two hours of continuous crying. No idea if we should sit with her or pop in and out (have tried both, nothing seems to work)

What do you do to get her to (eventually) go to sleep?

One of my babies did this - it turns out he was really overtired so we shifted his naps and bedtime forward by around 15 mins and made sure he had a proper wind down with no screens or music, just books and quiet time for about 10 mins before he went down

It really helped and after a few days, the screaming stopped completely. I think the shock transition from noisy environment to a quiet, dark room when overtired was too much!

Often I end up holding her until she calms ro try and soothe her as much as possible as I have her being so upset. Sometimes feed her if desperatw but ideally want to find a way to stop it happening in the first place

It sounds like she's often falling asleep in your arms (being held or fed), I'd suggest aiming towards soothing her to sleep in the cot.

The key to success here is consistency. Total, anal level consistency rather than the scattergun try-everything approach. So pick a method and do it consistantly from beining to end, right through to until fully asleep. And expect to need to do the same thing every nap and every bedtime for a good 3 weeks until you start seeing big improvements.

My DS 8 months can cry too when he’s overtired before going to sleep, it’s tough to hear I know. You’re not alone! I’ve noticed DS needs a nap 1 1/2 hours after waking in the morning then three hours after his first nap. Maybe adjust nap times?
I agree with @FATEdestiny

Thanks all.

@Ali170 my 7 month old does this sometimes, never for very long, but I'm pretty sure it's when I'm putting him down a bit too late and he's overtired. Similarly, he sometimes wakes up screaming and I've realised that's when he's still tired and annoyed he's awake.