11mo mad sleeping, getting desperate!

[MissHoney85]

For the last week or so my 11mo DD's sleep has gone haywire. She still self settles fine for naps and at the start of the night, but wakes after 2 hours and from that point will not go back to sleep in her cot. I'm having to sit with her all night on the rocking chair in her room, breastfeeding her almost constantly (just comfort suckling mostly - she eats really well in the day and was down to BFing only once or twice at night before this). If I put her down in her cot, she just sits / stands up and cries. If I wait until she's deeply asleep, she either wakes right away and sits / stands, or wakes after 10 minutes or so. (Which is the worst, as I've usually just got into bed!) DH doesn't do wakes from 12-6 for a variety of reasons I won't go into here. I work on a Monday and Tuesday and am dreading going to work again this week on effectively no sleep. DD is so tired too, she's not her usual happy self in the day. I'm feeling pretty desperate and open to any advice at this point.

Poor you OP, no advice really, but constant waking is so gruelling and it's so sad when little ones aren't themselves from over-tiredness, loads of sympathy for you.

Have a think about doing some proper sleep training either from a book or a consultant. It worked instantly for us, literally the very first night. Wish we'd done it as soon as one week into the problem ie where you are now.

Thank you @Elbie79. I nearly hired a sleep consultant during a previous bad phase (though looking back it wasn't as bad as this!) but balked at the cost and then things sorted themselves out. I've read loads of sleep books, articles, websites etc. Most of the advice seems to be around self settling, which she can do for naps and the start of the night, or increasing day sleep, which is a constant battle but I give her plenty of opportunities to sleep in the day and don't see how I can make her nap more. I can't bring myself to do anything involving letting her cry.

Have you only recently gone back to work? Wonder if that's unsettled her a bit? They say they catch up on feeding when they're with uou when you go back?

@kitkatsky I've been working since September so would have thought she's used to it by now. And this seemed to start last weekend after we'd had a few days together.

I wonder if it's related to attachment somehow though. I was trying to wind down breastfeeding before, maybe I was too hasty and this is a reaction to that. I'm just not sure how to break this cycle. I'm too scared to put her down because I know she'll just wake again, so every night she gets more used to sleeping on me. My back can't take much more of this bloody chair!