My lo has never been a good sleeper since the 4m sleep regression. At 6m I decided to sleep train and move her into her own room after spending so much time with her crying and waking up every hour. The sleep training worked, for a month and a half we both got amazing sleep. She would occasionally still wake for a bottle but she would sleep long stretches in her own bed.
Suddenly, the past few weeks has been hell again. I have ruled out teething as she will happily sleep next to me in bed but when it comes to sleeping in her own room alone she cries and cries. I can get her to sleep initially, it’s just the staying asleep. She sleeps for around an hour before realising she’s alone. I watch on the camera when she wakes and I can see her attempting to self settle by replacing her dummy and laying on her side but that lasts a few seconds before she goes frantic! I put her down at 8pm today and as I write this, it is the 4th time I’ve had to get her back to sleep. Every time she wakes up she screams the place down like she’s being tortured. Therefore I have gone back to co-sleeping when it gets to around 1-2am and she’s still not sleeping for a long stretch. As soon as she’s in bed with me she’s so happy and will sleep for a long time.
Before, getting her to sleep she does rely on someone initially but when she woke up in the night she would get herself back to sleep. I now find that she is using my hands for comfort, she is always searching for them to hold. I have tried to replace with a comforter / teddy but she knows it’s not me.
I have read that separation anxiety happens around this age but I am just not sure how to tackle this. I’m sure most parents would be happy with their baby sleeping with them if they got a long stretch of sleep. However, for me, it’s just not ideal. My baby is quite a fussy little girl anyway and I find the days very hard. So when I finally got into the routine of her in her own room, I had the evening to destress and it made a big positive impact on my mental health. I also feel like every time I make progress something happens and I go 10 steps backwards.
I am just wanting to know what I can do to help, or do I just ride this out. It just seems like she’s lost all self soothing techniques and is relying on me to get her to sleep.