What is wrong with my 12mo's ability to sleep?

[onetwothreenc]

I don't even know how to describe what I mean really. Her sleep is just constantly disturbed by something or other. She either startles herself awake (more so during naps and sometimes at the beginning of a night), and I mean her whole body jumps and she'll often suddenly cry. Or, past midnight, she'll be mostly asleep but start writhing and crying and need resettling because I'm assuming, she's uncomfortable with gas. Most nights we have a period of 1-2 hours of her needing resettling every 5-10 minutes.

As a result, we contact nap (because it's the only way to resettle her quick enough to get a reasonable length nap), and she's never getting solid blocks of sleep at night.

The room is dark with white noise playing so it's not external stimuli causing the disturbances. I just literally cannot imagine what it would be like to put a baby down to sleep and to be able to get on with something because they're just going to sleep solidly for a while.

Has she always been like this or is the frequent night waking/ needing resettling from naps more recent?

She's always been this way in some form or another but not in the same way as it is now, she didn't used to startle and cry, and she didn't have blocks of time where she constantly needing settling.

My guess would be pain. Mine got first molars and canines all together at this age as well as lots of ear infections.

She cries because she startles though, like that horrible feeling of falling in a dream. Plus she's fine when awake and has no sign of teething.

Sleep apnoea?

To be honest I would take her to the GP, given what you’ve described.

I would also try giving her calpol if you haven’t already. It would be really helpful to know if she’s in discomfort as a starting point.