I have been very lucky with DD2 who slept through 7pm to 7am from around 9 weeks. She is now 13 months and until now has been a reliable sleeper. However, my complacency has been shattered over the last few weeks as she has suddenly started waking and screaming in the night.
It is nearly always between about 4am and 5am. It's not just fussing or a little bit of crying but pure howling. If I leave her it will continue on and off for about half an hour before she drops off to sleep again until morning. If I go in she appears to be asleep (snuggled up with comfort blanket and her teddy) lying face down, as she always does. If you were deaf you'd think she was fast asleep. Last night when I picked her up she initially seemed unaware of me and carried on howling, then after a couple of mins she stopped, looked at me and snuggled down into my shoulder and appeared to drop off properly. I put her back into bed and she wimpered a little bit before dropping off and sleeping until morning.
Apart from this she almost never cries - and certainly not when she wakes up after naps or in the morning. Generally she'll wake up and play in her cot quite happily, and all i'll hear is a bit of chat etc
She is not teething or ill. I thought maybe she was sleeping too much in the day so I cut her morning and afternoon naps back, which initially seemed to do the trick as we had no waking for 4 nights after that. But now she's doing it again..... Help.... DH and I are exhausted and I don't know what to do, I never experienced anything like this with DD1.