15mo waking and screaming EVERY night!

[soxy]

hiya

our 15mo daughter who in the past has been a great sleeper has now for the past couple of weeks, been waking every night at random times (can be 11pm, can be 3am) screaming the house down!

The only way to settle her is to go in, pick her up and sit and cuddle her, she will be wide awake looking around etc at this point, and it will take up to 2 hours for her to get to sleep!! We can put her back in the cot ok once she's calmed down but as soon as you go to creep out she kicks off again!

Any advice what to do would be very welcome as this is destroying us, would controlled crying be worth a try even if she is screaming the house down?

Many thanks!!

Soxy, no idea, but our 10mth old is doing the same. Don't think it's teething (new tooth just through), more like inconsolable with nightmares

Hi Soxy. Is there any chance she might be overtired? Waking up screaming is a sure sign of overtiredness in babies. How much does she sleep in the day? At 15 months she could still need two naps - one in the morning and one in the pm. My son did until he was 18 months and if he ever missed a nap he slept like a monster that night!

She could be having bad dreams I guess. I would be cautious about controlled crying in case she is having nightmares and then just becomes more anxious.

What does your instinct tell you regarding controlled crying? If you thinks she is just calling you in for some fun, maybe that would be the answer...

Hi. My 16 mo did just this up to 5 times in the night. However, when we went in all we did was pop her dummy in and she'd usually go off again. But i had a baby and thought 'can't do this any more!'. So we did controlled crying (christopher green). And gritted our teeth - you have to be pretty resilient cos the noise was quite upsetting. It took 3 nights. Try it - she sleeps so much better and even seems to be happier in the day. It's saved my sanity!!!