1 yo suddenly out of control in the night

[SleeplessSam]

Hi there!
I have been reading all of your stories for days trying to fumble my way through this...I haven't posted in quite a while.  DD is 1 in two weeks.  She has never been a great sleeper.  She's always gone down easily but had issues if she woke inthe night.  She has also never been a great napper.  About three months ago that all changed.  She suddenly started having two good naps a day and for the most part sleeping through.  Then last week happened.  I don't know what changed or what is going on, but all of the sudden she wakes SCREAMING at least once a night and is inconsolable.  It doesnt' seem to be teeth.  She is not chewing onher hand like she usually does and it really doesn't sound like a pain cry.  She just screams and wants out of her crib.  I find it takes up to 2 hours to settle her.  In the past she has gone back to sleep with a hand on her tummy to reassure her but lately she has started to push the hand off, roll over and stand up, still screaming. 
Her schedule is:
5:30 wake up, bf
7:00 breakfast
8:45 nap
9:45 wake, bf
12:00 lunch
2:00 nap
3:30 wake, bf
5:00 dinner
7:00 bf, bath
7:30 or 7:45 bed

The last week or so everything has been way off.  Some days she wakes up and falls back to sleep bfing and will sleep till 6:30 (back in bed).  Other days she'll only nap 40 mins, maybe even 30 mins.  Note that three weeks ago she started walking, but she has been standing in the crib for about 6 weeks. 

So...what I'm asking is...what the heck should I do to get back into our routine?  WI/WO?  She gets hysterical if I do PD by the way.  I find she's so hysterical I tend to loose my straight thinking and end up picking her up, frustrated after about 1/2 hour (when she is dry heaving from crying so hard).  I have never left her to CIO.  I think overall I just need help coming up with a game plan to stick to.  Thanks soooo much.  I could really use some sleep.

[andibig]

((((((((((((((((((((((((((hugs)))))))))))))))))))))))))
i'm just wondering if shes overtired and needs an earlier bedtime if her wake up time is 5.30?

[Harrisonsmummy]

Sorry to hear you have so much trouble. It's always worse when you think you've got it sussed!!

A couple of questions:-

Is there a pattern to the night wakings - what sort of time are they occurring?
Does she seem wide awake when you go in, or is she screaming out in her sleep to begin with?
have you tried pain meds - in case teeth are causing lighter / more disturbed sleep that she is waking from more easily.

It sounds like she has got overtired from the multiple night wakings and is struggling to catch up. The screaming sounds like night terrors (if not pain) which seem to be caused by overtiredness as much as anything else. IME tiredness = short naps = more night wakings!! Sometimes it only takes one bad night for whatever reason, and everything is thrown off track, especially when they struggle to catch up with naps, and shorten them instead!!

I think if it was me, I would try and bring her naps forward a bit for a couple of days, and bring bedtime forward as much as you can to try and get more sleep into her. Effectively to shorten her day and the earlier bedtime usually helps to catch them up.

If there is anything you can do to lengthen naps in the short term I would employ them - ( I listen out for H in his pram and rock him back to sleep if he cries out - I only need to do this when he is so overtired he has short naps - so it doesn't generally seem to be AP!)

Hope some of this helps.

Justine

[Fiona (Leah & Kians Mom)]

Would also think overtiredness. Would bring the morning nap foward to about 8 and the lunch nap to about 12.30 and an earlier bedtime.  

[SleeplessSam]

Thanks!  I'll try that.  She was asleep a little early tonight.  I really appreciate it!  O and to answer Harrisonsmummy's questions:

Is there a pattern to the night wakings - what sort of time are they occurring?  No there's no pattern and I try not to breastfeed her unless it's been hours of screaming. 

Does she seem wide awake when you go in, or is she screaming out in her sleep to begin with? She's standing up so I'm assuming she's wide awake.  I always let her cry for a few minutes to make sure she isn't going to go back to sleep.  I think she starts screaming in her sleep though because it goes from silence to scream.

have you tried pain meds - in case teeth are causing lighter / more disturbed sleep that she is waking from more easily. Ya we tried giving her tylenol before bed for a few nights and nothing changed. 

[Harrisonsmummy]

Definately sounds like overtiredness then!! H does the same, but is awake whn I get in there and standing too - occasionally if it has been early on in the night I have managed to get in there at first cry and resettled - but later on it just doesn't happen! Give it a few days of the early bedtimes, as it seems to take several days to catch up, and H certainly still wakes in the night while he is catching up.

Good luck.

Justine