I have never posted before but we are having loads of problems with night wakings. DD slept through from about 15 weeks but suddenly started waking again at our bedtime at 7.5 months. She used to have a dreamfeed but we dropped it at 6.5 months because she didn't want it anymore. Initially we thought the wakings might be due to wind (she has 3 solid meals a day) but she wouldn't be comforted in her cot and wanted to be picked up. Then of course we couldn't get her down again. Eventually we realised that picking her up wasn't helping, so I stayed with her one night and held her in the cot and patted and sshed her but refused to pick her up. She cried for 1.5 hrs but the next two nights were better. Then it got worse again. Some nights she waks all through the night, virtually every sleep cycle, others she wakes every 2-3 hours. However it often takes up to an hr to get her back to sleep. Because every night is different and nothing seems to stay the same we don't know what the problem is. For a while it might have been separation anxiety, so I tried sleeping on a mattress next to the cot but that didn't really change anything. However she still won't settle well for my DH. We have tried pain meds but that doesn't seem to help, she wakes up when being given the calpol and thinks it's a game. She has had lots of colds, which give her a cough which contributes to the NW but during the day she's fine. We have raised the head end of the cot and the mattress under her head, used a vapor light and a vapour rub. I don't think she's hungry, she eats very well during the day and has a BF first thing and last thing, although this started when she still had 4 BF a day. She used to fall asleep well on her own, doing a sort of peaceful noise, maybe a bit like a mantra cry but she really wasn't distressed. She has stopped making that noise to fall asleep since this started and needs me to ssh / pat, calm with words or hold her in the cot to fall asleep, every night can be different, e.g one night she's happy for me to stay by the cot but not touch her and say "time to go to sleep" and she does but the next night she cries and wants to be held in the cot until asleep. We have on occasion tried pu/pd but she gets hysterical. Her daytime naps are CNs and always have been, even when she slept through the night, although in a bid to fix this I have been working on napping and trying to improve this, with some success. Our EASY before it all went wrong was:
6.00 - 6.30 WU
6.30 - 7.00 BF
7.30 - 8.00 breakfast
8.00 - 9.00 A (and getting dressed etc)
9.15 - 9.45 / 10.00 nap (trying to extend this, some days it's an hour)
10.00 - 12.00 A
12.00 - 13.00 lunch
13.00 - 13.30 / 13.45 A
13.45 - 14.30 ish nap (we usually go out for this one as she fights it)
14.30 - 17.00 A
17.00 - 17.40 supper
17.40 - 18.10 bathtime
18.10 BF
18.30 - bedtime routine, lullabyes, book, cuddle
She's now over 9 months, I'm going back to work next month and we're getting desperate. Does anyone have any idea why she's waking and what we can do to help improve things given the variable nature of the NW? I have been trying gradual withdrawal (v slow) with success at naptime and BT but for the NW is doesn't always work and they are still happening. I don't want to just leave her to CIO / CC but equally I know she used to be able to self settle and now frequently doesn't. Help!
