8 month old suddenly waking at night ...

[Littlemissbump82]

 :'(Hi, my 8 month old daughter has "slept through the night" since she was 8 weeks old - we have been very lucky! In the beginning we had issues with short naps but using PU/PD she now has 2 1.5 hour naps a day and settles herself to sleep each time with her thumb sucking and blanky. Four nights ago she woke up crying at 4.30am - I gave her a bottle (8oz) which she drank all of (I presumed she was hungry as she never wakes in the night!) but cried and cried after - I tried to give her more bottle but she didn't want it. I started PUPD but she was getting more and more upset (when I've had to do it in the past it takes no more than 3 times) she was still crying when I was holding her and eventually fell back to sleep just before 6am (fell asleep by herself once I finally got her to lie down in the cot). Then the following night she woke at 1am - took a bottle and the same happened, she went back to sleep at 3am after crying every time I put her down. Each night she wakes up at a different time. She is happy in the day (although a little grumpy in the morning due to the lack of sleep but after her morning nap is fine again) and goes to bed with no problem at all.
She has been crawling since 6 months and has in the last week learnt to pull herself up and is starting to cruise on the sofas etc - I'm not sure whether this developmental leap is causing her to wake?
She has no teeth yet but has had all the signs of teething for nearly 4 months now (dribbling, drool rash, biting on everything etc). I have noticed a change in her nappies in the last week they have turned very dark green and runny - her cheeks aren't red and she has no temp ... do you think her waking could be due to teething?
Tonight she woke, she drank 8oz (she has also upped her milk and food in the day massively in the last 2 weeks - she used to be on 23oz a day but has recently started taking 35oz plus 3 meals a day plus the milk she's now having at night) didn't want anymore milk, I gave her calpol and teething gel, she seemed wide awake and wanting to play - every time I go to her in the night I never give eye contact or talk to her or turn the lights on, I try to make sure she's comfortable and let her know it's not playtime. I'm not sure whether she was in pain tonight as she wasn't crying in my arms but hysterical each time I put her in her cot. After nearly 3 hours she finally fell asleep ... I am worried that this is now a new habit and I don't want to do any accidental parenting - I do think I'm a bit guilty of the poor baby syndrome, but it's difficult as this is so out of character for her I'm not sure how to handle it!
Sorry for rambling I'm so sleep deprived and dreading tomorrow night now! (she only seems to be waking once a night so once she gets back to sleep she seems ok). Any advice on what I should be doing when she wakes would be great (as she downs her bottles I think she is hungry but I can't seem to get anymore into her in the day), surely it shouldn't be taking 2-3 hours to get her back to sleep every night? Thank you for your help from one tired mummy! 

[Littlemissbump82]

Hi, thank you so much for getting back to me - can teething only affect them at night? As most of the time she seems fine in the day (apart from today which I'll say about in a minute!) ... it seems to be when she wakes in the night she can't get back to sleep. Her EASY is roughly (we are doing BLW so her solid food is included in A time at the moment - not sure if this is right):

E - 7.30am (7oz milk)
A - including breakfast (weetabix/porridge)
S - 9.30am (1 hour - 1.5 hours)

E - 11.30 (6oz milk)
A - including lunch (sandwich or toast, fruit, cucumber/tomatoes etc)
S - 2 (approx. 1 hour - 1.5 hours)

E - 3 (5oz milk)
A - including dinner (veggies/chicken/pasta, yogurt, fruit etc) at 5.30 and bath at 6
(we cut the afternoon nap out but sometimes if I have to go out in the car she does have a 30 min before dinner)
E - 6.30pm (6-7oz milk)
S - bed at 7pm - used to sleep through until the morning. In the last week has been waking once each night (different times each night - sometimes drinking 8oz milk, sometimes not drinking any and crying for up to 3 hours after before going back to sleep).

I wake her in the mornings as I've learnt from the past once that when she had been up in the night she slept until 10am the next day and I let her sleep in thinking she must need to catch up on her sleep, but it threw out the whole day's feeding and sleeping and made the next night even worse!! Is it right to wake her in the morning?

when she wakes up in the night I don't know whether I should be giving her a bottle - but sometimes she downs it which makes me think she is hungry? I don't know how I can get anymore into her in the day though? After my last post I gave her paracetamol, teething granules and teething gel before bed and she slept through and did for 3 more nights but is now waking again (only once a night and always at different times each night) She does have all the signs of teething including nappy rash today from all her bad nappies. Last night she didn't seem to be in pain though, I went in and the second I picked her up she stopped crying and started trying to chat to me! I put her back down and did PU/PD until she finally went back to sleep 45 mins later - but it was as is she'd woken up wanting to play!! Totally unlike her! And today has been horrible, she has only had two 20 min naps and woke up crying from both of them, I couldn't extend them with PU/PD - I took her for a walk in the pram which usually she loves but she cried the whole way. She went to bed with no crying tonight so I'm wondering what tonight will bring ... it's a mystery to me why she's suddenly gone from never waking in the night to now doing this, I want my happy baby back!!

[Littlemissbump82]

thank you for getting back to me - just to update you - after 2 more nights of unsettled sleeping she woke up with her first tooth!! So I'm thinking it must have been teething (she slept through last night) Its just hard to know how to handle the night wakes so that I dont create a prop/habit ... fingers crossed this is it until the next tooth now!