what else to try??

[hakunamatata]

Hi all

My lo is just past 7 months old. She slept through the night from 10 weeks old, usually down around 8pm, dreamfeed at 10:30 and then through til 6-6:30am, sometimes going back down to sleep after a feed for an hour at about 7am.

All that's changed!!

For about a a month and a half now, she has been waking about every half hour ALL night!! All she wants is her dummy, her hair stroked and shh and she's back to sleep. But it doesnt last, and sometimes she'll wake after 5,10 or 30 minutes! At most an hour. At first she would make groaning, frustrated noises, but now its frustrated shouts. I've tried leaving her to settle and it just progresses to cries.

By 5am, I am so tired that I give in and put her in bed with me (which is nothing new, she used to do this in the morning anyway) and she sleeps like a log (usually) for a couple of hours!

I just dont understand why she's doing it now all of a sudden.

At first I thought maybe she's teething....well two teeth came through about 3 weeks ago and still no change. It's actually worse.

My other thoughts.....

Her naps have always been a problem, she only manages 2-3 half hour naps a day (not counting the extra morning sleep we sometimes have) but this has always been the same, however about a month before this problem started I used to always hold her for naps and I transitioned to putting her down. This was fairly successful, but I do tend to put her on my bed surrounded in cushions as she seems to nap better. (I am now changing this back to putting her in her cot in case this is the problem)
Around this time, she seemed to want to go to bed earlier and would not nap at about 4/5pm like she used to, so she now has supper at 5:15, bath at 6pm and bottle at 6:30, bed by 7pm.
(she only seems to wake a couple of times from 7pm til her dreamfeed)
She seems to be wanting to turn onto her side, but cant manage it herself but that doesnt even solve the problem.

Over the course of the last month, these are the things I've changed in desperate hope that it'll solve her sleep problem:
Given her a lovey
Changed the mattress around
Changed her sleeping bag and bed clothes to the next size up
Going to bed later like the old routine
Changing to a bigger sized dummy
changing bed sheets
Picking her up to soothe her then back down
changed nappies

I have also been trying to extend her naps to no success. She's always fought it anyway, so it takes half hour to get her off, despite a 20 min wind down period. I've tried wake to sleep, but she just fully wakes and then fights to stay that way!
 I just dont know what to do anymore. I'm so so tired, due to go back to work soon and dreading it if I'll be on such little sleep!

Anyone have any more ideas as to what to try?? Nothing seems to have changed around the time it started so I just cannot pinpoint the problem.

Other points to consider....She has a persistant wheeze, but this started a good few weeks if not more before the problem. She was on an inhaler but that has stopped now, although the wheeze hasnt and i'm due to take her to the docs again this week.
She is on cardiac medications for a heart condition that she has been on since pre birth (i.e through me!) she spent a week on neonatal before coming home. So as you can imagine, all I wanted to do when she was home was hold her and make sure she was ok (massive accidental parenting!!)
I'm pretty sure that she isnt waking up due to a worsening of her condition, (it makes her have a very high heart rate) but cant be sure of this til our appt next month, even though when i have checked, her heart rate is fine. She has her last meds with her dreamfeed.
She has been breastfed up until she was 5 months old when I slowly (very slowly) dropped each feed off and only fully stopped a week or two ago. She's always been a bit 'clingy'. Likes company all the time.
I started weaning her a couple of weeks before the problem started and have had no problems at all regarding that.

So what can i do? I feel like i'm loosing my mind!
Have I done completely wrong by allowing her into my bed in the first place? Have I gone to her too quickly when she stirred? Is the change in routine to blame, even though it happened weeks before?
Is it the food? Too much/too little milk?

Please give me some hope! If this is a sleep regression, how long will it last???

Thanks in advance, sorry if this post is all over the place. I have searched the other posts but not really found anything quite like this situation. If she could do it like an angel before, what has changed??? Her awake time is anything between 2-3 hours before showing tired signs, so I usually aim for her to be down for a nap at the 3 hour mark, taking into account the 20 min wind down and the half hour battle for sleep. (she tells me she's sleepy but wont sleep!)

Help!

[becj86]

What does her day look like - how long is she awake before naps?

Is she an independent sleeper - goes into bed awake and falls asleep by herself?

Did the issue start when you started formula or solids? How much milk is she taking in a day?

Waking every 1/2hr - usually means discomfort/pain... can be overtiredness if its only in the first bit of the night just after she goes to sleep. Do you think she may have a sore chest from coughing or something?

[hakunamatata]

Hi, thanks for replying!

Our EASY routine is pretty hit and miss as she is such a poor napper. She doesnt seem to keep to any strict times but is usually awake for between 2.5 and 3 hours before really becoming overtired. (However, I think she is generally chronically overtired) She will nap for bang on half hour and she needs a lot of help to sleep. The pu/pd method works eventually but it still takes about half hour and she'll usually fall asleep whilst picked up first. She can settle by herself, she has done it before but not often.
Its the same in the evening, she will have a bottle, sit on my lap for a while and when she starts dropping off i will put her in her cot, so she's not fully asleep but half way there. And that is usually fine.

The issue did seem to coincide with solids, she started a few weeks before. She's still generally taking about 700mls give or take a day.

I went to the docs yesterday as her wheezing has become a lot worse as she's picked up a cold/cough and she's now on antibiotics and a different inhaler.
I didnt think that her breathing could have been the problem as it seemed fine throughout the night, no coughing, no wheezing, rate was fine. But the nurse did say that it's classic for asthma sufferers. 
And now you have mentioned that too, it seems to fit. Hopefully I will see an improvement soon. I just figured that it must be her not going through her sleep cycles as she seems to sleep like a log when next to me!

Thanks

[becj86]

I didnt think that her breathing could have been the problem as it seemed fine throughout the night, no coughing, no wheezing, rate was fine

Just fighting off a bug can prevent a person from sleeping soundly - I didn't realise how badly I'd been sleeping til I got on top of the allergy I was suffering and suddenly I felt refreshed in the morning again.