Hi there
My DD has just come through a stage similar, she is 7.5 months. I have put it down to a separation anxiety phase. She would wake in the evenings around 10pm and sometimes early mornings at 4am ish over the last 2 weeks. Same as yours, hysterical crying. At first I though nightmares but along with this came her not wanting me to leave her sight so I put two and two together. Mine has always been a very independant sleeper and always slept through from early on, so I thought here we go, it had to go out the window at sometime!
I would never leave her to cry, so I just went to her room and gave her a cuddle until she calmed down. This sometimes did not work as she was that hysterical, so i ended up putting her back down and putting my hand on her and shhhhing until she calmed down and found her lovey beside her. She then cuddled into that and went back off to sleep. Does your little one have a lovey? I think this helped my DD. The phase has now passed and she is her normal charming little self again
Such an early evening waking can be due to OT too, maybe a routine tweak?
