Great sleeper now terrible. 28 weeks

[josephfc]

You're absolutely right on the settling! We started with the mindset of leave her to it from the day she was born and she just took to it straight away. But as she started fighting it and being such a hard cryer we have forgotten that. She always settled better on her own. Silly us! I definitely think it's the way to go. We've been up since 510 today but 915 is still the designated nap time. I'll be back in a week. Thank tou!!

[jessmum46]

Good luck and sorry about the early start.  Hope it goes ok x

[josephfc]

Hello. It's been a while which is a good thing. We found some success with set naps and was getting a good 1 hour nap for the first nap. We fell into a good routine and all was well. So thank you for the fantastic advice!

In the last week we've hit another hurdle. She won't settle to sleep in her own again and bedtimes are a battle. Her routine is as follows:

W 610/630
E 7 815
S 910/920 - 1030/11
E 11
S 115/130-2/230
E 3
E 530+6
S 640

Now she wake at 550ish and goes back to sleep for a while in our bed. She won't nap at 910/20/30 and is falling asleep over tired aroubd 950. She's only taking 35m naps. At bedtime she is usually OT and appears wide awake and playing when we try to settle her. She eventually sleeps with help at about 7pm and wakes up cryong 40/50m later.

She settles in the cot on her own but only after lots and lots of hysterical crying. I don't know if she's in need of a routine shift again. But I've been leaving her naps until a bit later (10m or so and still no luck) . I'm back to work on Friday so leaving her with family will be difficult.

[jessmum46]

With such a sudden change I'd wonder if there could be something bothering her that is making it tough for her to settle or stay asleep in the early hours - any illness coming on or teeth moving?  Have you tried some pain meds to see? 

The other thing (I think she's about 8 months?) is that this is prime time for separation anxiety to start kicking in.  That wouldn't cause early mornings per se but could certainly lead to hysterical crying when trying to settle.  Are you seeing any signs of it in the daytime? 

[josephfc]

Thank you for replying. She is showing some signs of teething. Other than dribbling she's very content. I'm medicating about 30m before naps.

Today she woke at 610 and she fought the nap at 920. I held her for a while and when she was settled on laid her down and she went to sleep pretty quickly. I hadn't rocked her just sat until she stopped thrashing about. That was 935. So maybe I need to move her from 3h to about 330? We're doing set naps but sometimes she doesn't seem tired enough. It's so difficult to tell between ot and ut.

[jessmum46]

In that case yes I would say increase the A time/ move the naps a bit.  At 8 months I'd expect A time to be closer to 3h30 so she could well be telling you it's time for change. 

[josephfc]

Hm I'm not sure at all what's going on at the minute. She isn't settling at all for naps and for the last three night bedtime has been terrible. Night 1 she had a car nap until 540 and then wouldn't sleep until 840. Lots of crying. I thought it was the late nap. Night 2 she woke from her last nap at about 3pm. Tried the usual 630 bedtime and she cried hard for 40 minutes.  Holding her didn't stop the crying. About 30 minutes in she woke hysterically crying like she was in pain. We usually put a hand in her and she goes bac to sleep which she did. Tonight she napped until 340. Bed at 650. She cried a bit but my husband sat next to her until she fell asleep at 7pm. 10 minutes later she woke up crying and when I went to her her eyes were still closed. When I picked her up she wouldn't stop crying. She did this for 40 minutes, really hysterical pained crying, eyes closed and kind of fighting me.

I don't know if it's her teeth bothering her or something else but it was quite difficult to deal with. She has gotten progressively worse for the last 3 nights. She is rolling onto her tummy when you lay her down so I thought maybe she was getting stuck. But with her not stopping crying even after picking her up and trting to settle her I think there might be something else bothering her. She is fine during the day although she doesn't nap well at the minute. No clinginess or anythin . I just don't know what's wrong.

[josephfc]

I'm so confused with this little lady. Today she woke up and was a little tetchy but ok. Napped 1h20m and went to sleep withing a minute of me laying her down. After the last few nights I wasn't expecting it. A times are off at the minute maybe due to teeth and a shift. And I'm hoping the bad nighttime incidents are teeth and nothing else. Is it likely such an incident like last night's could occur from.teething? It was very worrying at the time and my son never showed any signs of teething so it seems so odd to me.

[jessmum46]

It does sound like discomfort to me, that's how mine have generally behaved when something has been bothering them