Author Topic: 8 month old separation anxiety: up every hour!  (Read 1764 times)

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Offline MelanieD

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8 month old separation anxiety: up every hour!
« on: October 31, 2017, 10:19:59 am »
My 8 month old daughter was able to put herself to sleep independently (I would be present while she settled and then walk out and she would send herself to sleep) but never slept through the night. We had some success with EASY and PU/PD. She recently had a terrible cold that clogged her up so bad we had to hold her at naps and at night for way longer than we would have liked (coupled with an extended family health crisis we didn’t get her back in the crib or  for almost 2 weeks but she returned for naps after 1 week!). Fast forward to now- when I started a week ago getting her back in the crib the first night took encouragement t but she only woke up 3 times. Naps have been consistently ONLY 30 minutes and at night she is literally up every 45 min to one hour. PU/PD is absolutely not working. She’s getting way more upset with each time I put her down. I tried just put-down which is better but the second I leave her line of sight she loses her mind. I tried leaving the room for a few minutes and she will quiet for a little then get super worked up again.

My husband wants to lee her cry or co-sleep bc this is so exhausting. I know there has to be a solution and don’t want to cry it out (this is where my daughter got her determination) 😊. Please help! (Current awake time around 3 hours- on 2 naps- but with the 30 minute naps recently we’ve been occasionally able to push a third nap on her).

Offline jessmum46

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Re: 8 month old separation anxiety: up every hour!
« Reply #1 on: November 01, 2017, 13:22:31 pm »
Hugs, how exhausting and stressful for you all :(  My first impression reading what you've written is that there is something bothering her - pain or discomfort.  I know how hideous it is when LOs wake every 45-60 minutes all night - but my experience with my own and on the boards here is that there is almost always something wrong when this happens - it's just that we haven't found it yet.  The settling then crying again a few minutes later is typical of how my children behave when things aren't right.  And it is very rarely 'just' a sleep training, routine or separation anxiety issue (though obviously these things can make it a bit more complicated).

Simple things first then - is she still symptomatic from her cold?  Has anyone checked her ears? (pain often worse when lying down) Is she teething?  Does she have any skin problems e.g. eczema causing her to itch or be uncomfortable?  Is she too hot or cold at night?  What about tummy troubles - gas/wind/unusual poos?  Has she recently increased her solid intake or started new foods?

Have you tried giving pain meds - and if so, do they make any difference?

Hopefully we can help you get to the bottom of the problem.  Hang in there x 


Offline MelanieD

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Re: 8 month old separation anxiety: up every hour!
« Reply #2 on: November 01, 2017, 14:34:20 pm »
She is teething. She is cutting one tooth up top and has 3 more following closely behind. Advil isn’t doing anything for her and she generally doesn’t seem to bothered by teething. I have been giving her ample cold teething toys and have increased her nursing as needed. Thankfully her cold is all cleared up. She is still primarily breastfed as she hasn’t taken to food much yet.

Offline jessmum46

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Re: 8 month old separation anxiety: up every hour!
« Reply #3 on: November 02, 2017, 08:42:54 am »
Sound like you have thought of many things already :)  Could you possibly post her daytime routine please?  How long had she been on a 3h awake time prior to things going wrong?

Offline Katet

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Re: 8 month old separation anxiety: up every hour!
« Reply #4 on: November 02, 2017, 23:47:57 pm »
My first thought is get her ears checked out and try pain mess too... sounds exactly like both my boys who never showed signs of ear infections except when trying to sleep.
dc1 July 03, dc2 May 05

Offline violagal

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Re: 8 month old separation anxiety: up every hour!
« Reply #5 on: November 09, 2017, 13:56:16 pm »
Wow! I could have written this! My 8m dd is only napping for 30m 2/3 times a day and night times are so tiring... we have been doing pu/pd and she does eventually settle for a couple of hours but then she will wake around 11pm and be awake every hour or so allll night and pulls herself to standing getting really worked up. Sometimes in the evening if she cries I just need to go into the room and she lies back down herself again so thinking it must be some separation anxiety too but hadn't thought about anything else being wrong as she has no other symptoms! Following your progress....