My DD is 18,5 months. She has learned how to sleep on her own since she was a small baby, but she has always had an erratic pattern during the night. She is a light sleeper so any noise can wake her up, or when she has a diaper rash she might wake up when she pees, or when she's teething she usually has a very bumpy sleep. And, of course, when sick. However, everytime she woke up, I would just go in, give her a bottle and she'd go back to sleep (alone in her crib) in a few minutes. And stay asleep until morning.
If nothing disturbed her, she would have 10-11 hours of non stop sleep.
Then we went on vacations, 15 days out of her routine. It was very tiring for her. This was the beginning of May. By the end of the trip she was waking up in the middle of the night and was unable to sleep in her crib (one of those pack and play type of cribs). So, she'd be 2 hours in my arms until she was exhausted and finally slept.
We came back home and it took her 2 weeks to go back on track. In those 2 weeks, she'd wake up in the middle of the night and stay awake for 2 hours. When she woke, we'd enter her bedroom, feed her, and put her in her crib still awake (like we've always done). And then she'd stand up, cry for mommy, and woud only sleep if she felt a light pressure in her head (I mean a really LIGHT pressure, literally just touching her head with the tip of my finger). After 2 weeks she finally slept throught the night again for a few nights and then it all started again. And then I left on a business trip for 10 nights.
The second night I was out, DH told me she just stopped crying for mom in the middle of the night. She was sleeping through again.
Night number 10 she woke up in the middle of the night and then the pattern repeated. The next following nights she'd wake and stay 1-2 hours awake, just able to rest if she felt the light pressure.
And then again out of the blue she started sleeping through.
Until 5 days ago... in which she started waking up 2 to 3 times a night. One or two times she sleeps real quickly, but one of the wakenings always lasts 1- 2 hours. In those long wakings, it is not that she wants to play. She doesn't wake up excited. She is always very sleepy, but somehow she doesn't sleep
Tonight, for instance, she woke up at 1 am, and went back to sleep after DH gave her a bottle. 20 min process.
Then... up again at 5. I went there to give her a bottle and she had those big eyes. She was not excited - she was just not sleepy. She could remain in my lap real quietly. I put her in her crib, she was absolutely drousy, but she wanted me to stay with her. I then tried to dont touch her - just stay nearby. But she would often raise her head to check if I was there, then she'd sit in the crib, lay down again, sit again... and, when she finally looked like she had slept, I'd leave her room. In 5 min she'd be standing up and crying for mommy again. This probably happened 5-6 times. Until eventually I gave up, picked her up, made her sleep in my lap and put her to bed. She just needed a little push to surrender... This time she stayed asleep but her sleep was agitated, she was kind of crying all the time she moved.
Her canines are cutting. As I said before, she's always been very sensible so this could be it. But I have been giving her pain killers before she goes to bed. It usually solves the problem when she's teething; this time it looks like it has no effect whatsoever.
I am incredibly tired, I feel like I am her slave. She will interrupt my sleep, that is all I know when I go to bed. And when she wakes up crying I jus have to obey her and quickly go there.
I have been trying to cope with all of this thinking it is just a phase, it is just a sleep regression, she is just teething..... but read again my summary above. It doesnt look like it is going to go away. Looks like she unlearned how to sleep on her own and that she has a very bad separation anxiety. And looks like it is with me.... she was OK when I was not around.
Help?
