Hi, new here, hoping someone can shed some light...
Olivia is 7.5 months and has been a very good sleeper since about 5 months - always goes down awake and falls asleep on her own with little to no crying. Her normal bedtime is 7pm, then she's fed (breastfed) at 1am and 4:30am and is up for the day at 7am. She takes 2 1.5-2hr naps a day, from 9 - 11 and then from 1:30 - 3-3:30.
Starting 2 weeks ago she's been waking up almost every night at 11pm. She starts with the occassional whimper, then occassional fuss, then moves into full blown crying often escalating to screaming. At times she is crying so hard she's practically hyperventilating. Her doctor doesn't want me to feed her before 1am, and in fact wants me to time shift her out of that 1am feed, but I can only take the crying for so long, I've been feeding her between 12:30 and 1. Once she's fed, she goes right back down (*awake*) and cooes for a few minutes before falling back asleep.
She's not sick, she's not about to cut any teeth that I can notice (gums not swollen or anything). She is fairly recently rolling over a ton, and does often roll over onto her tummy when she wakes up at 11, but usually rolls back. I have tried everything I can think of, patting her back/tummy, soft talking, staying with her - she'll stop while I'm there, but once I leave goes right back to crying and will not stop until I eventually feed her. Depending on when she wakes up, she's crying for anywhere from a half hour to an hour and a half.
She doesn't seem any more clingy or whiny during the day - in fact i'd say she's more independent now than she ever has been, and is a very happy baby 99% of the time. There has been no change to her schedule that would have prompted this.
Is this just a normal age-related phase that I need to wait out? Any suggestions (even if it's just to let her cry)? My poor DH has been sleeping on the couch so he can be rested enough for work.
Thanks!
Erin