Tips for dealing with seperation anxiety at night please!

[Ennypen]

Following on from my post last week a couple of things have come to light.. firstly William has cut his first tooth this week so that could have been responsible for some of his increased night waking.. but also I am seeing evidence of separation anxiety creeping in.

Before it gets too bad - how do you deal with seperation anxiety when it causes night wakings.. when Will wakes in the night at the moment I usually only have to go in once and pop his dummy in and he is away to sleep again.. but Ive noticed he gets upset when i go to walk out sometimes now.. do I need to stay in the room with him a while, do I need to walk out and walk back in if he gets upset... what do I do?

H xxx

[Mum to Ella Rose]

I think if he is not out and out crying but just grizzling, I would say goodnight, or it's time to sleep or what have you and try and leave the room. Only going back in if he's upset or starts to cry. If he is too upset with you leaving you can try and comfort him with patting, etc. (I figure at 8 months you already have a "comfort" routine in place, still pat/shh etc) And if that isn't working you move to pu/pd. That's what has worked for us at any rate. If walking in and out works we do that but if it's particularly bad (and Ella is a horrible teether, always many night wakings) we have gone so far as to sleep on her floor for a few nights. But that's only been when she has become absolutely distraught at us leaving the room. If you stay consistent though it does pass! I hope that helps a little bit... keep me posted!

And loved the picture of Will sleeping btw! 

Sharon