Please help me, I am tearing my hair out

[notenoughshelfspace]

Please help. My 14 month old has always been a fantastic sleeper ( touch wood)going to sleep by herself and sleeping through since 8 weeks. For the past week or so however she has been going to sleep as well as before but waking up 45 min after going to bed and then proceeding to cry ( but really badly) from anything from 10 to 50 minutes. My presence seems to agitate her even more so WI/WO, Shh/Pat all a big fat waste of time.
All the usual suspects do not seem the problem here; i.e. no change of routine, no developmental milestones, not overtired etc..... Her naps are the same as they have always been ....What shall I do?Do you think a wake to sleep thing will work here? Please help!!!!!!!!!

[Nikki~Nathanamp;Danielle]

Is she going through some developmental stuff or teething that you can notice?

I'm wondering if she's overtired at bedtime and this is disturbing her sleep patterns at the moment. Maybe she's more physically active or her brain is in overdrive? If so, maybe a slightly earlier bedtime will be enough to reset the pattern. Say try 15mins earlier and see what happens - and see if she still wake 45mins after bedtime or maybe it's enough to jolt the pattern.

HTH

[notenoughshelfspace]

Thank you for the reply!!!!!!!!! No there is no teething ( for once!!) or anything new going on. I will try putting her to bed earlier but I do not think that will work as we only made bedtime 15 later about 3  weeks ago as she was just not that tired and lay in bed for ages before falling asleep. If there are no other bright ideas I might have to give that a try.............

[Harrisonsmummy]

Hiya, I would seriously try the earlier bedtime too, Harrison drops off in 20 minutes unlesss he is overtired- then it can take him 40 minutes and again he may wake after 45 minutes sleep. It sounds without any other thing going on (strange noises etc) that she is overtired for some reason!

[notenoughshelfspace]

Ok, will give that a try over the next few nights and see how we get on. Otherwise do you think I should give wake to sleep a go?

[Harrisonsmummy]

I've never had success with wake-to-sleep myself, what I would try is waiting just outside her door before the 45 minute mark and at the first stirring get in there and try hand on back etc to re-settle. It sounds like she is struggling to get through that first sleep cycle.

I have just had a similar night-time issue. H has been overtired and waking in the night - he settles back down to sleep quite quickly, but after 40minutes wakes crying. If I am quick off the mark, I can resettle him before he wakes up fully and his sleep is then unbroken.

HTH

[notenoughshelfspace]

Ok, thank you so much for the advice. I am in for a fun evening as the little one got woken up form her nap as well so instead of her usual 2 hours she got 20 min. Can not wait for tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!

[imsmum]

What is her schedule like?

[imsmum]

Hi--just noticed you posted your schedule in another post of 7:30 wakeup 12-2:30 nap and 7:15 bedtime.  My only thought is that at some point their days do seem to lengthen from 12 hours to closer to 13 or so which may be happening with you dd.  ie she's just not quite ready to sleep at 7:15.  What can happen is that they then do get a bit overtired at bedtime because their nap hasn't moved forward as well.  You could try moving the nap ahead .5 hours to see if that helps.

I have had a similar experience as Harrisonsmummy that if I can get in there and put my hand on dd when she wakes in the first few hours of the night she never "fully" wakens and will go back to sleep very quickly. Good luck!

[notenoughshelfspace]

Thank you for your advice; she is def. not ready for her nap to be moved to later because she is already quite tired at 12 so if I put her to bed any later it is a disaster. Will let you know how tonight goes...