Why is 11 month old suddenly screaming all night? :(

[Bella1185]

Any help would be wonderful.

My DD has always been a great sleeper, tough to get to sleep, but once she is she will sleep through the night. However, within the last week she has woken up every single night screaming her head off. She's not hungry, doesn't need a diaper, not teething, no fever, nothing that I can figure out. When DH and I go in to her she is absolutely inconsolable. She just cries and screams and flails - FOR HOURS it's so awful for her and it's breaking my heart! She is the happiest little baby normally, and seems happy when she wakes up in the morning, but wow it's hard at night.

Does anyone know what this might be? Separation anxiety? Night terrors? I've read some but i can't pinpoint it...

 

[Teri7489]

I posted about the same thing the other day - which has resulted in us co-sleeping again. I think it's a mix of both separation anxiety and night terrors which see's Isabella (fight) to go to bed, sleep for a few hours then up hysterical for hours. I tried comforting her in her cot but she got so hysterical she was sick. Now i just take her our, walk round the house for a little while, give her some milk then cuddle her back to sleep. It's not fun as its like being back in newborn days but im enjoying the extra snuggles in bed from her. Although i could be doing without being slapped awake at 6am! I hope you can sort it out soon so everyone can get some sleep xxx

 

[MindUtopia]

This is really common around that age (and for us, it also coincided with teething, which could be coming even if you don't think it is). She was waking hourly, if not every 30 minutes. Often it's to do with seperation anxiety as well as a big developmental jump around that time (crawling, cruising, walking). Just do whatever you have to do to comfort her and cope. It really doesn't last forever. For us it was from about 8-11 months and then one day, the separation anxiety went away, teethe popped through, she mastered cruising and it went away and she started to STTN for the first time ever some nights. It will get better. Just hang in there in the meantime.

 

[Lovn.sunshine]

My daughter has been going through this since about 10 months old but over the last 2-3 weeks it's gone so bad! Last night she was up and screaming/fussing most of the night. We've had to go back to co-sleeping parts of the night too. I think it *may* be teeth for us but not entirely sure. Hope it's a phase that passes soon for us all. It's really stressful and so sad to see them cry like that and not be able to console them

 

[whattoexpect]

Just curious if you have a night light in your LO room?

My daughter was always a great sleeper and around the 12/13 month mark started waking frequently through the night. Once we went in to her she would scream until she essentially cried herself back to sleep.

I put a night light in and I swear to you she has slept through every night since. I think she may have been waking and getting frightened in the dark.

She still wakes now to adjust her blanket and sometime even cries out, but for only seconds before she is back to sleep.

Just a thought.

Good Luck....

 

[Zinky]

My DD started this at around 10 months, we are still going through it at almost 13 months!
She self settled from birth but since 10 months this has stopped and she screams and shouts if she wakes up and needs me to lay with her until she falls back to sleep. I can now only put her in the cot when she is in a deep sleep, gone are the days when I could put her in awake and she would happily fall asleep by herself!
I think it's a mixture of teething and separation anxiety. Really don't know but hoping it ends soon

 

[Louise88]

my ds is doing this recently its awful! I don't even know what to do with him most the time. I did a little research last night and some babies hit sleep regressions at 8/9 months and 11/12 months. my ds didn't really have a 4 month regression so think hes making up for it now! The advise on the websites I read was try to keep everything as normal as possible i.e same bedtime routine, when screaming try and comfort trying to avoid getting into any bad habits as this faze will pass we just have to be strong enough to get through it without going insane which trust I feel when hes having his screaming moments! currently whats working for me is giving him a long cuddle walk around with him abit and once hes calmed down i am placing him straight back down, I 'm not switching any lights on, talking to him just making it as boring as possible but he still gets the comfort of a cuddle so I can try and avoid any more bad habits as I have him in 2 many lol