Meg is going through some sort of phase at the moment where she cries and shrieks at bedtime and naptime. It started Thursday night and has happened every night since then. Naptime today was so painful I finally had to put her in the car and drive around for 10 minutes and she was out, then made the transfer and had to be woken up at 4:30. With a baby, this sort of stuff is expected, but in a 18 1/2 month old?
Part of it is the cats' fault. She got freaked out that the cat was in her closet so when I noticed the shrieking, which is highly unusual for my normally good sleeper, I went in and sure enough, one of the cats was there (and dying to get out). That first night, Thursday night, nothing we did worked and she even threw up a little either due to the intensity of it or catching herself just right. Because of that, we didn't feel right laying her back down to cry. Then we tried everything -- holding her, cuddling, water, you name it. We ended up bringing her to bed with us until about 1:30 when my back hurt so bad I had to move her back to her bed. That stint in our bed was probably the main error of our ways.
Jennifer put her to bed last night while we went to the movies and had a similar, but not quite as bad experience. Tonight was particularly terrible -- nearly 40 minutes of shrieking -- not crying, no shrieking. Bjorn finally went in and held her until she fell asleep -- at 10:15 p.m. I suppose if this keeps up, we're going to have to go back to Dr. Ferber and just let her cry it out. The problem is that she's older and has more resources to throw at me, like shrieking.
Suggestions on the 18-month sleep regression, other than more wine for mommy?
Hi there,
ReplyDeleteI just found your blog after searching "1 year sleep regression". My babe is 12 months and we are dealing with the exact same thing, plus plenty of nightwakings after months of decent sleeping. Don't know what it is; it's driving me nuts!