Nighttime separation anxiety with a 9 month old?

[Hannah'sMommy]

I am so tired!! Our 9 month DD has always gone in waves with her sleep, having periods where she only woke up a couple of times each night, to waking every 2-3 hours, to waking more than that, to (more recently) only waking up 1 time per night (I know, it was heaven ). Then, starting last week, she started waking up more frequently each night, to the point where the last 2 nights, she was waking every hour.

I know, it could be teeth, etc. But I'm wondering if it's nighttime separation anxiety. We don't co-sleep, and she's been in her own room since she was 5 months old. My husband has to get up at 4:30am to leave for work at 5:30am, so he can't be up all night with her, and I end up with most of the nighttime duties... I still work full time, but I don't get up until about 6am. Has anyone else experienced this? What did you do?

[tzs]

we have sleepytime seperation anxiety i think. but the signs are that terrible screaming as soon as i leave the room and close the door. i just keep going back in and sitting with her until she's ok.
to see if it's teeth would you be willing to try some motrin? if it works then you know that's the situation but i know some people here don't use it.

[Hannah'sMommy]

We've tried Motrin, Tylenol, and teething tablets. They haven't worked since she started this new phase. She settles down as soon as we pick her up and hold her, but the second we try putting her down, she starts crying again. Last night I tried patting her back and saying "night night", and she would settle for a minute, but then pick her head up and start crying again. So maybe I'll try doing that longer tonight... that and having DH take the 10ish to 12am shift so I can get some sleep! Oh, and the other thing is that she'll lay on me with her eyes open for a while instead of immediately falling back asleep.

[tzs]

ugh!!!! good luck and hope you get some better ideas for solutions.

[Hannah'sMommy]

Well, we think her sleep issues may have been more related to constipation than separation anxiety. Yesterday she finally had a better bowel movement, and she was happier last night than she had been in a few days. She also slept like a champ last night (only woke up twice)! I sure hope she does that again tonight!