Answer: She may be unwell, going through a temporary separation anxiety or need for emotional “topping up” overnight. The issue is of course that you can’t know with any certainty that this is the cause and you’re not encouraging her to become dependent on needing you every single night.
If you’re satisfied that she’s well and healthy and there doesn’t seem to be any obvious reason for her need for cuddling, then I would think that a trial of just some verbal reassurance, pats, shshing, patting her through the cot rails, lying her back down gently and even you sitting on a chair beside her cot would be worth trying but as long as you don’t do all of these all the time and she learns to then rely on your presence to go back to sleep. You don’t want to trade the cuddles for you to sit for hours on a chair beside her cot.
At 14 months she’ll understand the “lie down, it’s sleep time” cue from you. Can you send her dad into her to comfort her and just make yourself a little scarce for a few nights?
Whatever you do , she’s going to cry and protest because she probably loves being cuddled like you’re doing, but honestly, unless you’re prepared to keep this up and sustain it, she wont’ learn to resettle herself when she wakes overnight (which all of us do). And ultimately, she is old enough now to just wake briefly, have a look around and then comfort herself to go back to sleep. In the transition from what you’re doing now to this, she’s going to be loud and cross. Be reassuring but don’t give her too much to rely on.
Cheers
Jane