Oh, sleepy, mama, I know your pain. Sleeping (or lack of it) is one of the biggest "problems" in the first year. I'll warn you right now this will be a long response cause it's one of my hot button topics. So if you read nothing else, know this: THIS IS NORMAL BEHAVIOR for a baby this age. And the real "problem" here is that you may have unrealistic expectations of what sleep at this age looks like. We live in a culture that encourages sleeping independence in our infants that is just not normal, natural, or realistic. If a baby sleep a lot and with little effort on mom's part, we call him "a good baby". Like what, a baby that doesn't sleep well is a bad baby?!
Please check out the links below to get a better understanding of what sleep should look like in the first few years. You'll see that frequent waking is normal. And especially that needing help falling asleep and getting back to sleep is normal. We adults still do this! My husband can't go to sleep without the TV on and a crossword puzzle going. And if he wakes in the middle of the night, he has trouble going back to sleep and may have to watch TV again. Yet we expect an infant to "know" how to go back to sleep and with little or no help from us. This is also why I am very anit-CIO (crying it out). It's harsh and only works for some babies. Vomiting is not a form of self-soothing. And I don't understand the concept of not responding to a baby's cries, even if it is the middle of the night. I can tell you this---my now 2 year old never slept a lot or well the first year, nursed to sleep most of the time, and never ever cried himself to sleep and he now sleeps great. With us or without us. I get more and better sleep now than ever before. So don't believe that you have to force sleep independence on him so early. There are first graders who still need help getting and staying to sleep. Also know that babies go thru phases all the time. Which means they seem to sleep good for a while then bad then back to good again. They have so much going on in their tiny bodies and minds all the time. Growth spurts, teething, tummy aches, you name it. That’s another reason to not ignore baby’s cries at night. He may actually need soothing from mom, not a lesson in self-soothing.
Good daytime sleeping often leads to better nighttime sleeping. So focus on getting better naps first.
And with his history of colic and reflux he may simply be uncomfortable. If it makes you feel better, share your concerns with your ped. Once health problems have been ruled out, you may feel better. And most of all, remember this time passes so quickly. It’s hard to see that while you are right in the middle of it and in the middle of the night, but you’ll blink one day and the next he’ll be grown!
Sleeping thru the Night
http://www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/sleep.html
Studies on Normal Infant Sleep
http://www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/sleepstudies.html
Got Sleep?
http://www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/got-sleep.html
What is preventing your baby from sleeping thru the night?
http://www.kellymom.com/pantley/pantley01.html
Solving naptime problems
http://www.kellymom.com/pantley/pantley27.html
This one has a great chart that shows how much total sleep (in 24 hours) babies need at different ages. This one also has a similar chart http://askdrsears.com/faq/sl17.asp
Dr. Sears is great! Check out this link to his website where he has some great articles and tips on sleeping http://askdrsears.com/html/7/T070100.asp