Help! - Clarksburg,MD

Hey D., It's Christy. I'm sorry you're struggling. Call me sometime and I'll tell you all about how Kyle started sleeping all nite.

I have to ask, just like one of the other posters, have you started feeding her solids? If she is "starving" as you say maybe it is time to start feeding. My kids were on solids by 2 months because they wanted more than formula. If you have any more questions please don't hesitate to email.

S.

If you are breastfeeding, try giving her formula before bedtime. I did both and the formula seemed to stick with her longer. You could also give her a bowl of rice cereal by spoon. We started it by spoon at 6 months. You may be able to get her to eat more by spoon as you can only put so much in the bottle. Good luck!

Three things come to mind:
1. Is it possible that she is teething?
2. Upset belly: Have you tried giving her Mylicon (gas drops)?
3. Ear infection/discomfort: Has she been checked lately?

Other options:
Does she move around when sleeping? My daughter used to back herself into the crib corner and then wake up crying cuz she couldn't go any further.

Clothing. Is it possible that she gets too hot/cold? My kids are very sensitive to this. The other night we change pjs in the middle of the night (after the 3rd wakeup).

According to The Baby Center:

When babies are able to sleep through the night and when they actually do are often very different things. Some infants as young as 3 months old can snooze for six to eight hours at a stretch. Others won't sleep this long until they're 12 months. But most babies (70 percent) do sleep through the night by the time they hit 9 months, according to the National Sleep Foundation.

Not that "sleeping through the night" means a full night of uninterrupted sleep for you. "'Through the night' is defined as from midnight until five o'clock in the morning," says Judith Owens, a pediatrician and director of the Pediatric Sleep Disorders Clinic at Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island.

You may have heard that bigger babies and babies who eat solids are better sleepers — but it's not true. Your baby's ability to sleep through the night is related to age, not size or diet.

There's no research to prove that adding rice cereal to the evening bottle, for instance, will help your baby sleep better or longer. In fact, this practice is a choking hazard, and offering solids too early can deprive your baby of the necessary nutrients in breast milk or formula. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that babies be exclusively breastfed for the first four to six months.

You play a big part in your baby's sleep habits. "Put her to bed drowsy but awake by the time she's 4 months old," says Owens. "This will help her avoid developing a dependence on you to fall asleep and make it easier for her to fall back to sleep on her own when she wakes at night."
End of Baby Center info

If she's napping during the day, you need to nap too so you get enough sleep. It's hard to get your son and daughter to nap at the same time, but if you can, then you nap too. You could also have a sitter come over for a few hours to watch the kids so you can nap. It sounds like your daughter needs at least one feeding at night (she might be having a growth spurt). Take the kids out for a walk or to a playground during the day and let some fresh air tire them out. Make sure everyone eats close enough to bedtime to be full for awhile, but not so close as to have reflux problems. Eventually everyone will sleep through the night but it sometimes takes awhile to get there.

Hi D.,
Help is on the way. From the community of mommies here, there are plenty of tips that can help you get your baby to sleep. Is she still 6 months old? I find that its easier to get a younger baby to sleep than a toddler. First, does she sleep with you in the bed? That makes a difference with independant sleeping. Do you still breastfeed? Breast fed babies wake up more often since breastmilk leaves the system more quickly, and they get hungary! Since she is 6 months, how is her eating during the day? When both of my sons were 6 months, I had them on solid foods, and supplemented with formula and breastmilk. The night time formula bottle was mixed in with cereal so that it would keep them full during the night. I know you've probably tried everything, warm bath, routine, massage, etc. Some kids just don't sleep well. My older son slept like a brick, and my younger one does not. I was ready to pull my hair out! But, please if you are still having problems, feel free to contact me offline and I can give you some more one on one help.

Best of luck,
J.
____@____.com

I hated the cry it out ferberizing method too. Kim West makes it a little more gentle (therefore more successful for us) in her book "Good Night, Sleep Tight" if you want to try that. She has lots of good advice for all the problems you are concerned about. the "sleep lady shuffle" helped me help my daughter get through the crying out and the time she needed to figure out how to get herself back to sleep without me. It's a cheap investment of less than $10 for a better night sleep for everyone involved. good luck!

D.:

I'm sooo sorry you are going through this. I've been there. However, mine was a medical condition.

My son, now 7, was born 4 weeks prematurely with pneumonia. The last things to develop in-utero are lungs and inner ears.

He couldn't sleep the night through until he was 1 year old. He couldn't lay down flat for more than 1 hour. He was fine during the day, liked sleeping in a bouncy or sitting up. At night, he ate like I had never fed him a day in his life.

We took him to the pediatrician many times - they thought it was ear infections, but we were very hesitant to continually give our son antibiotics. At 9 months we took him to our ENT who did a very thoroughly exam and said he needed tubes in his ears. We had the tubes done and from that point forward he has slept the night through without the problems.

He was waking up not hungry but in pain because of the pressure in his ears, he ate ravenously because it relieved the pressure in his ears.

I was in your shoes. My wonderful husband took the midnight and 2AM feedings. that allowed me to get at least 4 hours of sleep in a row, which is something you so desperately need!

I will keep you in my prayers and hope that this information will give you what you need in order to have your daughter sleep the night through and get sleep for yourself as well.

Hi D.,
Try putting her in a swing, with a little light on to help keep her eyes closed. Tie the binky to a bandana so she can feel and find it on her own and you can find it when she loses it. At 6 mnths I wouldn't expect her to sleep thru the night. Don't give a lot of naps during the day and try to nap when she naps. If you need help I will come over and help, even at night so you can sleep. Don't forget,
YOU CAN DO IT!!!! Crying at 6 mnths may mean she needs something, when you use a burp or receiving blanket to burp her, leave it with her so it has your smell on it. We use the blankets for burping and my daughter loves to have one with her. They are cheap and you can find them all the time, when they wear out. God bless you and your family. L. Z.

Hi D.! Okay i read your post a few times, and I have some ideas. I was COMPLETELY in the same boat as you when my daughter was 6 months. She ate an 8oz bottle before bed, and THREE during the night. it was ridiculous. on top of that she could never keep a binkie in her mouth and FLIPPED OUT if she woke up without it. Needless to say I was a TOTAL wreck. So okay. This will be long, bear with me. My daughter now sleeps 14-15 hours/night.

First things first: look at it from a medical point of view: is she at a healthy weight? How much does she eat during the day? Make sure her DAYTIME feedings correspond with her age/wieght/growth etc. She should be starting some sort of solids three times a day, and down to no more than 24 oz of breastmilk/formula per day. again, check wth your pediatrician.

Next: if she's doing well health-wise, you can probably start to back off feeding her at night. Tackle this one first. She is most likely ready to stop all but one feeding at night if even that. Start by watering down her bottle or feed her a LOT before bed. I read that you put rice in the bottle - that won't help. Rice is something she should learn to eat, it's really not for drinking. It's hard to digest as a drink. So. Feed her some applesauce, a baby veggie and a bottle at dinner time.

Third: bed time routine. do you have one? dinner, bottle, bathtime, book, bed. be super consistant. don't let her fall asleep with a bottle in her mouth. she has to learn what sleep is, when you do it, and a routine where she goes to bed awake is the best way. It's hard and it's a process. start gradually. establish the routine, and work with her, don't fight her. sleep should be natural, comforting, not a fight. she's at the PERFECT age to do this. she understands that she is not alone even if you leave the room, and she's also able to manipulate you a bit. Be firm, consistant and loving.

Fourth: i think 8pm is probably too late to be putting her to bed. babies her age need 12-14hours of sleep, and unless she's waking up at 10am, she's not getting it. A lot of the reasons she might wake up so much is htat she's TOO tired. it's crazy - once she hits 2 it all changes- but babies younger than 2 really don't understand that they need to sleep when they are tired, and MORE sleep will make them LESS tired. they don't get it. being awake is more exciting. So... put her down earlier, like maybe 6:30, 7pm. It make sound crazy, but TRUST ME it will work. Dinner at 5, bath at 5:30, bedtime at 6:30.

a combo of those things will probably do it. You may need to have a few nights of crying, and my daughter definitely had some fits about the not eating at night, but she actually figured it out quickly- i watered down her bottle, didn't taste good, she didn't wake up for it anymore. i resisted picking her up and giving in completely to her - i'd stroke her face and calm her, then leave again. It was probably a two week, gradual process, but an earlier bedtime and STOPPING the night feedings really made a difference.

oh and the binkie game... that's a tough one. i just finally put like 15 in her crib - increased the chances of her finding it. :)

let me know if you need more help - i seruiosuly read and tried EVERYTHING out there... and this is what worked for me.

Okay... have to edit. I read most of the posts below, and I have to say i disagree with almost everything. Keeping a child up until 10pm WILL NOT make them sleep better, it just does not work that way. That's how adults sleep, not infants. Please please do not try that. You need to address the situaiton and teach your daughter to sleep. Putting earplugs in or continuing to feed her at night is not teaching her anything - it's avoiding the problem. You are the parent, and you are her teacher. With love and a good schedule, she can LEARN to fall asleep and stay asleep on her own. She cries because it's a learned response, and because she's afraid. A consistant bedtime routine , more food during the day will help her transition from infant to toddler. it's a long process, but it's your job. Please don't put rice in her bottle or any of the other old wives tales. Look and listen to your child. Crying children are almost always tired, stressed out children. create an environment for her to sleep MORE. :) good luck

Hang in there! Our second son is 6 months old and still gets us up between 6-20 times at night--mainly for paci retrieval. He only eats 1-2 times, but is a very restless baby and loves to move around a lot in his crib. He does have reflux, but it's controlled with meds, oatmeal in his formula, and a raised crib. Plus, he's already on solids--he just can't be still for long! He's pretty much crawling already too. We just figured we're in it for the long haul because his older brother didn't sleep through the night until he was 11 months old. Can you trade off with your spouse? We take shifts every other night so we can catch some Zzzzs....

I know exactly how you feel, my 2nd youngest son (he's 4 now) woke up 4-5 times PER night until he was 14 MONTHS OLD!! I am not kidding, every single night! I thought I was going to lose my mind and was a zombie.

Don't let that discourage you! The thing that helped me the most was having my husband wake up at the 4-5AM time and we had a bottle made sitting right outside the baby's door -- my husband would go in a feed him and I could sleep. For some reason that time before the sun would come up was the hardest for me to get up, and I usually couldn't go back to sleep, so that's what worked for me.

I have a couple SUGGESTIONS:

1. Try putting a small fan in the baby's room, that steady noise and air flow (aim it towards a wall to get the air circulating) helped him sleep better.

2. Keep the baby up later -- with my first son, he didn't go to bed til 10PM and would only get up once night.

3. See if on a night where your husband doesn't have to get up in the morning, (I am assuming you are married, I apologize if you are a single MOM!!) if he can do all the middle of the night feedings (if this is possible, with a breast pump or formula) and you buy some serious ear plugs, put them in and sleep all night. Just one full night of sleep will do a world of good for you.

4. Ask a friend/relative/grandparent/sitter/someone from your church, if they would babysit once or twice a week for a couple hours so you can nap (I am a huge believer in the foam earplugs! I use them on Saturday mornings to sleep late while my husband watches our boys - ages 5, 4, 2).

God bless you!!! Keep on going! One day you will wake up in the morning and wonder what happened and you'll be amazed that she finally slept all night!!

wow, sorry you are struggling. have you started feeding baby cereal during the day? at 6 months she could certainly add more to her daytime eating if she hasn't. also not sure if you are breast feeding but one of my kids when through a phase where he just wasn't getting enough from me and began night waking. when i asked my dr she told me to offer a bottle of formula right after nursing and if he took it that meant he wasn't getting enough from me and i needed to increase my milk supply. So i started pumping after each feeding to increase my supply and giving him a bottle of either my milk or formula. As soon as he was getting enough nourishment he began sleeping through the night much better.
you also mentioned getting some help which isn't as crazy as you may think, if your husband, or mom, or someone is willing to help you get a good nights sleep, it will do wonders for your body and attitude!
L.

Have you talked to her pediatrician to rule out underlying problems like colic or gas? When you checked her, was she ok? If the answer is yes, then know that babies do go through a period of seeking reassurance that parents are there. Once you have met that need, it's time to teach your child that she can help herself get back to sleep. If she's not wet, hungry or ill, then she must learn how to self soothe. Getting rid of the binky might help, but I'm not sure about it. Can't remember when Grandma helped us "lose" the binky. First, to ensure she is comfortable and relaxed before bedtime, do you have an evening routine for her? Some babies respond well to a bath, story, cuddle, bottle and bed. I also swaddled my little one for a while but don't remember when I stopped. Feeling really snug seemed to help, too. But, if she's not gassy and is just waking up, this is also a phase babies go through. When she wakes, try a few days of letting her try to soothe herself back to sleep. Yeah, I said days. It's not going to work instantaneously, and if you need more information on how to do this, go to http://www.babycenter.com/0_baby-sleep-basics-birth-to-3-... and http://www.drgreene.com/21_655.html. I did not do the "cry-it-out" treatment for my first child (strong willed and prone to nose bleeds) and 10-years later he is still a child who has trouble getting to sleep, though once asleep, he's fine. When my second child came along and showed a similar sleep pattern, and I had already gone years with broken sleep, I was determined to learn to let her soothe herself. Cry-it-out worked for her within a week or two. It was nerve-wracking, but so was waking up and tending to her. A few weeks of misery were worth it to get some sense of normalcy back. And you must be consistent. I mean the minute you get up once you've established this is the cry-it-out week, you'll have to start all over because she has learned that when she cries, you will come. I remember my husband holding me back, literally, and vice versa, making ourselves not run to her every night she cried. Very funny now. And, it worked. Not all children are the same, and you will have to just try it. If she's a danger to herself, by no means just let her hurt herself, but just remember, parenting starts now.

start feeding her real food, mix it in with the cereal and and then give it to her normal. feed her this for lunch and dinner, and then give her a final bottle and maybe something she can gum on right before she goes to bed and then before she wakes up but right before you go to bed give her another bottle. dont wake her up she will drink it in her sleepl

try that, and tie some dummies on to 4 corners of a wash rag and throw that in to her crib. it is a bigger thing that she can find.

hope that helps.

failing that let her cry it out and you close your doors and put some ear plugs in.

I don't have any specific advice for you, but just wanted to tell you to hang in there! We play fetch the pacifier all night also, and it is extremely frustrating. Sometimes I just want to throw it out the window!!!

You didn't say if you are breastfeeding or bottle...if you are bottle feeding, I have heard some parents suggest watering down the formula at one or two of the late night feedings. If your baby doesn't get as much satisfaction, she might get bored with it and stop waking up for it. Have no idea if this actually works though...

Can your husband maybe take over at least one late night feeding so you can get some sleep? Even if you are breastfeeding, maybe you could try pumping so that he could feed her a bottle and you could sleep?

Good luck!!!

D.,
My second child retained fluid in her ears even when she didn't have infections. She would be in pain when lying flat. Took a while to figure out that was the problem. Maybe check her ears? I was also extremly exhausted! She ended up getting tubes and that helped tremendously. Hope you get some good sleep soon! J.

Hi D.,

I swear I posted this exact posting about 2 months ago. What I did was to get my son to take 4 8oz bottles during the day (every 4 hours). That coupled with introducing baby oatmeal eventually did the trick. He could not cry it out because he was legitimately hungry at night. He would scream for hours if I let him. He did not sleep through the night until he was getting 24-30 oz of formula a day and 3 meals a day (around 7 1/2 months). I feel like I am feeding him all of the time during the day, but I'm sleeping better now. He gets a bottle when he wakes up, then he eats babyfood, a bottle and babyfood for lunch and the same for dinner. He gets another bottle before he goes to sleep at 7:00 and sleeps until 5:30 or 6am.

I was at my wits end too, but as soon as you figure out how to get her the food she needs during the day, she will become a better sleeper. You may still need to let her cry a bit, but it won't be that desparate "I'm starving" cry that most of us can't stand to listen to. Good luck!

Oh...and we did the binky game too. Put a bunch of binkies in the crib with her and eventually she'll figure out how to get it herself. We have at least 4 in with our son when he sleeps.

:)
M.

Hello, the only suggestion I would give is to keep increasing the cereal by teaspoon every night within her last nightly bottle until she is sleeping thru the night. I would also suggest that you give her a rice cereal, formula milk & apple sauce mixture for breakfast within a bowl and spoon feed her w/ a regular bottle. For lunch, I would do apple sauce with cereal bottle, mid day reg. bottle & then top off with that nightly cereal bottle. If you add that cereal bottle to her lunch that should work. Also, you can give her soft treats during the day to trick her brain that she is eating something along with diluted apple juice. Make sure you increase that night bottle by teaspoon every night until she is sleeping thru out.

I am a mother of 7 year old twins, which they were 7,3 & 7,1 pounds at birth & they were the same way it just didn't seem like they were full. I will keep you in my prayers.

It sounds to me that rather than focusing on making her cry it out you need to focus on her eating more during the day. Is she eating rice cereal and purees yet? You should start those. My son slept so so so much better once he was getting three meals of mush in addition to his bottles every day. If her body is that hungry you need to feed her. The other possibility you may want to check with your pediatrition about is reflux. If she is getting heartburn at night because she is lying down that could wake her up and make her angry - and eating would be the only thing that soothed it because it dilutes the extra acid in the stomach. I hope you start getting sleep soon!

My first question would be to ask why she's "starving at night." At six months, she should be able to sleep 12 hours without feeding. Is she getting enough during the day? You may want to look at the charts for how much milk/solids a 6 month old needs in one 24 hour period and try to figure out a way to get that much in her during the day. If she's eating the recommended amount, I would say she's probably "starving" for affection, not for food.

Assuming the hunger issue is figured out, I would highly recommend sticking with the crying it out method, or some modified version of it. I know it's hard to let your child cry, but you have to think of it this way: you are teaching her healthy sleep habits for life, and it's going to take some sacrifice on your part to do so. You wouldn't let your daughter play with something dangerous just because she cried when you took it away, would you? Sleep training is the same thing.

We used the methods in "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby," but there are many sleep training methods. This book recommends letting them cry for up to an hour. In the beginning, our daughter would usually fall asleep at 58 or 59 minutes. That hour was the hardest thing we've ever done, but after about a week (or maybe even less, it's hard to remember!) the crying time got less and less. We did this at about 5 or 6 months for naps and for night time, and ever since then, our daughter has slept through the night and gone to sleep on her own (she's 18 months now). The key is to resolve to be strong and not give in. You MUST be consistent for her sake!

Hope that helps, mama. I know this is a very stressful time for you and you have a difficult road ahead, but I promise you'll get through it!

I have a friend who will be a "night nurse" and do all the feedings for you so you can sleep. Let me know if you're interested.
I have to disagree with a former post: Breast fed babies don't wake up more than non-breast fed babies. If you "tank them up" before bed time and they get the good fatty hind milk, your baby is just as full as formula fed babies.

Does she spit up a lot? I keep my baby on an incline pad with wedges to avoid getting reflux issues. I think that affects lots of babies on their backs.. just a thought.
Does she sleep next to you? She might just need to be near you, and you'll get better sleep if you just give in to that for a few months. I promise, this doesn't mean your kid will be in bed with you forever.... you could also do the crib-next-to-your-bed deal. Less "up-out-of-bed" time!!!

Okay, I am probably going to get alot of flax for what I am about to post, but o'well. I was wondering if you have every visited the site mothering.com? There is some great articles about the whole "cry it out" approach. There is also some awesome articles about co-sleeping, which I have done with all of my children to one level or another.

You might want to research other alternatives then the "traditional" approach. Co-sleeping when done correctly can be a beautiful thing for child and parents. Plus, you get to sleep!!

Hello Diane,

I'm sure you're exhausted and mentally drained from lack of sleep. We stumbled into a full night sleep quite by accident. When my daughter was 6 weeks old she came down with a bad cold. Because of the terrible chest congestion, her doctor recommended we recline her swing and allow her to sleep in there rather than laying flat. That night I nursed her at 8pm then put her in the swing next to our bed. I awoke in a panic at 6 am because she hadn't woke me up all night. She was perfectly fine just swinging away. She slept in that swing for maybe 2 weeks until all the congestion had cleared and each night she slept all night. The doctor assured us it was perfectly ok for her to sleep reclined in the swing, and said the motion of the swing helped her to lull herself to sleep. Needless to say we were overjoyed with 2 weeks of full sleep. I then moved her back into her bassinet next to our bed and figured "that was a nice break but back to being up all night." To my surprise she slept all night and has been ever since. The swinging had kept her content enough for her to figure out how to self sooth and fall asleep on her own. My daughter just turned three, and to this day, we brush our teeth, take a bath, read a book, and lights out at 8pm. She very rarely cries or fights us at bedtime. Maybe try putting her swing in your room for a few nights and see if she will sleep all night in it. Give her a week or two to train herself to sleep all night. No one could believe our child has been sleeping through the night since she was 6 weeks old. Several of our friends have now tried this method and it worked for them too. I hope it works for you. Good Luck and God Bless.

Hi

The cry out it approach doesn't always work and you just end up with a baby who is in a right old state and you feel awful about it so that isn't really the path to follow. You say that she wakes frequently during the night and is starving and feeds everytime she wakes....have you started her on solids yet? You mention rice cereal in her milk but for some babies this just isn't enough , at 6 months she is old enough to start having some fruit/vegetable purees , I would start with that , maybe introduce some banana at lunch time and then some puree sweet potatoe or carrots at dinner and then some rice cereal in the milk before you put her down and see if that helps , for the first few days she may still wake but that will be out of habit rather than hunger & you would need to persevere with that , maybe offer her a drink of water rather than milk and she will eventually stop waking.

Good luck

K.

While some kids can have milk only for up to even the first year, we struggled with our first child sleeping. We took all sorts of advice and tried the cereal in the bottle and he even started some solids early, he was eating them at 4 months. None of it seemed to work. I don't think it was a hunger issue looking back as much as a self soothing issue. We had never really put him down in his crib while sleepy but not fully asleep. So he was struggling with the fact that we would hold him/rock him and such until he was sleeping. This was something we did not understand until he was already a year old. At 6 months you can start solids if you haven't already, though the biggest percentage of her diet should be from milk. I am not sure how much milk she is getting in the day but I think most doctors recommend 24-32oz per day, and if you add solids it may be less than this but the most important thing is the amount of diapers being produced and weight gain. Also, don't forget children go through growth spurts, and that could be what is waking her up! Is she napping just once or two times a day? Sometimes baby's struggle to sleep because they are overtired. If the issues are not related to self soothing, hunger or being overtired then I'm not sure what advice to give you. Is she in the room alone or are there any distractions such as night lights or noises outside? We tried a night light and music with my son but I think he really just liked it better dark and quiet in his room so we have a turtle light that turns itself off after a bit and skipped the music. He has a fan on the ceiling which he seems to like as well and it just barely produces a white noise type of sound. Good luck and God bless you and your little ones too. Just remember, this too shall pass, and you take naps when you can as well!!!

if she isnt already put her in bed with you. many babies sleep better next to mommy.

Have you started her on baby food yet? You might want to try that.

Is your daughter larger than average? My daughter was/is and just hit her 1 year birthday at a whopping 33 inches and 25 pounds... so she too was very hungry in the night. Two things I found as useful tid-bits: I nursed my daughter and I pumped at work. Breastmilk tends to "eat" the rice cereal or enzymatically decompose the rice cereal. SO, you *may* want to serve formula with rice cereal just at bedtime. We started rice cereal around 4 months though because she was so hungry... If you stick with breast milk, maybe try something more substantial like mixing in oatmeal instead. IF you go that route, I found that since I used the BPA free avent bottles, avent makes a neat nipple for chunkier solids called the "variable flow".
http://www.diapers.com/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?product...
I fed our daughter on the III setting with things like vegetables, apple sauce, etc. Cannot emphasize enough how much we loved these nipples! Literally fed her lunch and dinner through them so she got enough food!

Lastly- as my doctor said, "sleep begets sleep". In other words, naps make a more restful kiddo. We loved the ideas behind "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child"... Our daughter wakes up in the morning, goes down for a first nap 2 hours after she wakes up, sleeps (usually about 2 hours) eats, plays and goes down 3 hours after she wakes up from that morning nap. Then at 7pm she gets dinner, has playtime in the bathtub, gets a massage of lotion and then her final bottle in the dark. She falls asleep from there. She ends up sleeping 11 hours a night. So it does help.
Hope this helps you! Hope I havent been too wordy!

My DD was similar to your DD so I first want to say that it does get better. We did have to use the cry it out method but it was hard and went against my mommy instincts. My DD would cry for 90 minutes before she would fall asleep. I would feel so bad but it did eventually work. However, there were set backs when we were sick, traveling, teething, growing, or had shots.

We did have a very structured bedtime routine. I breastfed but started giving formula before bed. Then she always got a bath, book and then bed. Once we put her to bed, it was only my husband who could go to her until we both went to bed. Then We worked out an alternating pattern on waking with the baby. It worked the best because I got sleep and the baby realized that waking was not always time to eat.

My DD was VERY colicky (sp?). I went against the norm and did put her to sleep on her tummy when she could lift her head and turn it side to side. Once I did this, she slept for longer stretches.

So to sum it up...

1. forumula
2. bath
3. book (I would always nurse again)
5. bed
6. hubby deals with wake ups until you both go to bed and then you alternate.
7. Try tummy sleeping.

Also, I figured out if my DD was too tired, then she would wake more often. Maybe an earlier bedtime is necessary.

You can also wake the baby 15 minutes before her normal waking time, nurse for 15 minutes and then put her back to bed. This is a method recommended but did not work for me.

I hope my rambling helps.