My 12 Month Old Wakes up Every Hour to nurse..What Can I Do to Get Her to Sleep?

There is no reason a child this age needs to be night feeding. I would stop it and find other ways to comfort her. I used cio, but I would only let them cry for 5 minutes to see if they would self comfort. If not, I would go in, but not pick them up if I did not have too. I would rub them and sing softly until they calmed, and than leave. If they fussed again, I would wait anther 5. I almost never had to go in at night, but I started this young so they never learned bad habits. They were both sleeping through the night by around 2 months. Since she is older, the bad habits she has learned will be harder to break and may take a few nights, long nights, but in the end it will be worth it when everyone gets a good nights sleep.

Does she co-sleep? I was having the same problem with my son. We co-sleep so I started sleeping in the guest room and let my husband comfort my son at night. It was much easier than I ever thought it would be. When he woke up and I wasn't there he would cry for, literally, 2 minutes until he got snuggled in with Daddy and got back to sleep. After a week he didn't even cry when he woke up as long as Daddy was there to snuggle. It did take about 2 months for me to be able to sleep with him again without him asking to nurse. No we sleep just fine...well most nights!

I am so sorry you are going through this. My son who is now 6 was the exact same way as a baby. It was truly awful - We were SO sleep deprived. We started off co-sleeping with him and at the time I thought that this was what caused him to have bad sleep habits. Now I just think it was his personality. Finally at a year we were so desperate we did what I said we would never do and let him cry it out. This just taught him to sleep for 3 hrs at a time instead of one or less. And we had to keep doing it every night....he never learned like other babies do after a week or so. We ended up giving up at this bc it seemed so cruel but then he did sleep for longer stretches after that. I remember we ended up putting a mattress on the floor of his room and sleeping with him in there when he was two. At almost 3 he wanted a bunk bed SO bad that I made the deal with him that if he would sleep all night in his own room like a big boy then he could have one. It worked although of course there were still occasional bad nights. My only thing to tell you is I think it is a personality thing and some kids just are more needy. He now sleeps like a champ and it's hard to get him up in the mornings! Anyway, I just wanted to let you know I'm sorry you are going through this. Some babies are much harder than others I think!

Make sure his room is dark so when he does open his eyes he cant see anything to distract him.
Maybe he's hungry? Make sure he has a good dinner before bed time so you can rule that out.
It might help you to get a better nights sleep if you just slip him in bed with you until the waking pattern ceases, and then slip him back into his crib.
I would put him in bed with me if it would stop the non sleep madness, it's worth it.

i would say at 12 months it's a mommy addiction...if your not so sure about that, try giving her some cereal before bed to help her hunger at night...i would definately put an end to middle of the night waking will be harder later

Right at 12 months my super sleeper son started waking a lot too. I found that it's because they really start to become more aware of the "outside" world and when they wake they want to know what's going on.

She could also be going thru a bit of a growth spurt too but if this goes on for more than a week or so you'll need to work on sleep education with her.

With mine I used parts of Dr. Sears Baby Sleep book ideas, Baby Whisperer and No-Cry Sleep Solution. I would go in and lay baby back down, tell them it was night night and put my head down on the side of the crib. Sometimes with my hand on them sometimes not. It took time for them to learn about getting back to sleep but after a couple of weeks they were on track.

But all that being said, a breastfed baby will wake more often usually than a non-nurser. But she shouldn't be waking every hour and she doesn't need to nurse every time you go into comfort her. But be prepared that you will still need to nurse her at times at night because it's just part of the deal while she is a breastfed baby. You just have to try some of the tips/tricks to get her back to sleep and find a rhythm that works for both of you at night.

Develop a good bedtime routine - bath, PJ's, tour the house telling everyone "good night", turn off lights and close window blinds as you go - then a soothing bedtime story book like "Goodnight Moon" and maybe a few little songs, then tuck in bed with her favorite soft blankie or teddy bear or dolly. Put her to bed drowsy but still a little bit awake so she falls asleep knowing where she is. If she falls asleep on the breast she'll wake up mad that it's gone.
Now it's time to let her cry it out.
She'll be fine. She'll get REALLY mad, but once she figures out crying isn't going to get her what she wants she'll stop and go to sleep.
If she cries for more than an hour at night, go in and briefly tell her to go to sleep and lay her back down, give her the teddy or blankie and say night-night. Let her cry.
At naptimes let her cry for 15 minutes before going in - she's more likely to try to climb out during the day.
Crying actually helps the baby's brain re-train itself and unlearn bad habits.
Read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child - or just take my word for it. I just sleep trained our 11 month old - she cried during the night for decreasing lengths of time for about 2 weeks and the first 4 days were the only times she cried for more than 5 mintues at a time. Last night she went to sleep at 7:35pm and woke up on her own at 7:40am. She eats a big breakfast and nurses well 4 times a day instead of 5 minutes at a time several times a day before I trained her.
I think I'll actually get a good nights sleep tonight!