Please help! Can't take anymore!

[house]

11 week old dd wakes just about every hour! The first time she goes down in her crib she always wakes at the 45 minute mark. I go in and shh/pat her through it. Sometimes she'll start crying and I have to pick her up. After that, she's up just about every hour (sometimes more often)! She often starts to squirm and wiggle (she's swaddled) and then starts to fuss. If I leave her alone, she will sometimes sleep through it otherwise she'll start to cry.  Last night she squirmed every 2 minutes for about an hour! Even if she is sleeping, I'm afraid it's not a deep, restful sleep. She's actually much better with her naps.

I breastfeed her every 3 hours to make sure it's not due to hunger. But when she was younger and sleeping in our bed, she could go for 5 hours without eating.

She doesn't use a pacifier. I'm ashamed to admit that I put her down after she's asleep in my arms. I'm just so sleep deprived that I can't deal with the crying and shh/patting to get her to go to sleep while she's drowsy. Could this be the problem? Or is she overtired/undertired?

Any suggestions would be welcomed. I'm slowly going i-n-s-a-n-e!


This is what our schedule roughly looks like:

7:00-7:30 - feed
7:30-8:30 - activity
8:30-10:00 - sleep

10:00-10:30 - feed
10:30-11:30 - activity
11:30-1:00 - sleep

1:00-1:30 - feed
1:30-2:30 - activity
2:30-4:00 - sleep

4:00-4:30 - feed
4:30-5:30 - activity
5:30-6:15 - sleep

6:15-6:45 - feed
6:45-7:30 - light activity, bath
7:30 - sleep

 

 

[momofclaire]

Well you routine looks ok.  The first A time might be a little long for her age though. 
Do you feed or rock her to sleep for naps?
The problem could be that she is used to falling asleep in your arms and so when she wakes she is confused and upset.  We all wake during the night as a natural part of transitioning through sleep cycles. Often babies have a hard time with that transition.  Does she wake during her naps? 
It is normal for some babies to be restless at night. Clarie was such a loud sleeper that I moved her to her own room at about 4 or 5 weeks.  She wouldn't be totally awake but your squirm and sigh and make weird noises that would have me so on edge.     Don't worry about the quality of her sleep if she is not crying for you. It is good for her to learn to get through those restless stages. 
To help her waking and crying I would start to soothe her to sleep in her crib so that she falls asleep there.  You can use pat/shh for this. I know at first I felt like I was pat shhing until my arm was about to fall off.  It does pay off to have them learn early to fall asleep in the crib instead of your arms. 
Does she still take a night feed? 
Post back and I will try to help you get some more rest.
Hang in there. Sometimes a mothers sanity is held by a very thin string but you will get through this.
Myia