Hi All - my first post here, so be gentle with me if I don't quite hit the routine :-)
My daughter is 8 months old. She was sleeping 7-8 hours a night from about 2 months until 6 months, when she got a double ear infection, went on antibiotics, got another double ear infection and went on antibiotics again. That cycle took about a month, during which her sleep because really poor, with her longest stretch going to 3- 4 hours, with 4-5 wake ups per night. She was miserable on the antibiotics, so we did whatever we could to help her sleep comfortably.
Once she was healthy again, I began to work on her sleep. First I separated nursing and bedtime, so she was no longer nursing to sleep at naps or bedtime. Then I got her out of the swaddle. Then I started putting her down awake. She does beautifully at bedtime with no fussing. She fusses for 5-10 minutes at naptime, but again, can put herself to sleep.
The problem being that her night wakings have not improved. If anything, she is more hysterical and distraught when she wakens. I try to soothe her by patting, giving her her blanket or PU/PD. She will cry hysterically for quite some time this way. The only way to calm her is to nurse her. If I nurse her I will I keep her awake and put her back in the crib to go to sleep, which she will do only after nursing.
I don't believe she is truly hungry, since her first waking is less than three hours after her bedtime nurse. There is no identifiable difference in her night sleep depending on her naps. Her basic schedule is this:
7am - awake
8am - nurse and solids
9:30am - nap (usually 60-90 minutes)
11:30am - nurse and solids
2:00pm - nap (usually 60 minutes)
3:00pm - nurse
5:00pm - solids
6:00pm - bath
6:15pm - jammies, diaper, nurse
6:45pm - bed
Occasionally, if her second nap is shorter, she'll take another nap around 4pm for about 30 minutes. If this happens, bedtime is pushed more towards 7:30pm. Right now she is nursing 3 times in the night.
Is there something I can do to help her eliminate some of these night wakings? I am not sure I want to night wean at this point as I want to keep my supply up so I can nurse through 12 months.