Baby wakes me at least 6 times a night, my health suffering

[@llli*songbirdma]

I have co-slept and breastfed only my 11 month old since she was born. Recently I have transitioned her into a crib next to my bed since she is very active at night and has fallen out of bed 4 times even with the guard rails! I thought that once she was in her own space she would be waking me less in the night but not so much. She usually wakes 2 -3 hours after initially going to bed and wants to nurse again to go back to sleep. She wakes every 2 - 3 hours throughout the entire night after that and demands the boob before settling back into sleep. On top of all these feedings, I am also woken even more bc now she is crawling and climbing in her sleep! She wakes up in odd uncomfortable positions upset and confused. I want to avoid letting her cry herself to sleep bc I can't bare the thought of that but I have started having pain, fatigue and severe shortness of breath due to anxiety and lack of sleep. I'm also a working mother so I'm not sure how I manage to function during the day! My sanity is hanging on by a thread. I need rest. I should also mention that there is no way in our tiny house that I can move her into her own room. I suppose I could try sleeping on the couch. How do I sensitively and compassionately night- ween an 11 month old?? I should add that I love nursing her and I don't want to ween her altogether and wouldn't even mind a feeding or 2 at night, I could handle that. It'd be like a walk in the park in comparison!

[@llli*mommal]

A lot of moms here- including me- have used the Jay Gordon method to night-wean: http://drjaygordon.com/attachment/sleeppattern.html It's recommended for babies who are older than a year, but you're really close to that... And it's not cry-free. Frankly, I don't think there's any form of mother-led weaning that is going to happen without some crying.

Can your partner or another adult take over some of the nighttime baby care?

[@llli*songbirdma]

Thanks for the reply, I will check out the link you shared. Yes, her dad can help some nights when he's not working graveyard shift and that's how we plan to wean. I'll be sleeping on the couch those nights. Seems like if I'm in the room the situation only gets worse. Last night she woke every hour to hour and a half!! WTF?! She demanded to nurse back to sleep every time. OK I KNOW she was not hungry all those times.

[@llli*mommal]

Night nursing with an older baby often isn't about hunger, but about the baby needing to find her way back to sleep, and relying on the breast as the most soothing, most effective sleep aid. My one concern for you, WRT night-weaning, is that if your LO is waking because of discomfort from teeth or from crawling around the crib, there's no guarantee that weaning will stop the night-waking. You may face a situation where she still wakes and needs some help in order to go back to sleep, and if you're not nursing... You could end up spending even more time trying to get baby back to sleep.

[@llli*songbirdma]

I have thought of that...kind of like a double edged sword, damned if ya do, damned if ya don't. Guess I'll have to continue waiting out this phase and hoping it's over with soon.

[@llli*mommal]

I don't know that you HAVE to wait- in your shoes, I might experiment with night-weaning and see if anything changes.

[@llli*djs.mom]

I wouldn't. Especially since you are working. I think based on your last post that it's pretty obvious her 1st year molars are breaking. And that she is in pain AND probably very confused by her new sleep situation. I would NOT get UP and out of bed to nurse my baby at 11months if I was working. I would let her sleep next to me and have unlimited access to my breast until her molars break. AND THEN work on the Pantley method. But I don't think your night are going to get any easier by having her not next to you right now. She is already proving that to you. She is still waking. And if it's because she is in PAIN, well your breastmilk has the oxcytocin in it to relieve the pain. And why get out of bed to give that to her? Just lay her down next to you and make it as painless as possible for both of you.

[@llli*songbirdma]

Yes she just cut a new tooth yesterday...not a molar though. I'm still putting her in her crib for the first sleep (around 7:30) and then when she wakes once I'm already in bed I bring her into bed with me. It is just too much to get up all through the night. Surrendering to being an all-night buffet somehow makes it a little less stressful. This too shall pass.

[@llli*djs.mom]

Exactly!