hi all
dd is 5 mths old ... from about 3 weeks till she was 3.5/4 mths she would sleep 7/8-ish till midnight/1ish, then wake at 3/4 and at 6/7. since 3.5-4 mths she is waking at 10-11ish, then 2, 4, 6, 7.30. I know there are people who have it a lot worse out there but i am shattered and also really worried because sleep has got WORSE not better and freaked out by stories of people whose babies didn't sleep till they were 2!
i've mostly just fed when she's woken, though in past week we've tried to get her through till midnight before feeding. tried cry it out -horrendous, against all my instincts to try, didn't work she cried for an hour. what mostly seems to work for her is white noise ... interestingly, if i get her through the first waking without feeding or picking up till midnight she then sometimes feeds at midnight and goes through till 3/4 then 6/7 ... but sometimes i feel i have to feed at 11ish as DH gets up for work at ridiculous o'clock and i want him to sleep.
basically, what i would really like advice/survivors' stories on is: if you take the attitude that a) this is a phase b) all babies are different and essentially sleep well when they are ready for it rather than sleep training are you dooming yourself to years of bad sleep? Are there people with older babies/toddlers out there who just waited out bad sleep phases/fed through them etc and who saw them improve naturally? If so how long did it take? And also is 4-7 mths a particularly bad time?
Oh and also, as quite often during night feeds she feeds very briefly and then goes back to sleep -does this mean she's not hungry?or just feeding more efficiently? or just a little hungry? Or what???? Oh, to understand babies better!!