8 month old waking every hour through the night... Please help!

[zambooloo]

Hi,
My dd has always been a terrible sleeper. The best we have ever had is a 2 week spell where she only woke twice a night. She generally wakes every hour. I'm going back to work in 2 weeks and cannot cope anymore! Just to add to the delights she also wakes for the day at 4.30 or 5 if we are lucky!

She naps for a hour from 8 or 8.30 until 9, then has 2hrs from 1 until 3. She is really tired by 6 so then we do bath, bottle, bed. We were rocking/ cuddling to sleep but we are now making sure we put her down awake then shush/ pat to sleep. I make sure I do this for every night waking too.

Also she is hardly eating any solids (won't let us spoon feed so feeds herself - not very well). Probably because of this she is still having 6 bottles a day and 2 overnight (at 10.30 and about 2). She is really hungry at both these times and will not settle without a feed - she settles back fine at all the other hundred wakings!! She won't take a bottle unless she is really hungry so I know she must be. However I feel like I shouldn't be feeding her still at night (hv told me and none of my friends are still night feeding - dd is ff).

Right this has turned into an essay so v sorry for that - am I doing something wrong here? I'm so tired!! Thank you for all advice.

Sorry that sounds like she is having 8 bottles in 24hrs - she is having a total of 6 but 2 are overnight!!

Anyone?

This sounds really awful, you must be exhausted. Could she be teething? In which case you just have to ride it out I'm afraid.
I think 2 bottles a night is pretty normal so don't worry there. What happens if u leave her for a bit when she wakes? Can she get herself back to sleep? My ds still wakes at night and he is 14 months but majority of the time I leave him for a bit and he goes back.
Have u thought about a bit if controlled crying? I know its not recommended for under a year, but maybe a scaled down version. You must be going insane but I'm sure it will pass soon enough and you will feel normal again. Sorry for not being much help but I really hope she settles soon.

Oh dear what a nightmare. Is she teething? I know it's a bit tough love but you might have to cut down on the night milk. She has enough milk during the day. I know it's hard and others might suggest something else, but offer her water at night, instead of milk. It might be hard for a couple of nights but she might just get the message that there is no milk duringnight time.

It's a difficult situation - too much milk, not enough solids during the day. You might find that if she doesn't have milk during the night she might eat better during the day.

I have to admit that I did follow control crying when DS was 8 months old because I was going back to work and it was simply too hard for both me and DH. First night he cried for 30 minutes (we did go in every 5 minutes just to say 'it's night time now time to sleep' or something like that, and not picking him up. Then the second night it was for 20 minutes, and the third night he slept through.

I know this is controversial and other parents will have other solutions (you couldl try the 'No Cry Sleep Solution' I think it's called, it's on Amazon, we do have the book but the method didn't work for us.

I hope other people will have other suggestions, because control crying is not for everyone and it might not be your choice.

x post charl!

Thank you - I'm not keen on cc as I'm not sure I'm strong enough but dp wants to do it & we're so desperate now that I think it might be worth a go!

Thank you for the advice.