Hello everyone, first time mom here. I don't have anyone to speak about this to and was hoping for your help and advice.
I have a 8 mo and I'm extremely sleep deprived at this point. She's had nights (no more than 5) that she'd sleep stretches longer than 4 hrs but on a daily basis it's 3 hrs. She then wakes up and starts crying A LOT and nothing apart from the breast will settle her down. I've been breastfeeding her exclusively since birth but I've always put her down awake after feeding (both naps and night time). She has no problems falling asleep on her own, I'd usually give her a dummy if she's a bit fussy and leave the room, within 5-7 minutes she's sound asleep. She has two naps, one at 10am and another at 3-3:30pm, one of which is 1hr long and another 1:30hr. She then goes to bed at 7:30 after a bedtime routine - it used to be bath, book, breast but I also switched it to bath, breast (with lights on), book, so that she doesn't associate breast with sleep. Again, no problem here, she goes to sleep as easily. She wakes up around 7-7:30am.
The problem starts at around 10:30-11:00pm. She wakes up and cries and I swear NOTHING will settle her apart from breast, unless it's some noise that woke her up earlier than that (happened last night, 12 students were acting like animals until midnight) and I just settled her with some shushing and gentle strokes. Apart from those times she's just unconsolable. I've tried it all, she's just so upset! Then she really eats - she can empty both breasts in around 10 mins. I then put her back still awake and she falls asleep easily (no dummy). This scenario repeats then at 2:30am and around 4:30. She also seems really restless, kicks and turns and generally behaves as if she's awake, though she's not. Obviously no sleep for me then either.
She used to sleep in a next to me bed and end up with us after the last feed, usually around 4-5am. For the last 3 nights we moved her to her room in hopes she won't smell me and we won't wake her up by tossing in bed or something either. First night was exactly the same as usual, the only difference was I couldn't fall back asleep as walking down the corridor completely woke me up. The second night was much, much better - she woke up at 1:45am for the first time, second at 5:30am. I was so happy and I thought we've done it but hey ho, what do you know? Last night was even worse. I slept maybe 3 hrs of a broken sleep overall.
We're doing blw and she's having two meals a day, which we'll ramp up to three from today with some soup for dinner. She's eating well during day and is a very happy baby although for the past 4 weeks she screams in this super high-pitched voice that are making us crazy. We're hoping it's just a phase but I'd obviously hope it will end soon.
Can you please let me know your experiences? How much longer this will take? Obviously I know every baby is different but I just really want to hear your stories or ideas of what's been happening. I never thought at 8mo I'll be still up 3-4 times a night (or maybe I did but me from half a year ago wasn't AS tired and didn't think it was a massive deal). I'm seriously, seriously sleep deprived. I can't focus, it's hard to be active during the day as my body just hurts, and not to mention I'm just not the nicest person for the past weeks. Please, please help. Sorry for the essay but I'm trying to include all details that may give some insights.