19 week old waking through the night

[fyefoot]

hi, my dd is 19 weeks and has started to wake roughly every 3 hours and then seems fully wide awake by about 4am and will sometimes go back down at 6ish. She goes down at 7pm which is when she seems to be tired. She was a great sleeper when first born so maybe I was just spoilt and expecting too much now. I have tried feeding her which works to a point but once she is wide awake nothing seems to! She was also happy to go down for her naps but for the last couple of weeks she has taken to only sleeping on me again and crying when i put her down. She has already got some teeth and I did initially put it down to that but there don't seem to be anymore coming through so don't think its that. Any suggestions? Thanks, Sleepless in North London

It could still be teeth, though - I've found that the signs & symptoms of teething don't seem to bear much correlation to when the teeth actually break through the gums. If it is, then hopefully the problem will resolve itself before long without much intervention from you.

How much sleep is she getting during the day? Do you think she might be getting night & day muddled up? If so, it might help to try to keep her awake more during the day (although there's also the argument that sleep begets sleep & you shouldn't wake them ever - I never did myself!) Probably best to try to get her off again without a feed, so she doesn't get dependent on it, but that may not always be possible. Or maybe try leaving her to wail for up to 5 minutes if you can bear it - sometimes they do surprise you by dropping off again quite quickly. I know I used to wake my dd up by instantly leaping up & taking her out of her cot every time she so much as squeaked in the night.

You have my every sympathy - I've got a 17 month old and another one due in January, not much looking forward to going through the sleepless nights all over again...

Fyefoot I could have written your post. My dd is almost 19 wks, naps have been teary affairs for at least a week and the past two nights I've had to get up more than usual (leaving me zombie like). This morning at 5 she was wide awake but a 5-min BF helped her to settle again. Think I might try and ignore her next time, as she was just babbling and not crying. She hasn't got any teeth yet, but is attacking those flat rubbery teething things with gusto.

Sorry I haven't got any suggestions but I can sure sympathise!