Is he eating solids yet? Maybe that will help. Getting into a consistent routine is really, really hard, but maybe you need to think of one. You may not sleep much for a few nights, but, heck, you’re not sleeping much now. And, if you don’t start sleeping, it’ll be crazytown for you, which isn’t good for anyone in your family. Did you read the post on Motherlode a few months ago about the woman whose 2 year old was a terrible sleeper? Everybody said that the first plan to implement was mom getting more sleep, and then worrying about baby getting more sleep. I know it’s hard because you’re nursing, but will he take a bottle in the middle of the night? Has he started solids yet? I wish I had more for you, but I’m hoping that you get more sleep soon.

Ugh – reading this is making me dread what’s coming with number 2. I feel for you, Naomi, I really do. Sleep stuff is the w-o-r-s-t, and you tend to forget how bad it is once you’re past it. But reading this, all the memories are flooding back… sigh.

One thing that helped with Spencer at that age is that we switched to a bottle with water in it for the nighttime feedings since our doctor said he didn’t need the calories. The water wasn’t too satisfying to him, but we also weren’t ignoring his crying. I think he did it for just a few nights then started sleeping through the feeding. But then again, he wasn’t waking up as often as Fuzz, so I’m not sure if that will help.

The other thing that helped us was consistency. Our doctor recommended a fuss only no-cry approach (I won’t stick my toe in the whole cry-it-out/no cry nasty debates, both have their merits…) which required us to go in every time S went into a full blown cry and try to soothe him as quickly as possible preferably without picking him up (a little bit Ferberesque, but without the increasing wait times). For a while I thought I was going insane because I was in there constantly – literally I’d be out for 30 seconds and have to go back in. But we stuck with it, and after a few weeks it made a HUGE difference. That said, we only had one kid, and I have a hard time seeing how we’ll manage this sort of consistency with a second kid.

Good luck and hang in there!

Also, I don’t know if he is taking a pacifier, but the paci literally saved our lives with #1. She started putting it in herself and sleeping through the night at 9 months. I will acknowledge that she gave up nursing once she got used to the pacifier, but in the grand scheme of things, I preferred that to waking up in the middle of the night.

@Danielle- Solids were started a few days ago, but he’s eaten no more than a few teaspoons so far.

I DID read that post and I thanked my lucky stars that I am not that woman. My kids have sleeping issues, but they don’t appear to be as bad as that woman’s. I do agree that getting me more sleep is key.

@Sarah-I tried the water in bottle approach for Shnook, but it didn’t work. I think because Fuzz is younger, the fuss only situation may work for us. One of the problems is that we waited too long for that with Shnook so he learned to rile himself up into a screaming fit pretty quickly if we didn’t come in.

@AA- Fuzz was a really good sleeper until 4 months too- not quite as good as yours, but I’d take it over what I’ve got now!! I definitely think teething is a big part of why Fuzz wants to comfort nurse. We’ve also just started solids so hoping that he gets over this hump soon! Here’s to both of us getting some ZZZZ’s very very soon!

Girlie, I tried avoided letting my baby just cry for MONTHS! (I still can’t even use the term “cry it out”) And it turned out to be months too long. My baby is 19months now and became a fab sleeper when I bit the bullet at 8mos. I mean it, I tried everything before I caved in to letting her cry. In the past 11mos, I have only gotten up twice when she was sick. I am now convinced, that she needed to associate her crib and surroundings with FALLING asleep. Not me, not food. Here’s the thing, for a 4-5 days he will cry. But he won’t cry all night, one of you will give in. Either you’ll get him, or he’ll give up and fall asleep. He really will. And then you and he will both know, he can do it! (When it happens, have some celebratory ice cream waiting for you!)
I’m not telling you to just to be tough, it’s impossible to be tough. I had to turn on the dryer, dishwasher, tv, and repeat the words on the tv just to keep myself from going in.
BUT imagine, a week from now, your nights could be DRAMATICALLY different! Even bad sleepers pick it up fast. (I thought my girl was bad, and it only took 3 nights)
And you know what’s GREAT about it? Now that I know she’s sleep trained, if she does wake up, I can RUSH in there as fast as I want. Now I know, if she wakes up, there is a problem (teething, etc), not sleep issues.
In the meantime, there are 2 HUGE things that’ll make a difference: the nightfeeds have got to go. It’s teaching him that he can’t fall asleep without it. Maybe go down to 2 feeds for a week, then one. But when you stop, it’ll help.
Second tip I learned: Put him in the crib with his eyes still open. Every time, eyes open. I literally had to run down the hall sometimes to make sure the crib was the last thing she saw. I think it probably is alarming to a baby falling asleep with you and waking up and you’re gone. It’s MUCH better when they know where they are and what’s supposed to happen.
Good Luck! Good Luck! Good Luck!

I would suggest reading Dr. Ferber’s book (even you don’t want to use his interval “cry it out” method). He has a good section on gradually reducing night time feedings that helped me.