Difficulty Sleeping Through the Night

Hi! Just out of curiosity, why is she in your room (is it a space issue) or are you co-sleeping? I hired a sleep consultant for my son and he went from waking up constantly throughout the night to sleeping 12 1/2 hours straight every night with 2 1/2-3 hours of naps (he was 6 mths old when we did this and is 8 1/2 mths old now). It was the BEST thing we ever did. Would you have any interest? The company is called Dream Team. www.dreamteambaby.com

At that age she could be going thru a growth-spurt and is hungry, or she could be teething and is in pain. It's hard to expect a consistent sleep schedule at such a young age, their little bodies are constantly changing and growing, which causes interruption in sleep. Hang in there.
Lynsey

Read what sleep expert Dr. Weissbluth and others have to say about sleep and napping. bit.ly/2qtCr

Hi E., I don't have much advice for you, but know that I feel your pain! My son just turned 9 months and has been sleeping in our bed since he was about 7 1/2 months due to some changes in his sleep habits. He used to sleep in his crib through the night from 4 to 6 months with maybe one waking at around 3 or 4am. He'd go back to sleep and wake up around 6 or 6:30p. This was great. Now, since the teething got real bad at around the 7 1/2 month mark, he was up every hour or so after I put him down. I just got so exhausted getting up and going to his room, sitting in the rocker and nursing him back down that after his 2nd or 3rd waking of the night, now I just bring him into bed with me for the rest of the night. In this time since his sleep changed (about 2 months), he has cut 5 teeth, started crawling and has been pulling up, standing and now cruising along the furniture.

I refuse to CIO - we tried it once and it was just heart-wrenching. Not to mention the fact that any change in circumstances (for us it was going on vacation) will make you have to start the process over from the beginning, which is really tough.

It's great that your DD takes 2 good naps during the day. My son still kind of sucks at napping. And I hate to say it, but I think this is normal at this age. Is she cutting any teeth or going through anything developmentally (pulling up, crawling, etc.), because that can also keep them up at night.

Are you co-sleeping or does your daughter sleep in a crib in your room? If you are co-sleeping, you should try reading the No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley. She has some good tips for trying to get co-sleeping babies to get back to sleep and reducing night wakings. None of them have worked for us yet, but we're trying.

Good luck!

Do you have enough space to put her in her own room?? This might make it easier to fall back asleep on her own, but since she knows you are right there, she rely's on you for the attention. Also, you say she was sleeping 10 hours at night... what time was she going to bed? Maybe try putting her to bed a little later... she might need a little less sleep now?
My daughter went through a stage at about this age that lasted a couple of weeks. We tried giving her more to eat at dinner time thinking she might be going through a growth spurt and waking up hungry (but most kids don't wake up due to hunger at that age)... and we finally just let her cry it out to get back to sleep when she was waking up early and after a few nights it worked and she was back to her old routine. Good luck!