9Wk Old Waking Every 30Min to Hour at Night

When she wakes at night, feed her right away. She should be eating 2 or 3 times every night. If the swing works, use it. Have you tried using her car seat? My youngest (almost 3) slept in his car seat for the first 6 months. He was so comfy and cozy in there.

The one piece of invaluable information I received was this: "The best place for baby to sleep is wherever baby will sleep." It doesn't have to be a crib. Our youngest rarely ever slept in the crib. We still joke about it. Why did we put that thing up?

Have you tried bringing her into bed with you? That also worked with my boys. They just loved sleeping with Mom and Dad. They are now almost 3 and 5 1/2, and they almost never come in to our bed. Once in awhile (bad dream?, sick?) but they love being "big boys" who sleep in there own bed.

Give her time. She's still so very little.

my oldest grandson slept in his carseat for the first 6 months. my daughter slept in her swing. it was the only way i could get her to sleep longer than 30 minute increments. I would suggest though that you make sure your little on is completely full. is she eating enough? are you breast or bottle feeding. its sometimes hard when your breast feeding to know if they are truly getting enough as there is no bottle to say he she took 4 oz. does she fall asleep while your feeding her? tickle her toes wake her back up if she does and make sure she finishes. in my own opinion 9 weeks old is way to young to do cry it out. that for me is more like 9 month old. she is too young to reason it out that you are just ignoring her. I would try putting her in the carseat next to your bed so you can reach over and plug the paci back in. but at her age eating every 2-3 hours is still very normal

My daughter was waking up every 20-30 minutes all night long. It turned out to be a milk protein allergy. I eliminated all dairy from my diet and she started sleeping better. It does take 2-4 weeks for all the dairy proteins to be out of your system so its not an instant fix. I definitely saw improvement within a week though. Like your daughter, she had horrible gas at night.

We had a similar infant with similar sleep patterns. At 12 weeks, he was still waking in the middle of the night. We kept making excuses - his leg could be caught in the crib, he's hungry, he could need a diaper change, etc, etc.

My wife posted on FB, and a family friend (with 5 very well behaved kids) suggested the Babywise book. It is basically a cry-it-out method of sleeping through the night and 2 hour naptimes.

It took 3 nights.

Make no mistake, those 3 nights were rough. Our hearts broke as we played the "what if" game while he cried for 15 minutes at 3am - and then he went back to sleep. He didn't break.

The second night he slept until 3:45am and cried for 12 minutes. Then he went back to sleep.

The third night he slept until 4am and then cried for 10 minutes. Then he went back to sleep.

Our baby now sleeps from 7p to 7a (except for teething). He takes 2 hour naps, twice a day. He's on a flexible schedule. And the best is - when we (or grandparents) take him off schedule for shopping, visits, etc - he's like a little spinning top and just spins himself upright again as he goes back on schedule later in the day.

If you can set aside 3 days of sleeplessness (and probably the 3 y/o too) - I would highly recommend it. After those three days, the "cry it out" was basically over and he (and we) slept happily ever after. :)

I disagree with the assertion that it is too early to sleep train your child. My ped told me when my children weighed 12 pounds that it was okay to expect them to go through the night without feeding them and okay to let them CIO so that they would learn to self-soothe. Like Dad on Purpose says, it was hard but in our case, it took 4 nights. My ped was right.

Your child has some special issues with reflux, but if you are keeping her upright and working with the doctor on mitigating that, there is no reason that you can't work with her to teach her to self-soothe. She has no reason to put herself back to sleep because you are doing it for her. It is a habit, this waking up.

Talk to your ped. Tell him you are going to back to work. I was too - I worked with people's money and could not afford to sleep only a few interrupted hours each night. It was crucial that we all got sleep. My children slept from 9:00 pm to 6:00 am after we worked this out. And it took 4 nights.

You can do this.

Dawn

It is normal for babies that age (and for some time yet) not to sleep long periods as they are meant to nurse throughout the night. But 30 minutes is rough and they should go longer than that both day and night. I found with my daughter that she would often wake during the light sleep cycle that hit in the 20 - 40 minute range and if I were right there I could get her back down right away. If I got it right, she went back down. Have you tried elevating the head of the bed so she's sleeping on an angle, that can help with reflux.

The other thing to consider is food intolerance. Often that can mess up sleep. So if you are nursing consider removing dairy and/or soy (those are the big 2 and often go together) or if using formula you are stuck with dairy and soy unless you go for the hypoallergenic formulas.

Crying it out is not recommended for babies that young (disclaimer: I wouldn't recommend it for babies at any age). Even Ferber has backed off his recommendations on that. If you google it you can see the studies that talk about the high cortisol levels created by crying and how that affects brain development.

There is a book "The No Cry Sleep Solution" that offers ways to get babies to sleep longer. Some of it is developmental or may be related to intolerances or the reflux, but there are things you can do if those things are not contributing to it. Babies who won't sleep are so rough. It will get better.

No CIO until she is at least 6 months. At 9 weeks, you are still developing security.

I agree with the carseat position. If she is waking in a swaddle by lifting her legs, that may be an indication of gas pains. You might also look for a way to vibrate her bed. The motion may help the gas move.

Bless you all!!! :)

I'm definitely not a product pusher usually, but I have told everyone I know having a baby about this rocker sleeper I used when my daughter was born through about 3.5 months old. I didn't have nearly as much trouble as you, but I used this sleeper that sounds like it might be helpful to you.

I used the Fisher-Price Newborn Rock 'n Play Sleeper:

http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-Newborn-Rock-Sleeper-Y...

It has AWESOME reviews on amazon. It says it meets safety standards of a bassinet, so it can be used for sleeping through the whole night. It is at an incline, so it can help with acid reflux issues. The baby is sort of in more of a seated position than laying flat - I don't know, but maybe that would help with gas issues?? It is a rocker, and it VERY easily rocks, so that might be something added you could used to soothe your daughter back to sleep. Maybe put it right next to your bed, and when she starts to stir, give her her pacifier right back and rock her a little. At 9 weeks I wouldn't worry about the whole, she'll become too reliant on the pacifier issue - just get yourself some sleep - you need it!

And it's not like a $200 bassinet or anything. It costs about $45 I think.

You said she has reflux ... perhaps it is worse than you think? Some reflux cases are "silent" but still painful. My first son only slept for 30-45 min stretches, and I only belatedly realized it was due to reflux pain. I might try putting her back in the bouncer or car seat at night and / or talking to your doctor about reflux medications. At 9 weeks she should be having at least some stretches of sleep (such as at night) that are closer to 2 or 3 hours.

Awww. Poor little one, and poor mommy! I think you're right and it is the gas that is keeping her awake.

My third child was a horrible sleeper in the beginning. Gas pains and poop issues made him miserable. He wanted to nurse all the time, but then he would be writhing in pain shortly after each feeding. I later realized that he is allergic to dairy. I had to cut all milk out of my diet, and he slept better after that. His cradle cap went away after that too.

It's a real pain in the butt, but you might see about cutting dairy out of your diet for two days. If his gas seems to be better, then he might be allergic to dairy. There are also lots of other things in your diet that could be causing the gas pains (or nothing at all), but it's easiest to start with the dairy elimination first.

Also, it's a very controversial topic, but you could also try letting her sleep on her tummy. For some kids, it really helps with reflux issues. Talk to your pediatrician first.

Good luck, and I hope you both get some sleep soon!