My 10-month-old has always had some interesting sleep habits, but the one that is really killing me is that after going down between 9 and 10 and getting up around 1 to nurse, starting between 3:30 and 4:45 a.m., she gets up every hour crying until 6:15 to 7:30, when she is up for good. The only way to get her back down is to nurse. The first time I go to her, I nurse her well, so she can't be starving. Plus I already nurse her once in the middle of the night. The reason I nurse her in the middle of the night is she has always been tiny (at or under the 3rd percentile in weight), so I feel wrong about denying her food at any time. Also during the day she has three small solid food meals (not a big eater) a day and nurses on demand. I would like to have her fall asleep between 8 and 9, get up to nurse if she needs to once in the middle of the night or early morning and get up finally between 6:30 and 7:30. Is this a possibitity? How can I make this happen?
I would recommend not nursing on demand, that may be why she eats small meals and small meals lead to wanting to nurse more often. Eating bigger meals should help her sleep thru the night.
As far as her being tiny, I would check with her Doctor to see if it is really necessary to feed her in the middle of the night. It sounds like she may have you trained for attention. My sons did not have the "tiny" problem but by the time they were 10 months they were on a feeding schedule. Not to say it was not flexible when it needed to be, but bottles and solid foods were giving around the same time everyday. Again, I would check with the Doctor to see if her not being a big eater could be waking her up so much. You do not mention her sleeping habits in the day. Is she getting too much sleep or too many naps. Again, my sons had one nap by then in the early afternoon. Anymore than that and they were up and down doing the night. With both, I did have to teach them to sleep through the night. It meant letting them cry it out. I would go into the room periodically and reassure them I was there, no picking them up, but leave after a brief visit. I would do this a few times until they settled down and went to sleep. This can take a few days to teach them, but once they learned they went to bed alright and slept thought the night. It they did wake up doing the night, I did not rush in, but wanted a minute to see if they went back to sleep. If not, I would check on them and if all seem fine, no wet diapers, etc. I would reassure them again and leave. I would not pick them up unless is was necessary. It will be hard but but you are teaching her independence and you will finally get to sleep. Good Luck!
One of my daughters was also in the low percentile of weight and it was a concern for me as well. I also never denied her any food or milk. She was not a big eater...but today as a tween she eats as much as me at times!!!! One thing that I have used to help my kids sleep when it was still light out (due to daylight savings times)was to put up blinds that covered the windows completely and totally blocked out any sunlight. They are extra thick blinds and must completely cover the windows so no sunlight can be seen. When it appears dark in the room, it can fool your daughter's internal clock and may help you get her to sleep a little earlier and wake a little later. As far as waking several times in the middle of the night, the only suggestion I have is to add cereal to your breast milk and use a bottle. This may fill her up better in the middle of the night.
