well, i don't know if it's "normal", but this was precisely my experience w/ds2. he never slept for longer periods until age 2. try to get as much rest as possible during the day, sleep when the baby sleeps. do you have a partner who can help you out?

Thank you for the reply.. We have tried to let my husband put her back to sleep when she wakes up but she just cries and gets really upset most of the time. I am ok in terms of rest/tiredness - I nap with her as often as I can - I guess I just want to know that she (and my one friend who also has a wakeful baby) is not completely out of the "norm". I have pretty much stopped trying to "fix" it.

My first son did it, and my 'new' baby who is 10m in a week does. I was trying to night wean him a little which helped a bit, but he still gets very mad if I try to do another sort of soothing (other then nursing.)Sometimes it works to just pat him a bit on the back and say 'Shhhhhhh.' What time does he usually go to bed? Where does he sleep (touching you, a foot away etc...) Do you have any ideas why he is waking? Hunger, noise, movement, heat? You might be able to limit some waking by taking care of other issues. What do you do exactly when he wakes? How does he nap (where, when)?

I have tried all kinds of combinations (temperature, clothes, putting her further away, touching me, shshing, patting, we use white noise) and anything but the breast usually results in her crying more and us awake longer :-( We put her "down for the night" between 7:30- 8:30 pm depending on when her last nap was. She sleeps next to me usually not touching because she rolls away or/and onto her tummy. Sometimes it seems like it could be gas and last night for example when she awoke at 2:30 am I thought maybe it's teething pain as she was having a hard time getting back to sleep and refused the breast - so I tried some children's motrin and it seemed to help a bit- she woke up as often but went back to sleep very soon after nursing the next couple of times she woke up. It's not wet diapers as I change her like 1-2 x's per night and we cloth diaper so I doubt it's a reaction to the diapers). Usually when she wakes up I just offer the breast - it's usually the quickest way to get us back to sleep. She usually naps 2 x's a day for about 1- 1.5 hours - either in the car or us asleep in a bed (if I leave her alone she will only nap for 30 mins).

I had the same kind of night waking w/ my now two year old. He only wakes up once or twice a night now without CIO. We still cosleep and breastfeed. Hang in there! My mom said I was the same way, and truly slept through the night at three.

At that age my ODS did a 2-4 hr stretch at the beginning of the night and then woke every hour until morning. I just went with it and he did outgrow it! I ended up nightweaning him when he was 2-2.5 bc I was pregnant and couldn't stand night nursing. Ultimately he slept through the night right before he was 3 and now that he's 5 he's a fantastic sleeper.

When I had ODS someone told me that sleep is a milestone just like any other...that you can't make your kid walk before their brain is ready and likewise you can't make them sleep through the night until their brain is ready. This really held true for us!