Hi there! I know it must be tough to have no back-up... Do you have a freind or a relative that can hang with the baby while you take a nap in the other room... Are you napping with her during the day? Please let cleaning and laundry go untill you are at a better place! Stick with a functional minimum for housekeeping! Do you nurse while laying down. Can you sleep and nurse at the same time?

After you are caught up on sleep a little then we can discuss making adjustments to your nighttime. If you try anything now your patience level will be so low it will be this desperation struggle! Your job now should be resting! Lay on the couch while she plays right next to you on the floor! Eat frozen food! Recharge yourself!

Well written advice from Dr. Sears http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/t070700.asp

From the same article...so true! and just in case.... Please don't be alarmed but just read this link to see if anything resonates with you...... but do it after you get some rest! HIDDEN MEDICAL CAUSES OF NIGHTWAKING

Give us updates...ask more questions!

In my experience whatever pattern they are in usually changes after a couple of days or a week. But she may be teething too and that certainly can make for a more wakeful baby... if you think she is in pain you might try to do something about that... ditto on the trying to get a break if you have a good friend to take your baby for a little break or nap... at 8 months if she is not crawling to much you could really baby proof a room and try to cat nap while she plays if she will do that (mine would not)... Often my DD would not stay in a pattern for too long.. either a good or a bad pattern..

According to my Dr. Sears book, babies that age usually need 12-14 hours of sleep a day. I wonder if the 6 hours of naps could be interfering with her nighttime sleep. Perhaps experimenting with shorter or fewer naps might change her nightime sleep.

Good catch, Jessica. That does seem like a lot of daytime sleep! I second the more sleep at night goal!

Update

Thanks so much for your input, understanding, and encouragement! I am so grateful to have found a place to talk to people who support (and will help me with) my choice to sleep with my baby and nurse her as she pleases!!!! What a HUGE relief to not be told to just stick her in a crib - in another room - with a bottle!

Night before last, Parisa and I were able to get a few of hours of fairly solid sleep and today I got about an hour nap while she was napping. We both felt a lot better yesterday!! Last night was another exhausting night and my resources are depleted again...

Her bedtime has typically been around 10-ish, but I read something that said babies need earlier bedtimes, so the last two nights I tried to get her down earlier and she went to bed around 8:45. The first night she slept fairly well until 3, and only nursed a few times. At 3 am she needed to pee, then she slept fitfully off and on, nursing a bunch until 8 am but never woke up fully (my definition of waking up fully is opening her eyes & looking around). This fitful sleep is how her sleep was the previous two nights and days and last night.

I have wondered if she's getting too much sleep during the day, and I've tried to keep her awake when she seems sleepy so she has fewer naps, but it seems to only make her frustrated and those nights are much worse than when I allow her to nap when she's tired. I try to lay down with her when I can, or else be right there if she wants to nurse, which is frequently during daytime naps. If I don't lay down with her or nurse her when she stirs, her naps are shorter but more often. Any thoughts about this?

Someone suggested teething pain and I wonder if that might be it. She does have a drool rash on her bottom. She hasn't really ever cried at night, so I wonder if her whimpering and tossing around in bed is due to teething. It seemed like she wants to nurse every 30 to 45 minutes, but she would just suck a little, then let go - not even enough for my milk to let down, so it seems like mostly comfort sucking. I really don't want to give her medication unless absolutely necessary but last night I gave her a tiny bit of tylenol at midnight. I'm not sure if it helped or not.

Any other thoughts or suggestions would be great - you guys are so helpful!

Thanks!!

I'm in the same boat

I hope that you get some good feedback as I am a walking zombie as well!

I am currently trying to rule out physical causes and am on an elimination diet, we have tried giving our son Infant Tylenol drops for possible teething pain and we've also tried different types of sleep clothing.

I should mention that we didn't have this problem when I was getting up at night to feed him in the rocker. We have always co-slept but I just recently started nursing in bed. This is when the frequent waking started.

My LO has been restless and crying out in the night the past 3 nights too. I'm pretty sure it's from teething. He usually wakes every hour to hour and half to nurse but this crying out and crying in his sleep is new. He's so restless I'm not rested at all either.

I don't give him conventional medicines but have been using Chamilia the last couple of nights for teething. It's a homeopathic remedy that was recommended to me by my naturopath. It comes in vials of 1 mL and you can give them up to 3 doses every 15 minutes. If my LO is awake and so restless in the middle of the night I will give him one dose and this helps calm him and I can put him back to sleep.

the last 2 nights around 3 am I have given him a dose in his sleep because he was crying out every 15-20 minutes and thrashing around the bed. It helped calm him and he got about an hour and half of good sleep.
It doesn't knock them out just calms them down and helps with the teething pain.

Hope this helps!