My 6 Month Old Is Waking up Every Hour or Less During the Night

She shouldn't be eating constantly. Start a food diary - do it for a whole week. Write down everything she eats, what time, and how much. Write down exactly when you start nursing and when you stop, and how often you are doing it. Write down when she has her poops and what consistency they are, and if/when she struggles (the part you said about her getting bound up.)

How long does she nurse when she nurses? Are you letting her snack on you? You have two types of milk - the front milk, or fore milk - thin and easily digestible, so that she gets hungry really fast if that's all she gets, and the thicker, richer hind milk after the fore milk that will hold her tummy. You need to let her get hungry enough to nurse one side of your breast until it's empty. You can go to the other breast at the next feeding. You have to train your breasts to make that hind milk if you've been letting her nurse at short spurts really often. Letting her have the nipple any time she wants is NOT what she needs. After you get your breasts trained to make that hind milk and she's getting it, you can offer her both breasts when she gets growth spurts.

Don't stick food in her mouth just because she cries. There are babies who just need to cry and their mommies mistake it for them being hungry, so they end up snacking all day long. How can a baby feel hunger if it's eating all day and all night?

You mention that you tried CIO. I submit to you that you don't know how to sleep train. Talk to your ped about how to handle this (and take that feeding/pooping diary in there with you.) He or she will tell you exactly what to do and you MUST do it to a letter every single night no matter how hard it is for you. If you can send your toddler somewhere else to sleep for a week so that you and your husband can do a hard week of sleep training, you will make headway.

You need to work on the day feeding problem first. Then work on the night sleep training which includes not nursing her every hour.

It's like the airline instructions for the air bag that drops - you put your own on before you help someone else put theirs on. You have to take care of yourself and get rest. You just have to so that you can be a good mommy.

You need a break. You need someone to come stay with the baby and take care of her while you get some sleep and don't have to worry about her or the 3 1/2 year old. You need to take them to Mother's Day Out or have grandma or grandpa come take them for the day and maybe a night too.

If you're married then you need to get your husband to do his part too. He needs to take care of the baby so you can rest, completely rest.

Ah, I feel your pain. Have you spoken to your pediatrician? Our child was off the charts in terms of height and weight the first year. That kid just ate and ate and ate. We finally had to resort to bottlefeeding to supplement breastfeeding. This may not be a popular option, but he was constantly hungry, and constantly awake, and this was the only thing that worked.

I was going to say have them check her ears. My unsettled baby had ear fluid - not necessarily always an ear infection. It was much worse when he was laying flat.

Ideas - what about letting her nap more upright? I used to keep them next to me, but allow them to nap in a reclined bouncy seat. Ours vibrated and had bubble display. Had I not had that, I would never have gotten any rest during the day. Neither would he.

I had one child who went through a fussy period and my friend lent me her swing. It was a deluxe top of line model that fully reclined and barely swung on lowest speed. But it was just enough to knock my little one out. I only needed it for about a month and then thankfully, we were through that phase.

I would stop the boob in mouth trick as soon as you can - because that just gets worse as they get older (maybe you already know that with your 3 year old). But I know we try anything at desperate times. Will she take a soother?

I used to time the toddler's naps around baby's nap, or gave them a movie and I'd at least lay down with them - toddler/preschoolers watching a show, baby in bouncy seat or swing, and me just sort of vegged in middle. I couldn't really crash out fully (someone would get up to trouble) but at least I could sit and recharge.

I'm wondering where she gets bound up if she's not in some kind of gastric distress. If this just started since she began a new food or something, maybe skip it entirely and see if she's less fussy.

Have you talked to your ped to get her checked out? Reflux and fluid in ears can both lead a baby to be happy when upright but miserable and unable to sleep when lying down.

Bound up sounds like constipation which can be very uncomfortable. So is fluid in the ears. I suggest binding up is caused by what she eats or her digestive system my not be mature enough to handle much solid food, such as purees. If you're feeding her meats, she is too young for that. At this age she should be eating very small amounts, like a teaspoon or less.

Eating all day can be the problem, too. She should, at the most, eat every few hours. Is it possible she's eating all day because she is uncomfortable and this increases the discomfort? I would stop feeding solids and keep her nursing at discrete intervals. Let her nurse long enough to be full. Developing a new routine can take time. You may not see results for a week or two.

My grandaughter slept in her car seat for naps and at night for several months. We would loosely buckle her in and cover the whole thing with a blanket. At night her mom put the seat in her crib.

I urge you to take her to the pediatrician FIRST to rule out any medical cause and confirm whether or not constipation, GERD, congested ears, and digestive issues are causing this. He will make suggestions for making baby and you happier.

My newest granddaughter, age 2 mos, sleeps in a sort of swing/bassinet. She would sleep longer if her 3 yo sister didn't wake her up.

I agree with so much of what Doris Day said.

Your daughter cannot nurse to sleep. She uses the breast for comfort, not nourishment. That has to stop - for everyone's sake. You're exhausted, but she's not getting any quality sleep at all, and that's bad for brain development. It's not just about people's convenience - it's about her health.

Can you say more about how you define Cry It Out? It doesn't mean ignoring them for hours. It means sleep training. You go in at 10 minutes, then at 20, then at 35, etc. You have 2-3 horrible nights, and then it's done. That's what our pediatrician recommended - just plan on shooting an entire weekend, and get it done. Split it with your husband or someone else (ask your mother or another relative to come and share those 3 horrible nights with you). Read up on Ferber Method.

Is she nursing fully and deeply? Or is she having a few swallows, stopping because it took the edge off, and then hungry in an hour? At 6 months, that shouldn't happen. She needs to fill up and really drain one breast before going to the second. If she's getting a little hungry, that's okay - I don't believe in denying them food, but she's not getting great food. What purees is she eating? If it's not every day, maybe it should be, but eliminate certain foods that seem to be problematic. She's got to get more nutrition and fill that belly with good fats from the deep breast milk, or formula if you have to.

She needs to hydrate more if she's getting bound up, or you need to try other foods, or she's got something like a reflux problem that's messing up her tummy and making it worse when she lies down. Hard to say from our perspective, but work with the pediatrician or the nurse to get this figured out. There are things you can do to her mattress (folded blanket under the head end) or changing up the foods. As Doris said, keep a detailed food diary even though you are exhausted and don't have time for one more thing.

Is she teething? That can make them uncomfortable and increase the drool going down into their stomachs, which can also mess up their bowels.

i swaddled at that age, and strapped them in a swing or bouncy seat with the vibrating option on. i also introduced a pacifier for the need to suck but not necessarily eat. another option is side lay nursing so you can sleep while baby suckles at the breast. (lifesaver for me when dd went thru a similar phase, she was however awake and eating happily while i slept)

I did CIO with all my kids at 6 months. It was torturous, and took a few nights, but I was determined, because I was about to lose it. If she's happy during the day I don't think it's a health problem, maybe you aren't letting her CIO long enough.

Sounds like a growth spurt and/or teething or maybe an ear infection.
Laying down might make something more painful.
6 months is prime time for it.

Some kids just don't sleep well. I was blessed with two of them. I still never know who I'm going to wake up with between the insomnia, sleep walking, and nightmares that we have dealt with now that they are older.

I tried absolutely everything with our daughter! Cry it out did not work at all for me. I had postpartum depression and listening to her cry for even a short time was detrimental to my mental health. She had colic for awhile. She would not take a pacifier. She would not take a bottle. If I laid her down when she was almost asleep she would just wake up and the process would start all over again. Swaddling her just made her mad. The only thing that would get her to sleep was nursing until she was out cold. They were some of the hardest days of my life, especially when I listened to everything that said not to nurse your baby to sleep (or to co-sleep). My fantasy was to check into a hotel room all by myself and sleep for two days straight. Finally I had to say screw it and do what worked for us. That meant nursing her to sleep, co-sleeping, driving around the block until she fell asleep in the car seat, letting her sleep in the swing/bouncy seat/car seat. Now, she is the best sleeper of my two.

I don't know the right answer for you, but I empathize with you. Is there someone that you can have come over during the day at one of the times when your baby does tend to take a nap? Maybe a middle school or high school girl or a retired grandma who can play with your older child so that you can nap with the baby? Can you have some bottles ready and you and your husband can take turns at night? Have you tried co-sleeping? We had a co-sleeper (like a bassinet that attaches to your bed) so when our baby would wake up in the night I didn't have to get out of bed. I could reach over and pat on the back. I even sometimes at my most exhausted nursed in my sleep. Both of my kids seemed to just need some human contact to fall asleep. My son still does. I'm sure all the experts (and lots of moms) would say that was the worst thing I could do, but my kids have turned out pretty great! It worked for us. Good luck!

For some reason my third went through a phase like this at that age. I found she would only sleep well in her swing or car seat, so that's where I put her. At night I left the car seat next to my bed and if she started to fuss I just reached over and started rocking the seat, which usually worked.
Who knows, maybe she had reflux? I never knew why, I just did what worked because I NEEDED my sleep.
Maybe you should hold off on the solids too, because if your baby has some reflux going on (and how would you know?) that could be very upsetting whenever she gets laid down. And solids aren't for nutrition at this age anyway, just practice.

My 3yo was formula fed and all she did was sleep. The baby has always slept in the swing because my husband is absolutely paranoid about SIDS. Since birth she has never tolerated being swaddled. Every time I try to play with her or do an activity she immediately tries to turn around and latch on, and if I don't let her Cuz she just ate she screeches until I give in, how do I break that habit? Pacifiers are ineffective.

Try giving her Babies magic tea. My little one had gas issues and it worked great. Maybe, it work for your baby too!!