OK, I admit defeat, 8 months old and STILL no sleep, in fact, it has gotten WORSE again. I gave in, I took her into our bed and it worked for a few nights when she was tucked into the crook of my arm. She still stirred in her sleep but I was able to get her back over before she woke up properly. Hurray we thought - maybe not the most comfortable nights sleep but we were getting some of a nights sleep. But, as is usual, it has all gone pear shaped, again Last couple of nights have been awful, starting at 10.30pm when she was unsettled through to 2am, and then woke every 10 minutes right through to 4am, then she slept then until 6am, had a feed and then back to sleep until 8.

We have been to see the GP as I'm suspecting a silent reflux or a dairy intolerance - cutting out dairy, infant Gaviscon and propping her up worked the first night, not so well the 2nd night and made no difference the 3rd. I am at a loss - she is in distress when she wakens, we have tried Calpol before bedtime in case she has teething pain, but it makes no difference. We have checked the usual - nappy, too hot, too cold, discomfort, hunger - and the only thing that will settle her is me, either walking the floors, rocking, singing, or more often than not, getting the boob out She isn't hungry as she doesn't take a proper feed, just a bit of a suck and then holds on for a while

Not sure what the plan is now - I guess we just live with it and hope she outgrows it - right?

What have you tried to get her to take daytime naps? I def found that when the days were sorted, the nights got better. I used techniques from the baby whisperer and saw improvements quite quickly

My DS1 was like this...he finally can sort of settle himself at 4yo --- some kids are just like that. He did eventually go in his own bed (ish) at 1. Own room at 2. We tried loads to alleviate what we saw as distress but in the end it was just mummy he wanted. Sorry this isn't helpful, but it does get better! DS2 is different, so I am pretty sure it is a temperment thing.

She sounds very like Mira Mira gets so distressed, rubs her ears, cries and cries like she's in total agony, won't settle for anyone but me. We tried DH giving her a bottle, she took a full 5oz, then screamed for me to get her to sleep. If I give her a bottle through the night she takes an ounce if that, so it's definitely me she wants not the milk I really want to take Mira for cranial osteopathy as I've heard good things about that and sleep problems, but we just can't afford it. If we didn't co-sleep I'd have gone nuts with how many times she wakes up and it's never made any difference whether she goes to sleep with or without boob. The only thing that makes a slight difference is her falling asleep actually in bed and not on the boob in the living room. We're talking about the difference between her waking 2 hours later though instead of 30 minutes, so not a massive difference. Most nights she wakes at 11pm, 1-2am, 4am and then 6am, 7am and we get up at 8. And that's a good night! I had hoped to not night wean her, which I did with Kacie at 14 months because I was pregnant, but I can't cope with another year like this so I'm going to do a version of Dr. Jay Gordens method http://drjaygordon.com/attachment/sleeppattern.html but for just a 5 hour stretch not 7 hours. I'm pretty sure at almost 12 months she can survive 5 hours without milk overnight and if I do it between 11 and 4 and go to bed then at least I'm getting a reasonable stretch.

The problem is in the first 12 months there's just one thing after another as to why they have bad nights. If it's not a growth spurt it's teething, if it's not teething it a bug they're fighting, if they're not fighting something off they're having a developmental leap, and so you go round in circles. The Wonder Weeks is a great book and website for explaining some of this http://www.thewonderweeks.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=120&Itemid=236 I always find it easier to cope with the constant wakings when I know there's a reason. I started co-sleeping with Kace at 9 months for this reason, side-carring the cot so we both still had our own space, but it was so much easier to just wriggle too her, feed her and then wriggle back. Plus when you're in your own space like that you don't disturb each other moving around the same.

Not sure if any of that helps Sadie, but just know you're not alone I've got friends who've both breast and formula fed their little ones who've had bad sleepers. Unfortunately when they're so young they can't explain what's wrong so we just have to comfort them as best we can.

xxxx

Thanks everyone - sorry I hadn't seen your comments until this evening.

Shaunie, I have tried everything known to man to get her to nap during the day and she generally won't have it - never would I remember even at a few days old struggling with her as she seemed to be awake all the time.

Mudita - I am starting to think it is a tempermental thing - she is demanding and her strong personality is starting to really appear, if she wants me, then she has to have me Unfortunately she just wants me all the time, day and night.

Davina - thank you, I will check up on those links. It is good to know its not just me doing something wrong and that others go through the same