hi all
just wanted some advice my daughters almost a year and im breastfeeding ,bottle feeding occasionally and co sleeping.Im not quite ready to give up on the breastfeeding or co sleeping but need to do something about getting some sleep.She comforts on me all night and when i pull away she crys so i never manage to get into a deep sleep before shes awake.i basically get 4 hours 6 on a good night.Everyone says let her cry it out in her cot but i dont want to jump to that extreme im sooo exhausted and cant fully enjoy anything because im shattered.I know she may grow out of it but not sure i can take much more also im constantly snapping at my partner and hes ready to get her in the cot...is anyone else in the same boat?....any advice appreciated:) x

i spent two months trying to night wean my oldest daughter for that reason. Tried refusing her, rocking her, offering her water, giving her milk before bed, giving her an extra meal at bedtime, sleeping on the sofa so she couldn't find me...all led to escalated screaming, waking my hubbie and the neighbours and everyone being tired and cross. In the end, I resigned myself to it, and you know what? I slept way better. I just let her get on with it and I slept through it... Have you tried anything like meditation to relax you through it?

I see you've written 'everyone says'. That implies to me that putting her in the cot and leaving her to cry it out is not what you want to do. I also see that you're exhausted. Is it at all practical for you to nap when she does in the daytime, or to have an early night when she goes to sleep a few times a week?

My personal experience was that the only way to stop it was to have dh put her to bed with a story, hot milk and daddy time, then I had to sleep elsewhere till she got out of the habit of night feeds, but actually at that point I really missed my baby time with her...while it does drag when you're in the thick of it, you realise afterwards that you will have your kids for years but they will only be your baby for such a short while. With my other babies, i fed them till they stopped and just didn't get as stressed about it. if you're not totally ready to stop feeding her, i'd say stick with it and try to find other ways to catch up on baby-free sleep time, because while you might regret being tired, you can change that. if you drop bfing an regret it, there's not much you can do about it at this stage...

Not v useful, but i hope it helps a little...i do feel your pain (Kit was fed with ebm 2 hourly, which meant up every hour and a half for milking and syringing. She learned to suckle, I though yay, rest. Nope, she likes to feed 5 times a night!!!!!). Resenting your baby at night and being too tired to play in the day is no fun. But like all things, it will end in time...
Lou