Sorry, everyone. Have been meaning to pop back in for yonks and update (and to thank everyone for their thoughtful responses!)
We've had a bit of improvement, followed by some hell nights, and followed by a bit more improvement. We are on a good cycle right now. Last night she slept from 8:30 till 4:00, then until 6:00am-ish.
Barb, to answer your question, we semi co-sleep. She's in a cot in our room and comes in with us if she needs/wants to. But generally she sleeps in the cot, because like her brother, she seems to actually prefers her own space for sleeping. She's more restless when she's in with us, and will roll and kick and wriggle and generally be a prize pain in the butt to sleep next to. She actually pushes me over to the edge of the bed (by kicking me) and then spreads herself out in the middle of the bed. Only once I am no longer in her space will she lie still and go back to sleep. Little terror. Although if I lay down to feed and we both fall asleep, she will sleep happily cuddled into my armpit. I think that like her mother, she's a woman of extremes. (ETA: I should add that she is worn a lot during the day, which I think fulfils a lot of the need for close contact. DS was the same, worn during the day but preferred his own space at night).
My suspicion is that apart from the growth spurts it has something to do with how she goes down in the first part of the night. If she has a good long feed, and then goes into bed and isn't disturbed for the first couple of hours, she will sleep for up to 7 hours and will self settle if she stirs. But if that first part of the night is disturbed and she wakes enough to need resettling out of the cot (usually with a feed), then it sets up a pattern for the rest of the night, and that's the only way she'll resettle. We do settle her quickly by whatever means, because apart from us not wanting her to cry, if she does it wakes her brother who then takes hours to settle.
We ended up not worrying too much about solids at this point because to be honest, it seemed like more work than just giving her breast feeds. My DP hasn't been home much in the leadup to Christmas and it was all a bit too hard thinking about it. (Although she did have a lick of a piece of watermelon yesterday and seemed to be quite intrigued). She's only a week off six months so we'll start offering her food as the opportunity arises.
Thanks everyone for your help - it did help us to get through this rough patch.
Last edited by suse; December 30th, 2010 at 09:02 PM.
Although if I lay down to feed and we both fall asleep, she will sleep happily cuddled into my armpit. I think that like her mother, she's a woman of extremes. (ETA: I should add that she is worn a lot during the day, which I think fulfils a lot of the need for close contact. DS was the same, worn during the day but preferred his own space at night).
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