How do you guys deal with night wakings?

Question

Update: Just want to give a quick thank you to all you ladies who responded. I wrote this in the middle of the night after about 5 back to back wakings, pat back to sleep, lay down, and then baby waking again. My husband was so kind as to totally take over the next night for me, despite having to wake up to work at 4 the next morning. He gave her a bottle at the night feed and she woke up only once at 12, fell back asleep and then woke again at 430a to nurse. We've experimented with giving a supplementary bottle of breastmilk or just giving her a bottle to go to sleep so that we know she gets enough milk. We also talked to the pediatrician and she agrees that baby was probably comfort nursing instead of transferring milk. I've also taken all of your advice and try to be very strict with putting her down after two and a half or 3 hours.  She's been doing great since then! Just wanted to update to thank you guys but also for any other moms out there still frustrated by the lack of sleep progress, it's getting better! I know it will be better as she gets older too. 
I'm at the end of my patience. I just moved out of my bedroom to the living room because I'm so tired of listening to my 7 month old scream for over an hour now. She does this every night and has never slept more than 4 hrs without waking and crying. 
She's well fed (breastfed) every three hours during the day, falls asleep on her own every nap and bedtime, never sleeps more than 2.5 hrs at naps, has a pitch black room with a white noise machine, and I rarely intervene when she wakes up (sometimes I just put the pacifier in but then leave her alone). There's always a stretch where she's just angry if I try the pacifier with her and she screams and screams for at least 45 mins. I don't want to go back to just nursing her to sleep because the pedi said she should be able to sleep 12 hrs uninterrupted, and I'm trying to train her to get the sleep she needs. 
Looking for any help here, I'm just getting so angry with her and I don't know what to do anymore.

Answer

Your daughter doesn't know what your pedi told you! If she needs you, calm her; if wants to nurse, offer her; if you don't want her angry and crying for so long, tend to her needs. That's what I'd do anyway.
Not all babies (breastfed or not) can sleep 12hrs at 7m; that's really young still, if you do you own research (don't just rely on your pedi; they're not always the experts we want/need them to be). Good luck!

Answer

Sounds like your baby has needs that aren’t being met. Babies who feel secure, fed, hydrated, not in pain, no scared, and not frustrated don’t cry for 45 minutes.
She’s not crying to annoy or manipulate you (you have YEARS until that can fairly be blamed),  she needs something. Is listening to her scream really better than nursing her to sleep? Do you feel more rested? I doubt it. How about holding her to sleep when she wakes? Talking/singing to her? I’d wager any of those things would result in more sleep for both of you and less stress all around.

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2.5 hours is a long nap. Most sleep specialists say to cap naps at 2 hours each and cap day sleep at 4-5 hours total. 
It’s possible she’s getting too much sleep which is leading to more frequent wakings.

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So personally I don't think your babe is sleeping enough during the day. They should be getting about 3.5 to 4 hours of sleep from 2-3 naps. For example my 2 year old takes a 2 hour nap. And he is much older. 
However! Sometimes no matter what you do they will be a bad sleeper. 🤷‍♀️ My 2 year old starting sleeping through the night around 14 months. Before that we woke every 2 hours from birth to 14 months. 
Babes can definitely tell if you are mad. So my suggestion is to take beep breathes and understand they are just afraid and want mom. Look at the bigger picture when possible. 
If you want to sleep train, I suggest being very understanding, reassuring and loving during that time so babe knows they are not being punished. Go in every five minutes. Shush, pat...go out...come back in rub their head, shush pat. Sometimes this takes a week. But if you leave angry, baby is going to feel upset that you are mad and not stop crying. You know how it feels when someone brushes you off and is irritated with you. Makes you feel some type of way.
You got this. Sleep exhaustion is used as a form of torture. And I can tell you need sleep and some help mama. I would say have someone help you, but most people don't even have that great of a support system. Can husband help sleep train with you?  😕 Good luck mama. Hang in there!! You are doing great.

Answer

My son is formula fed and there is no way in hell he can sleep for 12 hours uninterrupted. My son falls asleep around 9:30/10, wakes up at 2:00 to eat, and then wakes up for the day at around 6:30. Of course we always want to follow what our doctors tell us because they are the educated professional, however I will also say that every kid is different. My first son could sleep through the night at 8 months but I know my second son is just not there yet.

Answer

Hi. My LO goes to bed at 6.30-7pm and mostly sleeps through till 7am. She has a morning nap and a nap after lunch. 
I try to keep her up between 3pm and bed time. If she wakes through the night, sometimes I’ll go and give her the dummy, Sometimes I let her cry herself back to sleep. 
Every bub is different and fortunately for me mine has always been a pretty good sleeper. 
They do go through stages though and just remember that this stage won’t last forever! You’ve got this!! 🙌🏻🙌🏻💪

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Is she sleeping in your room or in her own room? It might be time to move to her own room. My son started sleeping longer stretches once we put him in his own room. I think we were making noises in our sleep that kept waking him.

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How much daytime sleep is she getting for her naps?

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My little one wakes up and gets upset most nights and paci helps her but the last few nights she hasn't because we managed to (finally) make her room cooler for her. 
Could it be that your little one is too hot at all?

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My little guy had some nights a little similar when he was teething. Could she be cutting some teeth through? Motrin and nuby soothing tabs before bed helps him a lot. There’s also a leap around this time, mine just started it today, yours could be in the leap as well and having a hard time adjusting.

How do you guys deal with night wakings?

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