not sleeping

[froggie83]

so dd wakes often in the night. like nearly every hour. its taking a toll on me. chasing a 2 yr old all day and only getting a few minutes of sleep has got me sooooo cranky that all i feel like i do is snap off. i also have a headache that will not go away (from the lack of sleep i assume) on top of her waking to nurse that often she is my early riser. so while i am up till midnight trying to get ds to go to sleep she wants to be up for the day at 7 am.
what can i do to fix this? i would be happy if i could get her to sleep for a 3 hour stretch.
i have tried giving her baby foods/cereals before bed to fill her up, i have tried increasing and decreasing her daytime sleep. i tried fenugreek to boost supply but it didn't seem to make a difference on how she slept. she just wants to nurse for 5- 10 minutes and then is back to sleep... wakes about an hour later nurses for 5-10 min then is asleep again.
help! all suggestions welcome

[Babidol]

I wish I had more than hugs for you. My dd nursed around every 2 hours around the clock for over a year. We coslept though. Are you cosleeping? If not, perhaps sending DH in to her to pat her back and only going in every 3 hours when you think she may be hungry. If she's not getting you she may be apt to sleep a little longer.

[i.<3.cheesysmiles]

I also suggest co-sleeping. DS2, 21 months eats plenty during the day, and yet, will wake up every 1-4 hours all night. every night.

[froggie83]

ugh...i wish we could co-sleep but we cant. and i wish dh could do more but he is remodeling in addition to working 40+ hours a week (he sleeps right thru her waking fussiness and crying.) we also share a room with dd... so the crib is 2 steps away from me... (dh is remodeling the master bedroom and was supposed to be done last july)
ugh... i would love to kick dh outta bed and co-sleep with dd just to get a better night of sleep... but the hardwood floors would be too uncomfortable for that
she will take a 2 hour nap duing the day no problem but as soon as ds is sleeping shes waking to nurst every hour.... oh why oh why dear v won't you sleep 2 hours at a time at night?

[Bridget]

Could you put a mattress on the floor somewhere? For you and dd? Not to be a co-sleep pusher but I honestly don't know how I'd survive if I didn't. We sidecarred the crib. He's nearly 2 and still wakes up 5-6 times a night to nurse some nights. I just snuggle in and go right back to sleep.

[Babidol]

By 6 months I side carred the crib so she could sleep on the outside. Never between DH and I. I just took the rail off the front of the crib and pushed it next to my side of the bed. There was a gap so I put a full body pillow down between stuffed and made sure it wasn't a suffocation risk. We did great like that. It gave all of is more room and I wasn't worried about her falling out or DH sleeping on her.