Sleepless nights

David and I call it "The Pacifier Game": we've been getting up at all hours of the night, 4-5 times a night, to put Emily's pacifier back in her mouth and to soothe her back to sleep without feeding her for the past week and we are exhausted! She did this two weeks ago for a week straight and then, all of a sudden, slept all the way through the night three nights in a row and, just this past Sunday, she started waking up again.

David normally goes in the first few times so I can sleep and, normally, is able to get her back asleep in less than 10 minutes. He does the "shush pat" (patting her chest or rubbing her tummy while making the "sshhhh" sound) and rolls her onto her side and rubs her back. Sometimes, she is actually crying, not fussing, and he has to get her out of her crib and rock her back to sleep before laying her back down.

When she wakes up anytime after about 3:00am, I go in because she's been down for 7+ hours by then and, most likely, is hungry and I will have to nurse her and rock her back to sleep. This is the hardest part of the night for me by far because it can take up to an hour. She normally only wakes up once after being fed, fussing for her pacifier and I go in because I have a hard time going back to bed once I've been awake for so long.

We have worked really hard to keep a consistent daytime feeding and napping schedule, which she is doing great with and then, following it up with her bedtime routine of a bath or baby massage, quiet time and a final feeding in near darkness with minimal noise. We just have no idea what is going on with her other than possible pain/discomfort from teething and we feel she is very "needy" right now and may be suffering from separation anxiety. We feel this way mainly because as soon as we pick her up or get close to her (when she wakes up at night) she calms down immediately and falls right off to sleep.

We may have to turn to our Pediatrician and his recommendation for sleep training.

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