Worst sleep ever!

Last night was officially the worst sleep Em has ever done. She woke at EVERY SLEEP CYCLE. I'm not exaggerating. That brings it to about 9 wakings from the time I put her down at 8pm till she woke in the morning at 7am. It got to a point where I didn't even have to look at the clock to know it had only been 50 mins or so since I last put her down. Ok, maybe once it was an hour and a half...

WHAT IS GOING ON????

The previous days leading up to this were bad enough - waking every 2 hours or so - but I didn't for the life of me expect it to get worse! It started during the holidays in Australia and of course I was only hoping it would get better when we return. That she would miraculously "mature" and gain a longer sleep cycle at 6 months like everyone out there claims will happen.

I'm so sad. Em used to do great 3 to 4.5 hr stretches, waking like clockwork at 1am and again at 4am for feedings. I can't believe I used to complain about that! I'd give anything to have that back right now. I guess we have REGRESSED. I do everything I can during the day to try and make sure she will sleep during the night and she regresses??? Urgh!

So now I'm caught in a dilemma, where I previously decided that I would simply nurse Em back to sleep everytime she wakes at night, I didn't account for the fact that it might happen at EVERY sleep cycle! What now? I know she can't possibly be hungry, she's just nursing for comfort as her way of transitioning between sleep cycles. What a mess I've gotten myself into! 

I really don't know how this happened... Or maybe I do. Maybe I cultivated this bad habit for her and now expect her to break it. Maybe it was over the holidays where I pretty much held her to sleep the whole night because she wouldn't sleep in a unfamiliar cot. Maybe that's where it started. Maybe it's the casual nursings I allow her to have as I put her down for naps. Maybe that's how she learns she needs to nurse to sleep... Or she's teething, or over-tired, or under-tired even... or maybe it's cos we started her on solids? But shouldn't that have the opposite effect? Whatever the case, I need to find a way of helping her learn to transition between sleep cycles without relying on me.

These persistent night-wakings have to stop.

Which brings me to the age old question - to sleep-train or not? And if I do, which method will I choose? The hard and fast CIO? Or gentle and slow "controlled crying"? Or maybe the really slow and "easy-on-the-bub-but-requires-lots-of-patience" no cry sleep solution? I'm sure they all work, it's just which one I think I will be able to commit to. After all, I don't want to start on CIO for one night and then not be able to go through with it the next - my waffling will only make things worse and confuse poor Em even more.

Maybe I will see how tonight goes before making a decision. Maybe it was a one-off... Though I doubt it. Heck, I have no idea what to expect from her anymore. I guess this is Motherhood!