How to get baby back to sleep?

[Mommy2Haley]

DD2 sleeps in a cosleeper for the first part of the night, usually coming to bed around 1 or 2am. From that point on she wakes anywhere between 20, 30, 45, 60 minutes and is restless the rest of the night.

It's like she can't get back into a deep sleep and right now I'm so exhausted I can't do anything more than give her the boob and try to doze until the next waking.

Help. PLEASE. I was sobbing at 5am this morning asking my husband to please take her so I could sleep. He has to leave for work at 6 but he stayed home until 730 today so I could get at least an hour or two. I had been up with the baby since 3am at that point.

Suggestions to get her back into the cosleeper? She's swaddled there but breaks out of it when she awakens at 1 or 2am. her naps are pretty restless too and I'm tied to the couch while she sleeps (or I nurse her in a carrier).

I have a three year old too who tends to act out when I can't give her enough attention ... by pooping in her pants. I''ve got to get a handle on this any my brain is just fried from exhaustion!

[JMJ]

Hugs, mamma. There really are some phases that are really hard, and we don"t even know how we get through them, but we do. When it gets hard, I have to tell that something is going on that I don't understand, and my child needs something extra right now. She won't always need it, but I have to figure out how to handle it for now... Maybe that would be easier to say if DD spent more time out of these phases than in them.

Maybe you could try a bigger swaddling blanket and maybe a different kind of wrap to keep her from breaking out of it. Otherwise, I would just try to make sure you get enough sleep. Don't let the babe get a head start on sleeping so that if it gets really bad, you at least get enough sleep to function. Does the 3 year old nap? Can you lie down with the babe at the same time to get some rest if not sleep? Can your DH help you get a break on his days off to get you some more sleep? I know sleep makes such a difference in helping us be everything we need to be for our children.

[Katie T]

They also make swaddling blankets, I don't know anything about them as I have never used one but It may help keep her swaddled. I think they may velcro to keep it closed.
I agree on trying to sleep when she does, though that is made harder with a toddler. It sounds like she won't sleep deep enough to get her transfered back to the cosleeper, I know it is a no no, but sometime desperate times call for desperate measures, what about nursing her and buckling her into a swing, will she sleep in a swing or bouncer?

I hope you get some good sleep soon, I hate being so tired I just cry.