Intervention

Today, Daryl and I have decided that an intervention is required with Gabrielle. We're going to sit down as a family and discuss the latest trend in sleep habits that have caused great anxiety and stress to the mama.
First, the background. Gabrielle has slept very well at night since she was a newborn. With stretches running anywhere from 3 to 6 hours in between feedings. When she hit 6 weeks, on the dot, she decided that 6 hours was the minimum that she would sleep at any one time, with the usual night time overall length being about 13 hours. At 2 months, she was subject to a strict bedtime routine whereby she was bathed, fed and put to bed by 6pm. That has held true to this day...just shy of her 7 month birthday. The nights since 2 months of age have been great. She would sleep at times from 6pm to 3 or 4 am, wake for a quick feed, then go right back to sleep for another 3 or 4 hours, sometimes more. Mornings start around 7am, which was just fine by my standards.
However, recently, something has changed. For the last month or so, synchronized approximately with the introduction of solid foods, Gabrielle has decided that she would like to wake more frequently at night for feedings - to which, up to this point, mama has obliged her indulgences, convinced that it was just a growth spurt and she would stop the behavior soon enough. It hasn't stopped.
Today, we've decided that enough is enough. Last night, waking at 9, 11, 12, 2, 3:30, 5 and 6:30 have caused undue craziness on my part. Be advised, that I only went and fed her at 12 and 3:30 and Daryl got up with her at 6:30. We were told at her 6 month doctors appointment - much to our relief - that with the introduction of solid foods she would start sleeping more at night, and possibly start sleeping through. YAY! I was ecstatic. However, it seems the opposite has happened.
Tonight, we will continue with our regular, tried, tested and true routine at bedtime, but at night I will go to her only if she wakes at 2am (about 8 hours since the last feeding) and then we will leave her until morning - about 7am. There is no reason why, at nearly 7 months old, she should not be able to go 5 hours without a feeding. She does it throughout the day now - with feedings at breakfast, lunch and dinner times.
Don't get me wrong, I do understand that my place in the world for the last 7 months has been to provide nourishment to our wee one on an "on-demand" basis, however, my nerves are starting to go as I haven't had a good nights sleep in over 1/2 a year. My plan is to continue to breastfeed until Gabrielle is at least one year old, and possibly longer. All to be determined in time. However, a tired, cranky mama can't be good for anyone in our household. Even Fletcher agrees!