My 6 month old is a high needs baby (to use Dr. Sears' term) and since about her 2nd month has rarely slept more than 10h out of 24h. Now I am trying NCSS to try to get more sleep out of her and it is going miserably. It has been just shy of 2 weeks and there is no improvement.

First, when we put her to bed early she still only sleeps 5-6h as her first, long stretch (that is, if even that) so we are up for the first waking at 12p or 1a and then every 1-3h after that.

Second, there is no correlation between her naps and her sleep, as in good naps do not equal good sleep that night, and vice versa. In fact she does seem to sleep better at night when she has worse naps.

Third, the theory of "do anything and everything to get them to nap" because theoretically the good naps will help them sleep well ... bs. I spend ALL DAY trying to get her to sleep, she'll nurse for an hour and never even close her eyes.

Fourth, even when she is completely, limp-limbed asleep and i try to put her down, even if it is just laying her down close to me in the bed so I can sleep too, she wakes up immediately. I can't just let her sleep in my arms b/c she wakes herself there too. I generally will try for an hour to get her down before I give up. sometimes she goes down and wakes after 10-15m and I'll try another hour. It is not so unusual for me to spent 2-3h getting 1h of sleep out of her. admittedly, sometimes she goes down within 30 min and sleeps 2h although that is not the norm.

She can only go to sleep swaddled although I have seen her continue to sleep with her arms out.

I don't even really get to play with her much because of all the time we spend trying to get her to sleep. I really don't do much chores, DH has taken on almost everything, but there are some things I still need to do like eat meals and do some of the grocery shopping! She won't tolerate a sling, she likes to look around, so I wear her in a snugli as much as I can whether we are out or just around the house.

She cries and rubs her eyes and yawns so I know she needs sleep. I don't know how to help her go to sleep and stay asleep.

i am frustrated and really just want to put her in her crib and walk away. but of course I can't do that. HELP!!!