Please help me figure this out

I am having so much trouble fighting with myself! DD will be 9 months on the 4th. She is EBF. When she was 6 weeks old, she was STTN. I went back to work when she was 5 months old, and since that time, she wakes throughout the night to eat. I am only able to pump 12 ounces while at work (I pump three times a day). My LC told me not to be surprised if she started waking through the night to eat since she wasn’t getting a lot of milk throughout the day (compared to what she had been getting when I was home with her). These past few weeks, she wakes every two hours. It is really wearing on me. I wake for work at 4:45 AM and have a long day. I wish that I can be home with her, but it’s just not an option. I am afraid to CIO, because I feel like she needs the milk. She is definitely eating (for most of her wakes). She is eating solids now also, but I still feel like she needs her milk. What should I do? I hope that I could even handle CIO. Is there a tried and true method that worked for you?

Please help me figure this out

If she's eating solids too, she shouldn't be starving for milk. At that age its possible she's waking up a lot because of teething or just because she's looking for comfort. My dd woke up a lot during the night until well past 1 year, and I think it lasted for so long like that because I kept running in to nurse her every single time she woke up. I finally had enough of it and had to let her cry it out. I always make sure she's nice and full right before bed. I would give her some kind of solid food and nurse her. Then I started out going in the first time she woke, to make sure her diaper was ok and nurse bc I felt guilty cutting her off cold turkey. But after that I let her CIO. The first night is always the worst and lasts the longest. But after a few nights she sttn. Every once in a while if she's sick or getting a new tooth, I have to start all over again bc I don't like to leave her to CIO if I know she's in pain or sick. Good luck!

Please help me figure this out

This was exactly what happened for me. My DD STTN while I was on maternity leave and then by 4/5mo, after I had been back to work for a month or two, she started waking more and more. I also pumped 3x a day and only got about 12oz so I also felt like she was waking in the middle of the night to eat because she wasn't getting enough during the day. Eventually, though, I made a decision that every 2 hours was too often and would only feed her every 3-4 hrs because I needed the sleep and was at my wit's end. If she woke before 3-4 hrs, DH would go in. He'd pick her up, hold her for a few minutes and then put her back down and she'd sleep for another few hours. That's how I realized that she didn't actually need to eat every 2 hrs, but was doing so out of habit. We did some CIO, but nothing ever seemed to work for us until she was completely weened at 13mo.

Re: Please help me figure this out

Thank you ladies. It's nice to know that I am not alone. I just have to figure out if I can handle CIO.