Non-Sleeping Baby

Julia is still waking up every three hours at night.  Sometimes every TWO HOURS!  "WHAT?" says every well-meaning (I hope) person who is more than a little bit removed from the newborn stage.  Such-and-such began sleeping through the night at ten (eight, six, twelve) weeks.  Here's a sampling of the advice I have been given:

Let her sleep more during the day
Let her sleep less during the day
Feed her more when she wakes up at night
Feed her less when she wakes up at night
Feed her every three hours during the day
Feed her every four hours during the day
Dream feed her at 10:30
Don't dream feed her at all
Are you sure she's not hot?
Are you sure she's not cold?
Have you read Babywise?
Don't consider using Babywise.
She should cry it out.
She's too young to cry it out.
Have you read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child?
Try rice cereal in her bottle
She's too young for rice cereal
Try a big formula bottle at night
You should breast feed exclusively for 6 months

What they all seem to forget is that I actually have another child.  Said child slept 12 hours with one wake at 3 weeks.  I did, shamefully, think that it was because of something I did. 

Guess what?

Every baby is different.

I did the EXACT same thing with Julia that I did with Clara and Julia's not sleeping.  Clara did.  So, what is my conclusion?  She's not sleeping for more than three hours without eating because she's not ready to sleep more than three hours without eating.  I don't mind when people come to me with what worked for them, but my actual friends have all told me the same thing.  Their kids didn't sleep more than three hours, and then all of the sudden they did.  If someone had had actual "I used this swaddle and it helped" or "try warming up the crib with a heating pad before you lay her down" kind of advice, it has been welcomed and tried. 

No one wants her to sleep more than me, but she is a giant (90th percentile), happy baby and she likes to eat.  As her mother, I can tell you that she is not manipulating me, she is hungry.  No one knows her cries better than me.  I wish that instead of criticism or advice OR LAUGHING AT ME, people would say "oh you poor dear.  Let me get you a hot (or cold) beverage."

See this smile?  It's cute, right?  Feed me or I'll SCREAM!!!!!!!!!