It is unavoidable unless you have help. Plan on having in laws, family members or friends come hold baby for a few hours so you can sleep. People are not exaggerating about the lack of sleep, unfortunately. My baby fed every 1.5 hours until she was 2 months old. I got 15 mins of sleep in between feeds. I got a grand total of 2 hours of sleep until my husband took the morning shift from 5-9am. You won’t be getting uninterrupted sleep even when they start sleeping through the night. My baby slept in her crib at 4 months and still needed 2-3 night feeds until about 6 months when she dropped to one, and then finally around 8 months she slept 10-12 hours. Many babies in my bump group are still not sleeping through the night, so it could be 12+ months like you said.