13 Month Old Needs 3-4 Bottles a Night.

L., he does have you trained! I think that you need to let him learn how to soothe himself back to sleep. Do you do the bath routine in the middle of the night? The reason I ask that is I tried taking my granddaughter out of bed and doing something to soothe her. It didn't work.

He does not have a sleep disorder. Nearly all babies go through this. At 13 months he doesn't need the nutrition of milk during the night. If sucking calms him or if he gets thirsty during the night, I think it would be good to give him a sippy cup with water when you put him to bed. Both my 6 yo granddaughter and my 3 yo grandson frequently take a cup to bed with them and always have. I've seen them take a drink without even waking up.

I had a difficult time letting my grandchildren cry themselves back to sleep but they stopped crying, only fussed some, in a short time after I stopped getting up with them. They would sleep thru the night with their mother but not with me.

I think one should start by going in to them, tuck them in again and leave. That reassures them that you are there. The books say don't talk to them. I did, in a soothing voice. You could also just sit in the room with them without talking. I think I did that some of the time. Whatever you do it has to be consistent and soothing while leaving them in bed. You want him to learn that in bed is where he belongs.

One book that I read suggested letting them fuss a little longer each time before you go to them. ie; start by immediately going in then in a couple of days wait 5 minutes and then 10 and so on until you're not going in at all. That required too much thinking for me and I didn't have them consistently for several days in a row.

It is very hard to hear them cry and I also believe in not letting them cry for very long. If they keep crying until they are in a frenzy I don't think that they can learn how to self soothe. they will eventually fall asleep tho if you can stand it and that works for some parents.

I remember that, as an older child and then as an adult, when I was especially upset I did cry myself to sleep and for me crying in itself was soothing. And so I am confused about how long to let them cry. I think fussing and some crying is OK because it is soothing but hysterics are not.

I do know from experience that if you always go in and fuss over them it will take forever for them to learn how to get themselves back to sleep.

One of my favored expressions is: this too will pass. One advantage of being older is that I now have the years of experience to know that is true.

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13 months still is very young. Give him some time and he will start to take in more solids as his tummy grows. His tummy is only the size of his fist so if he's waking up hungry, that's why. Have that bottle ready and go back to bed. It will pass before you know it.

This will be hard, but you must stop giving him a bottle at night. He will adapt, and it will not hurt him. Right now he's trained to get hungry every 3 hours. Take away the bottle at night. Try giving him water the first few nights. That worked for me.

Hi, I'm new here but I noticed we both have 13 month olds. I was reading through some of the replies, and was just wondering is a pacifier a bad thing? I give my daughter one bottle through the night and if she wakes up a pacifier soothes her back to sleep...it helps me but I suppose the pacifier is gonna be a tricky one to get rid of,but this is not my first rodeo. :)

If you're really that miserable then you need to let him fuss for awhile. Physically there is no reason a child that age cannot go through the night without eating. The longer you allow this habit to continue the harder it is going to be to break him of it. I'm not saying that you shouldn't comfort him when he is crying at night, I always respond when my son cries at night, but don't feed him. Once he realizes he's not going to be fed every time he wakes up he'll stop asking for it.

Hi L.,

What happened with us, was the bottle became a comfort for our child. She eventually just stopped after having other options. She is the same age as your child. I can say that we give her Organic Cow's Milk, and she likes that a lot. She has been on sippy cups during the day for a while. Once in a while, she will get one at night. I also play a CD of lullabys to help her sleep. Oh, and she has a nitelight, because she does not like the dark. Hope this helps a bit...

Blessings,

K

I don't believe in crying it out either. At 9 months my son still wanted to nurse at night. I just had to cut him off, so I could sleep too. It's hard but you can do it. When he wakes, go to him, comfort him, but do not give him a bottle. He will cry and scream and it may take up to a week for him to get the message - But he will get the message. I had some long nights with my son, he would cry and cry, fall asleep for a bit and then wake up crying again. I just stayed with him all night. And I think it took about 3-4 nights of this, but it's worth it in the end. Good luck.

I had one of these children too, and I felt exuasted just like you. Heres the thing, giving him bottles at night can lead to bottle rot on his teeth, both painful and very sad if they have to have thier baby teeth pulled too young. It sounds dramatic I know, but I used to work for an oral surgone and we did a lot of toddlers who were having most of thier teeth pulled because of it...

With my little guy we made what we called the "mud" bottle. We made a 8oz formula bottle and then added ceral, A LOT of cereal till it was thick like mud, not as thick of course as you would a bowl but still thick, I bought special criss cross nipples that allow for thicker fluids and this was his bed time bottle. It kept him full longer. 5-6 hours. He was bottel broke at 12 months so I switched to a bowl of cereal at bed time and then a sippy cup of water to go to bed with. But still he would hold longer. 6 hours is a God send when you've been used to every 2 hours. Eventually as we neered 2 he out grew and started sleeping longer with out his cereal, but I highly recomend the "mud" bottle if he'll take it...

Good luck.
H.

(I think this is the longest response I have ever given)

Well I think everyone so far is right. My son is 20 months old and uses a cup during the day and a bottle for bed. He is my second child and I am okay with this. I refill it one time at night and that is it. If he crys for more I let him work it out. I agree with beefing up his meals and maybe somethign filling before bed like crackers or bread. Try going in and ajusting the covers and pattting there back

I don't think he's much different than other kids his age. This website is littered with people asking for advice on how to get their kids to sleep...a new one atleast 3 times a day. My own parents (as well as others whose kids are older now) said their kids never slept through the night until 3-4 years of age. Many of them also used the Ferber method and sing it's praises whenever they can. But they didn't try it until there kids were 2-3 years of age.
Whether I put my son in his crib or co-sleep, he still gets up and wants to nurse back to sleep or he'll scream and cry and he's 13 months too.
It's all up to you and what you can take. If you want to sleep, then by all means keep giving him a bottle or nursing, I personally don't see anything wrong with that. The Ferber method takes upto a few weeks, but you won't have to worry much after. Or you can keep dealing with the crying and rocking to sleep that takes hours...but ultimately hurts you more than the baby.
Each person has their own limits and finds a solution that works for them, but please don't feel like your child has something wrong with him because he doesn't sleep through the night. You are not alone in having a baby who doesn't sleep through the night.

I know you say you don't believe in crying it out, but since you will go insane waking up several times a night, day after day, this may be your only option. Your baby needs sleep and so do you. I reccomend you give him a big bottle before bedtime, and if he awakes, go sooth him for a moment, put him back down, and leave the room. He\she will only cry for a few nights and you will get the sleep you need again and so will your growing baby. I did this with my son, (it was so hard)but better for us both in the long run. He now goes to bed at 8 and wakes up only once, at 7 a.m. If you really can't do the crying, try using water instead of milk, it may not be worth it to your baby to keep waking up for water.
One more thing, do the same bedtime routine every night,(bath, milk, story, bed ) she may settle in to routine and sleep better all around.

I would try diluting his bottle, slowly adding more water and less milk. Hopefully his need for the bottle will diminish as soon as he realizes that he's not getting milk anymore. If you think that he's waking at nighy b/c he's hungry, try upping his calorie intake during the day, and see if he still needs the bottles at night.

I just want to tell you that my husband is in Dental School and they are learning that babies should NOT use bottles after the age of one. I think that if he really needs the milk at least put it in a sippy cup. My daughter was like that but we just eventually started giving her water in the cup to go to sleep. She can't tell the difference.
As for him not sleeping through the night I don't kno what to say because my daughter sleeps through the night but I do think that you should let him cry for at least 15 min or so before you go in to give him milk. I don't think that most kids sleep through the night until they are much older. It's hard I am sure but it will all come to an end :)