15 Month Old Wont Sleep Through the Night

I have a 12 year old and a 9 year old. Sleeping was my problem with the first one, meaning I would get her out of bed with the first peep and never let her cry. I realize your issue is a little different however in some ways it is just the same. I also work full time and some times I think my kids just wanted to have time with me. I know you have been told this before, but you have to just stick by your plan and stop sticking by hers. I would suggest a ritual, bath reading, snuggle time. Then put her in bed and leave, she will scream and even throw up, clean her up and do it again. I promise you, she will figure it out pretty quickly as long as you don't give in. You can do it!
My son was climbing out of his bed at 10 months and we bought the tent and that was beautiful!
Good luck

1 mom found this helpful

You really need to tough it out on this one. I do surgical reports for a living and I do so many where small children have to go under general anesthesia to have several teeth pulled because they take bottles of milk or juice to bed. All of the sugar on their teeth all night rots them out and it is terribly painful. Plus, I imagine that it is awfully embarassing to start school with a whole lot of crowns and missing teeth, not to mention how expensive having all of this done is. I know it is hard to hear your baby cry, but keep in mind that she is not hurt, just angry. She will stop once she realizes that you will not give in. Good luck!

I agree with Tam D because it works and there's no crying or throwing up. My daughter has done this with her baby, she either lies on the floor or sits in a chair, no talking at all. Her child is instructed that he has to lay down or she will leave. It works very well. Some children just can't fall asleep by themselves, it may be insecurities or they just need mommy there but it works. Good Luck.

S.,

Give the child the juice. Did the Dr. indicate why she should not have anything other than water at night? Give her the juice, then she will be able to rest and you and your husband can too.

my son is almost 11 months old
we have had bedtime battles since birth
he would only sleep with me holding him or nursing him
finally i could rock him to sleep and put him in his crib and he woulf sleep 2 hours.
but he was up every 2 hours and i would have to rock him to sleep or put him in bed with me and nurse him to sleep
so 4 days ago i started this:
bath, nurse, rock, put him in his crib asleep.
his crib is next to my bed so he feels close to me
he would sleep 2-3 hours
then when he woke up if i wasnt already in bed i would lay down in mt bed and not pick him up
i gave him a sippy cup with water in it
and he would fuss and cry for 20 minutes then lay down and go to sleep
he can reach through the crib and touch me at night if he wants to know im still there.
but its been 4 days and he is getting so much better at putting himself to sleep without nursing
he slept from 7:30 to 1:30 the other night and only woke up twice after that
so you could try this

If you know it's not a health issue keeping her awake, then follow the advice in "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weissbluth. He explains that often we parents train our children to stay awake or to have a hard time falling asleep on their own and at the right time, because we don't realize the importance of sleep or we worry our child will hate us or be traumatized. But that's not true. We followed Weissbluth's advice with both our children so far (we used his "rapid extinction" method), and while it is stressful to hear a kid screaming for a long long time, consistency makes a difference. It shows the child that you trust s/he can fall asleep on their own and that you'll all be just fine. It took our first son a week to sleep train, but he started sleeping 12 hours at night at four months. Our second son had colic and had a much harder time falling and staying asleep when he was a newborn, so it took a little longer for him to train, but he now (at 6 months) generally only wakes up once, at most twice, and is a much happier guy during the day because he gets more sleep. [I should point out that Weissbluth does not recommend trying to sleep-train until at least 4 months, at which point a baby is physiologically capable of sleeping at least 6 hours without eating. At six months, according to "Baby 411", an infant can sleep at least 12 hours without eating. Both our sons are healthy, happy, and intensely interested in learning, and I can assure you they have suffered no adverse effects from being left to cry it out.]

Weissbluth's goal is a well-rested family, not just a well-rested baby, and he does provide more methods and approaches than just letting the child cry it out ("rapid extinction"). He does point out, however, that rapid extinction is the simplest method to follow, and tends to have quicker results than more gradual methods. Everyone I've recommended this book to has also found it helpful, and I was given it in my turn by a friend.

I went through bad sleep habits with my first. The hardest thing to do is let them cry, but sometimes that is what has to be done. She is in the routine of knowing if she cries long enough she will eventually get what she wants. I know the crying is very hard to listen to especially when she gets to the point of throwing up. I would lay her down in the evening and when she wakes up, let her cry a little while then if she has to have something, just a little water, then tell her to lay down and go to sleep. She will probably continue to cry and she may throw up again, and this may go on for a few nights in a row, but as long as she knows you mean business she will eventually get it. Each night should get a little easier.

S., I too was torn and needed to understand what was really going on before making a decision and sticking to it with confidence. I read the book, "Solving Your Child's Sleep Problems" by Dr. Ferber, (revised in 2006). He explains so many behaviors in detail. He also explains that letting them cry "it out" (meaning leaving them and not returning) is a very difficult way to go. He recommends the progressive waiting approach where you start with 3 minutes (suggests parents choose what they are comfortable starting with) and then 5 then 10 and so on and working up to 30 minutes returning every 30 minutes. The idea is that you remind them that you haven't forgotten about them and you go in and speak softly and sweet (for 1-2 min.) but never pick them up. It worked with my baby (at 4 months) within 2 or 3 days. We still fed him but he had to put himself back to sleep. (Dr. Ferber also recommends watering down the milk or juice slowly). When my son was 6 1/2 months, I watered down his milk slowly and reduced the amount each night. By the time it was half water and 2.5 oz total, he stopped waking because the hunger was gone and he could put himself back to sleep. The book is very good and explains behaviors in detail. Once you make a decision, you have to stick with it to reach your goal but buy the book so you can do it with confidence and be happy knowing you are working towards a very important goal for your entire family. Good luck!

I'm sure someone recommended to dilute the juice gradually over a week or so. The idea is, she won't notice. It's better than what you're going through! (This is also a good idea for day-time juice drinking, since juice has so much sugar in it. It's a nice way to help your daughter enjoy other experiences than just super-sweet ones, too ;)

Also, check out Elizabeth Pantley's No-Cry Sleep Solution. The woman is a genius, I'm sure of it! She has all kinds of fantastic tips for all kinds of sleep problems. It started with her own kids. She had such a nightmare dealing with their sleep issues that she did all this research, surveyed a bunch of parents and figured out what works.

And please, don't make your baby cry it out. It's obviously traumatic for both of you! The CIO "method" is a non-solution that came out of people not knowing anything better to do, and then they packaged it up into a pretty book and sold it, and desperate parents have fallen prey to it. And so have their poor little babies. Give yourselves all a break and cuddle that little girl just like you want to. It's not all or nothing (thank God!).

Go out and get that book, Mama! You'll love it, I promise.

I feel for you. I have 4 kids and thankfully have not had that big of an issue at bed time. But what we have done to wien the kids of the bed time drink is say 30 minutes before her bedtime give her the drink with a new routine like a bedtime story. She can drink it while you read. Or we have even let them have it in the bath..I know that sounds crazy but a sippy cup won't spill in the water. And or try giving her a warm bath about 20-30 minutes before bed with lavendar soap. Also my husband would play with our kids real hard like running around and just letting them be very active for about 45min-1 hour before the bath time this helps get out any energy they have and helps them fall asleep faster and easier. You could try diluting her juice a little at a time with water so eventually she would be just drinking water. Well anyway hope some of this might help you. Best of luck..

Maybe you can slowly start watering down the juice?

When i was weaning my son from his night time bottle (and this was a hard one for us), I would but about half milk and half water for a couple days. Then i would increase the amount of water and decrease the amount of milk every couple days. So within a couple weeks he was drinking just water and was okay with it. I have also heard people using food coloring to make a pitcher of "juice" so that their child thinks they are getting it. I hope this helps!

My son is now 3 1/2. I still let him take his "milk" (soy milk & Boost) to bed with him every night in a sippy cup. I usually go get the milk after he falls asleep. When he was younger, I would leave it with him all night, because he would wake up and want milk. Now, he will sleep through the night without the milk, but I still let him take it to bed. This is of course against the recommendations of the pediatrician and dentist, but my sanity is more important. Just my opinion, but I say let her have the juice. At least you would get some rest.

Try using a nat-time cd. It will work wonders!

We went through the same thing with our daughter for about 2 1/2 yrs. We felt like we tried everything. It even lasted after we put her into a big girl bed. Finally we discovered that she was scared of the door being closed. Once I started leaving her door open, we've never had another issue since. And she was doing just like you said and would scream for hours until she'd throw up. I don't know if this helps but you might give it a shot. If its not the door being closed, maybe there's another fear thats causing issues. Might really have nothing to do with the bottle after all.

Good luck!!
A. K

Hi S.,
It seems as you have gotten all sorts of advise but still what do you do? My son didn't sleep all night long until he was 18 months old. It was HARD. We tried letting him cry it out, & would go in & check on him every 5min. My husband always had better luck because if I went in there he would not lay back down. We both were torn at this process because you just want to hold your baby & comfort them. Most nights I would rock him to sleep then take him to bed and he would ALWAYS wake up within 3 hours. If it didn't happen in 3 hours it would happen sometime during the night. We were lazy but mostly so very tired & so he would sleep with us. Hey it worked. He snuggled & we all slept. You can read all the books & try all the methods but the only advise I can give you is to do what feels right in your heart. Not everything works for every child. My son was 10.1pounds at birth & just kept growing so he was always waking up to eat, so we thought, or we had to change a leaky diaper... We did wean him off the milk to because all the Dr's said that if he was REALLY thirsty water would be just fine. He had a full set of teeth at 15 months. He is just 20 months & mosts nights he goes down like a charm. All in all I think a little bit of everything we tried helped but mama knows best. Good luck to you. I feel your pain. You never really know how good sleep is until you don't get it anymore.

I think its a battle of who is more stubborn. You have to hang in there, she wants to sleep as much as you do so stand firm. As long as she knows you will give in she will hold out for what she wants. Make sure that all her "needs" are met close the door and leave her to decide. if she throws up clean her up and settle her back in. It will probably only take a week if you are persistent.
My now 3 yo daughter, was the same way about getting to sleep she refused to sleep in her crib. So I would lay on the floor in her room and insist that she stay laying down. She was about 12-18 mos...If she would sit up I told her I would leave, I fell asleep on that floor plenty of nights but after about 2 weeks the time got shorter and shorter.
This is not the last power struggle you'll face, set the tone early. Mommy always Wins!
good luck