My 18 Month Old Still Wakes up at Night

The only thing I can think of is to replace the milk with a good dose of comfort, then slowly wean him off that. So, when he cries tomorrow, go in there and soothe him back to sleep for as long as it takes (might want to start this on a weekend!) but be firm about no milk. He'll eventually cry himself to sleep I would think, but you'll be there so he doesn't feel abandoned. Do that for a while until he starts to get the fact that he's not getting milk, then start to slowly cut down on the time you're in the room with him until (hopefully) he stops. Good luck

I give my daughter a banana sliced in half, lengthwise, and put some peanut butter down the middle, then cut it up into bite size pieces for her. She used to wake up hungry but I think the peanut butter kind of sticks with her and helps her not be hungry...however, my daughter is 2 1/2 now...I can't remember if 18 month olds can handle this or not...I guess depends on how many teeth he has, and if he's not allergic to peanuts! Good luck to you.

my daughter is 18 months and still wakes up but i dont feed her sometimes i let her cry herself to sleep and sometimes i pick her up and rock her or put her in bed with me until she goes back to sleep and then i put her back in her crib..we eat at 6:00pm and then she gets a bottle at 9:00pm and that is it for the night

well if it was me i would try to feed him a small dinner right before bed time like a large jar of baby food are try adding some baby ceral in his milk at bed time i know he's 18 mos old but i would still give it a try it want hurt him it sounds like he is hungery to me give it a try good luck have a good day.

I would just say that by this age it is definitely a habit and one that will be hard to break now. Children this age are more than capable of sleeping through the night without having a bottle. The doctor is right, the only way to break the habit is to let him cry it out. But, I would also let him know that he won't be having a bottle in the night before you put him to bed. Children at this age are able to understand you.
I know it is very difficult to let your child cry, but it really is for the best. I also know it isn't healthy for their teeth to have milk during the night.
Sounds like you are a good mother, so keep up the good work and don't give up. It may take a while to get through to him, but he will get it. Be strong and be consistent. You can do it!! God bless!

I agree with a few of the gals here: feed him if that's what he needs.

Truth is, we ALL are hungry if we wake in the middle of the night. Your little one is not nuts or requesting anything out of what's normal. He WILL grow out of it.

My little girl was the same and now at 2 years, she sleeps through the night. Cater to what he needs. He's not being a brat by telling you what he needs. You're all he has, there's no reason to deny him something as simple as milk in the night.

Bottom line: Follow your gut, your gut is telling you that he's hungry. You're a good mother!

Both of my kids made it through the night with a cereal bottle at bedtime. I used the boxed gerber powdered cereal and alternated flavors to give nutritional diversity. I had my Dr tell me the same thing you were told about baby not being hungry, but when I added the cereal to the last formula or milk bottle, both of my kids responded immediately by making it through the night. However, I noticed your baby is 18 months. I used the formula/cereal mix from 5-12 months and then I discontinued using the bottle and went to sippy cups during the day. My kids were eating with us and having nothing but regular food by 18 months. Three meals a day with maybe a snack if they seemed hungry. I believe formula and baby food has its place during the first year, but after that, if babies are not transitioned to table food, they will seem hungry 24/7, because they require more nutritional value than baby stuff supplies. This is just my experience. Good Luck! All Moms know how important it is to get good rest for everyone in your household.

When they do this it is called habitual waking. You can do something called wake to sleep. It is a technique that i had to use with both of my kids and it works. It is from a book called 'The Baby Whisperer Solves All of Your Problems' by Tracy Hogg. She doesn't believe in crying it out, and neither do I. It is where you wake them up (lightly) about 45 minutes before the time they always wake up. There is more to the technique, but it usually only take 4-5 days max to fix. Then you can finally get some sleep! I can tell you he is definetly not hungry!

Bless your heart! I don't know is this will help but..

Right before bed give an apple bar (or somehting like it. we like the ones you get at Babies are us, they also have a peanut butter and jelly one.) Brush the little teeth and then do a book etc... Then leave a sippy cup of water in his crib. This way he can have a drink if he needs it.

My monkey likes to wake up in the night and tells us she's hungry. It's not all the time but it seems to come in growth spurts. So in those phases we eat something right before bed.

good luck

HI...Have you thought about giving him something to eat just before bedtime? I used to give our son at 11 months a glass of milk and vanilla wafers each night. lots of luck

I would give him a very filling snack before bed time...maybe high protein and carbs. Some carbs tend to make me sleepy. Whether or not this works will help determine if it is hunger or wanting your attention. Good luck!!!

Some one else mentioned this...the baby whisperer will work wonders for you. I have four children (including twins) and that book saved my life.

After 6 months or so, it is habitual waking. Wake your child before the usuall time that they wake up for awhile and the habit will break. Absolutely do not give in or the whole process will have to start over.

Hey there! You poor thing! You can definitely get him off those middle of the night feedings. If my 6 month old can go 10 hours without eating your 18 month shouldn't have any problem. It's probably not out of hunger that he's waking up, but from desire, and from habit. It's just his internal clock that is stuck waking him up at that same time. Just like adults who wake up the certain time of day to go to a job, we sometimes wake up at the time our alarms go off even on Saturday. There might be some crying because he's going to try hard to get you to come bring him a bottle, but it won't hurt him to cry a little. If you can't stand the crying, you could go in and pat his back and soothe him, but in my experience it only makes it worse. Good luck!
Love I.

I think he is 18 months old, has a very small tummy, and might just still be hungry. He probably goes non-stop during the day, burning tons of calories.

I would try offering a protien rich meal right before bedtime to fill up his tummy with something that will last. It may or may not work, but it is worth a try.

He is not been in this world for very long. Don't let other make you feel bad for meeting your child's needs. Do what you feel you need to do.

T. - listen to your son - feed him and understand that he still needs this. It will pass. There are many children that do not sleep through the night until they are 3-5 years of age. Consider yourself fortunate he is only wanting this one time per night. I have a 2 yr. old that wakes every 2-3 hours still. It is normal for him - each child is different in adapting to things. Don't worry about this - your son is fine. He just has a night-need and will soon grow out of this if you respect his need.

Alli

At 18 months I am sure he is eating more than milk by now. Mayby you should increase the level of cereals to his last bottles. And/or increase his solids during the day.

I have the same problem with my 18 month old daughter. I totally disagree with the people who are saying "there's no way they can be hungry" "it's just a habit" and such as that! You can call yourself a good mom for not letting him "cry it out!" Every child is different, so some people's children stop waking up at 1 year for bottles, some people's kids still do! My baby wakes up for a bottle (of milk) about 4-5 nights a week. She is a very picky eater and doesn't usually eat a huge supper. I always give her a snack before bed and also put her to sleep with a bottle. She still wakes up and if I try to rock her back to sleep without a bottle she sits up and asks me for a bottle. What's easier, the 10 minutes it takes to give her a bottle or the hours of her crying and throwing up in her crib because she wants one? Not like I'd be able to sleep then either! Point is, your son very well could be hungry, so just give him a bottle and put him back to bed. They are only babies once, and one day you will miss the baby years! He will eventually grow out of it. My 4 year old was much the same way and now sleeps pretty well! So just go with it! I doubt there's anything you'll be able to do to stop it, short of torturing your kid with the "tough it out methods!"

This is painful, but you have to train his little body not to be hungry at night. And that means cutting out the bottle. You'll have a hard time for a week or so, but once you do it -- he will sleep longer. Good luck!

18 months seems a touch too old to be waking up hungry. I'm not saying that he isn't hungry, but perhaps he isn't eating enough substantial foods to carry him through the night (as opposed to a younger infant who wakes up during the night because their stomach is smaller and can't hold enough to carry them 8 hours).

Also wanted to mention the idea that teething might be waking him up, and the bottle might be his preferred way to get back to sleep... Between 14-18 months, toddlers get their molars in. His normal REM cycle might end around 2:30 and that's just enough consciousness for him to notice his teething-?

This is a tricky situation. At his age, giving him a bottle consistently in the wee-hours could easily become a hardened habit which will be 10x harder to try and break when he is 2 or 3! Actually, habitual waking up for food by toddlers is considered a sleep disorder: http://www.cincinnatichildrens.org/health/info/growth/dia....

Obviously, I don't know what your son's appetite/diet is like. My daughter was (and still is!) a picky eater at 12-18 months, so its easier said than done to try and get your son to eat different/more substantial foods. But perhaps you can introduce more proteins, less carbs, in his evening meal? That should help carry him longer during the night. I made "cheesy egg balls" for my daughter (20 sec microwaved egg yoke with melted shredded cheese), rolled into balls (we don't have eggs allergies and our pedi ok'd her eating eggs after she turned 1). It was quick and healthy, and if it wasn't for eggs, I don't know how she would have gotten any protein...! Also let her scoop the egg and cheese mixture onto unsalted tortia chips & crackers. That was a big hit with her.

Good luck!

P.S. Just want to clarify that our pedi gave her ok for egg YOKE after age 1, not the egg whites.

My 18 month old does this sometimes, too - like last night when I tried to rock her back to sleep without a bottle, from 1 am to 2:45 am, and then my husband finally gave in and gave her a bottle and she went back to sleep at 3! Here is what we do: when she first wakes up we wait 5-10 minutes and let her try to go back to sleep on her own. This works about 50% of the time. If after 15 min tops she is not back asleep, we go in and pat her or rock her, but don't give her a bottle. When that does not work we try just water, then finally we give in to a bottle. I figure if rocking will not work in 1.75 hours, a bottle is really what she needs. This only happens about once a week, though, not every night.

We bought a book called the no cry sleep solution that helped us. She used to do this every night, but we tried some things that seemed to combine to help:
1. Give a snack before bed, banana or graham crackers work best for us.
2. Take out the night light and black out the room, so it is really dark.
3. Play white noise or music all night
4. Play with bedtime. We moved Abby's slowly from 7:30 to 8:30, and now most nights she sleeps all night, from 8:30 until 7 am!

Good luck, and don't feel bad for meeting your baby's needs! The doctor doesn't know your child like you do!

Sherri