Need Advice for My 11 Month Old Son

The exact same thing happened to us. It was for about two and half months, my daughter would wake up once a night either around 1 or around 4. The ONLY way to get her back to sleep was a bottle. We actually just put a little milk and the rest water. It didn't matter, she just wanted something to soother her. she actually stoped when she turned a year old. Our peditrition told us it was probably teeth. She has goten 8 teeth in the last month. He told us that the teeth start hurting them way before we see them. Some babies can sleep through it and some can't. My daughter now sleeps through the night again. Good Luck!!!!

Hi A.. I had the same problem with my daughter at about 11 months. I will tell you that I heard from a lot of moms who said that it was a phase. I know it drove us crazy. I will tell you that feeding him in the middle of the night is only going to reinforce the behavior. We ended up going in, calming her down (the best we could) by rubbing her back, giving her a pacifier, singing, giving tylenol(if we thought she was teething). Sometimes we would sit or lay on the floor near the crib and that would calm her down. It definitely took some time. Sometimes we had to lay on the floor for an hour or more. I think it took about a week to get her to sleep through the night. I know how awful it is to hear the crying, but after 5 months of peace, I can definitely say that the week of cutting her off of the bottles at night was worth it. Good luck, and if you have any questions about my experience, feel free to e-mail me.
~J.

Read "the Sleep Easy Solution" by Jennifer Waldburger and Jill Spivack. I have a boy almost 3 years old. He's a terrible sleeper and always has been. I was so exhausted - I tried everything. Finally, this is what worked for me. I also have another baby on the way in October. I was desperate to find a resource that could help me with the new baby, too. Check it out. It worked for me.

Hi. Does your son have a lovey (like a blanket or a stuffed animal). That might help him to feel more 'secure' at night when eh wakes up. he is probably just having separation anxiety. he wants to know that you are close to him when he wakes up alone and scared. does he have a nightlight in his room?

At 11 months, he is probably crawling, pulling up, maybe even walking...so he's got lots of new tricks to try out all night long.

With both of my children (Allie is now 3.5yo and Ryan is 2yo), i had to let them cry. With Ryan, he did cry on and off all night for about 3 weeks. it was horrible...but then one night it just 'clicked' for him that i wasn't going in there.

Have you tried offering him a bottle of water? or slowly watering down his formula? If he wakes up and he is only getting water, he might stop waking because it's not 'worth it' for him.

You can try Ferber too. He has many books...but basically if your son wakes and starts crying, you let him cry for 15 minutes. Then you go in, pat him, say 'it's night night time' and then leave. Don't pick him up. dont' stay in there too long. Wait 10 minutes, go back in...repeat. it might be 40x that you are going in there at first...but it should get better. Or you can sit next to his crib in a chair and pat him, but don't pick him up. then move your chair a little further away each night until you are out of the room.

Having gone through this with both children, the only thing that worked for us was to let them cry. As soon as my husband or I went in teh room, they screamed even louder. I knew they were not hungry. It was miserable to listen to them cry all night...but it got better.

Good luck!

C.

here are some options...pick and use as you like
1. try reading baby wise.
2. sing me to sleep pooh.
3. give him a bottle with water in it.
4. make sure he is well fed. thick rice laden bottles before bed.
5. pacifer.

i know it is hard but make sure that "crying through the night" without one actually means you don't go check on him for 10+ minutes and then if he asks for a bottle still dont give him one for 10+ minutes. My daughter would not wake up wanting a bottle but she would ask for one to go to bed. I would tell her i was going to get one and by the time (15 minutes) later I came back she was asleep and forgotten about the bottle.
good luck