My Daughter Bella is generally well-adjusted, happy kid. Doing lots of normal 2 yrs old stuff. (she is 2 yrs 4 mnths). However she has never been a good sleeper. We tried all sorts of sleep training when she was younger - although I just personally couldn't let her 'cry it out' for very long. She got into a good sleep pattern by herself around 10 mths ago and was sleeping through the night. About 5 mnths ago she was sick and waking up with a bad fever and asking for a bottle (a sippy-cup type of transition cup really, not an actual bottle) so we gave it to her. Now we have set this nightmare in motion where she wakes up once or twice a night for it and screams hysterically if we don't give one to her - she is basically half asleep during this time. She also is of course peeing through her diaper and wetting her sheets because of so much liquid. I know many will say just let her scream, but we live in an apt building (with very thin floors) and my neighbors have stomped on the floor before when she has a had a bad night of crying. I'm wondering if anyone else has any experience with this and could offer advice as to what they did to change the situation. It would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance to you all. Sleepless in Brooklyn...
Our oldest is 3 1/2 and still wakes up for a cup(water with drop of juice and just halh the cup). SOrry no advice:(. I have learned to pick battles and this one I am not fighting since he goes to sleep right away.He is potty trained during the day, but at night too leaks through diapers(we get nighttime ones:)) Oh well....
I have a 16 month old who is a bad sleeper so I sympathize completely. Try offering less and less in the cup. Then begin to water it down so eventually she will not want to wake up just for a cup of water. This is how I got both of my kids off the bottle and it worked pretty well. My son will still wake up and sometimes he will just drink some water and go back to sleep. My daughter sleep with a sippy cup of water in her bed.
Good luck.
hi Y.;
i'm glad that you will not heed the CIO advice. it's a very dangerous and cruel practice, i never ever used it, and i also live in a crowded apt building, in Queens, but tha'ts not the only reason. it's just a pointless exercise in unhappiness in addition to being unsafe. so congrats to you.
my son , 3, didn't sleep thru the nite till he was well over 2 and my daughter, 17 months, nurses 1-2 times per night. so you are not alone, but the bad news is there's no real knowing how long this will go on for you.
i would only say this; first of all don't blame yourself for the sippy cup thing; it was appropriate and it's hard to wriggle out of it now, that's all. my exp w my kids has been just give them what they need at night, the struggle will end much faster and you get more sleep. once they really feel that need has been met they will phase through it a lot more comfortably, and one day they'll be done with it.
i didn't wean my son until about a month ago and he was so verbal and had so many other ways of being close to me and being comforted, that it was literally a one day event; a week later, he could go to sleep by himself without even being cuddled. my daughter gave up her paci except for night sleep the same way, she just was ready.
which is all to say, don't transfer your anxiety or frustration about this annoying problem, and it is annoying, believe me, i'm exhausted too, onto the child; the less a big deal you make of these things the better off you will be.
good luck!
j
I've only tried versions of this (not with a bottle/cup per se)... maybe try "breaking" the bottle during the day. then at night, when she asks for it, say "you can't have your bottle, remember it broke? mommy's very sorry, I know you want your bottle, you really want your bottle, I know you really really want your bottle right now, but it's broken so you can't have it. but you can see all the lights are out, the sun has set, and now it's time for you to sleep. When you wake up tomorrow morning, you can have some (milk/water/whatever) in a regular/sippy cup." i mean, obviously you can't "break" the bottle, but you know what i mean - lose a critical part, put a marker on it so it's "dirty" - something that renders it unusable, at least in her eyes. I've had to do this with blankets (when I didn't have time to get to the laundry that day) and preferred toys (when the dog claimed them). Also, you could try breaking the routine itself by changing it. When she wakes up, change her diaper, wash her face, anything else that involves her so that every time she wakes up and asks for her bottle, she will also get a clean diaper (or whatever). especially if she's not getting the bottle, she'll start associating waking up with a less-pleasant task.
your daughter is old enough to understand your language, and though she may not be happy with what you have to say, if you keep acknowledging what she wants and explaining why she can't have it, you may have better luck keeping the hysterics to a minimum (I would never advocate crying it out, just so you know. but a little crying is definitely to be expected). I'd also expect it will take at least a week to break her of this routine, so figure something out and whatever your plan is, stick with it for at least a week.
Good luck!
