One Year Old Still Not Sleeping Through the Night...

My baby just turned 1 at the beginning of the month and we were in the same situation. For his birthday we gave him a stuffed animal and we put it in with him every night and for naps and let him cry himself to sleep. At first we just waited till he was super tired so we knew he wouldn't cry for long. Now we just put him in and he rolls over hugs his puppy and doesn't cry at all! If he wakes up at night, we let him cry himself to sleep. It is really hard to listen to especially at 2 am, but totally worth it when they break the habit of needing a bottle and sleep through the night. Good Luck.

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My son is skinny, and he woke in the night to eat until he was about 15 months. He now sleeps about 10 hours, and wakes around 6 in the morning (sometimes earlier!), and the first thing he asks for is breakfast. If you think your son is truly hungry, feed him. He might just have a fast metabolism!

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Try giving him a watered down bottle a few nights. I bet he won't like it and may jost not "need" the bottle at night. You then could just give him a bottle of plain water.

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Have you tried white noise??? Perhaps a fan or a radio turned to a scratchy station?
That worked well for my daughter. It would drown out all the outside noises and the lest face it total silence sometimes can seem loud, you know what I mean?
Anyhow you may want to try that. Good luck!

We did the reduce the amount you are giving them by 1/2 to 1 oz. a night thing & it worked like a charm! You get down to just an ouce or two they either stop waking up or at least you know they aren't waking because they're hungry any more. If your baby still wakes after that, pick up the Ferber book - it truly is a life saver - 'How to Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems.' I can't say enough good things about it! Good luck!

We had a very similar problem with our daughter - she is now three. I read the book Solving Your Child's Sleep Problems by Richard Ferber. I helped a lot! He says your baby has gotten in the habit of eating at night and really is hungy. What we did with our baby was gradually dilute the milk a little each night - 3/4 formula, 1/4 water, then 1/2 formula, 1/2 water, etc. until finally she was just drinking warm water. Then we would let her cry for five minutes and then bring in the water. A couple of nights later we waited ten minutes to bring in the water. By the second night at ten mintues, she fussed for a few minutes and went to sleep. It took about 3 weeks but she was finally sleeping through the night!! It was actually much more painless than I had feared and such a relief to finally sleep all night!

Try reducing the amount or diluting the night bottle. Eventually it is like, there is no point to this activity..might as well sleep. I have given mine water instead at night too. Also, maybe the milk is bothering his tummy?

my first son was a lot like this, so i know how it feels. he actually didn't sleep through the night until he was 2 1/2 i think, even though by then we weren't feeding him anything in the middle of the night. probably several moms have good ideas of how to stop the habit if you really want to, but if none of it works, just know that he'll eventually grow out of it. my son didn't have any problem with his teeth. you could try wiping them with a wash cloth after the bottle if he'll let you.

I know of a lady that she did what the lady suggested above, started to give water, and it stopped him from wanting milk in the night. He didn't like the water.
Also how long did you let him cry it out. Because the lady that gave her child the water, it took about 3 nights of crying it out and then he was fine.
Your little guy is old enough to sleep through the night.

Have you tried to give him water at night? He just want the comfort of sucking on something.

I had to really work on this with my son and it is still rough because he sleeps in our bedroom and my husband gets up several times during the night to go to the bathroom. He is such a light sleeper, but he is getting there. Sometimes I get him a drink, then close the door and go back downstairs awhile until he is out.

My son did the exact same thing. I solved the problem by giving him a sippy cup at night instead of a bottle. He didn't really need the milk, he just wanted a nice bottle. I would let him have all of the milk he wanted, it just had to be in a sippy cup. The sippy cup just wasn't the same and after a few nights he started sleeping through the night.

Hi L.-

Not to freak you out or anything, but if your son is wetting through diapers at night and/or losing weight- take hime to the doctor- he may be diabetic. It's rare for kids to be diagnosed so young, but it happens. My son was diagnosed at 12 1/2 months. Good luck!

I would feed him an hour before you lay him down. Also take him off the bottle. I had the same problem and I took my son off at 15 months and now he doesnt even wake for it. It is all about habit. Try giving him a sippy cup with a rubber top. He may cry for a few nights but it is well worth it

Well, you have some good and mostly similar responses, but I will give you my 2 cents anyway since I have absolutely been there with my boy! I stopped giving milk/formula during the night and also stopped a bottle at the same time; we gave him water in a sippy cup, and since the comfort of the bottle is not there he eventually stopped waking up. Of course, your little one could be one of those that needs a drink in the middle of the night for a while - my mom says I woke up at the same time every night for a drink until I was 18 months. My boy finally started sleeping all night at about 16 months, and hopefully yours won't take that long, but try the water and the sippy cup.

It is probably just a habit. At that age he should not need anything to eat all night. I would say try harder on just letting him cry for a while longer. YOU ARE VERY SMART NOT TO HAND HIM a bottle and go back to sleep!!!! That causes dental issues big time and choking hazards.
The only way to break the cycle is not offer food as a soother. If you want to comfort him for a second, then great, but do not offer food.
He could just be eating because of teething too, the bottle soothes that. Teething is worse at night. My suggestion is you try Tylenol or Motrin before bed, if he wakes offer a teething tablet and walk out of his room without feeding him. If you stop of course he will cry, he could be going through a growth spurt too, in that case feeding him a bottle before you get him bed.
That way you aren't causing any damage to his teeth. Leaving a bottle with him or feeding him at night at his age can start causing decay.

Also now is a great time to start thinking of taking the bottle out of the equation, hee hee. Offer him a sippy during the day and see if he gets used to them.
With both of my kids, the bottle went bye bye at the year mark and they were so okay with it. The longer you have an attachment as they get older the harder it will be to break.

Yes, I have been through this with both of my boys. One always had a bottle of juice at night. The other had milk and his teeth were ruined. I finally, with my first, switched to a sippy cup of water, or juice(there again, the teeth) but I couldn't get him to sleep at all and he was up at least once and then woke at five for the day.

It could just be habit but you need to nip it in the bud. My youngest had all his baby teeth capped and even now, his permanant teeth are bad, too. Good luck!!!

L.,

Is your son particularly lightweight? If he doesn't seem to need the calories, it sure sounds like he has associated the bottle with going to sleep. If cry it out isn't working for you, I would suggest the No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley. She has some great ideas. Now is about the time to wean your son from a bottle completely and get him drinking from a sippy or straw cup.

Best of Luck,
S.

Here's what we did when we eliminated middle of the night feedings for our then six month old son. At the time he was waking two to three times per night to nurse, so this should be easier for you with one feeding. Start reducing the number of ounces by 1/2 every night or every other night, which ever you are more comfortable with. So if you have been feeding him 8 ounces, only offer 7 1/2 tonight, 7 tomorrow, 6 1/2 the next night, etc. until he no longer gets a bottle at night. When there are multiple feedings per night, you also increase by 15 minutes per night, the amount of time between feedings. We found this method in Dr. Richard Ferber's book, and it worked really well for us. According to the book, most kids stop waking to eat before you can reduce them down to nothing, so your son may be done with this habit by the time you are offering him 3 ounces or so. My son stopped waking to feed after 4 or 5 nights and now sleeps 11-12 hours without needing to eat. I thought a gradual approach was better than just trying to quit cold turkey, which seemed pretty awful to me. Unless your son is under nourished during the day, is underweight, or has some other medical complication, I don"t think there is any reason he would need a bottle in the middle of the night, so don't feel bad about eliminating it. If you are worried about him being hungry, however, offer a protein-rich snack before bed.
Also, make sure when you go in to feed him, you keep it as utilitarian as possible, no lights, no conversation, just bottle and back to bed. You want to show him that nighttime is for sleeping. Good luck to you!

My advice would be to start giving him water instead of milk. It may not be a hunger thing at all, as much as a comfort thing. If it is for comfort, he will go to sleep just as well after having water, and if it's for food, you'll know. But I doubt it's for food. Eventually, he'll probably not care for the water anyway and stop taking it at night all together. Good luck.

If it's only once a night the odds are good that he is just hungry, I would hand him his bottle and go back to bed, and make sure I brush his teeth once he is up. My dentist said that the teeth become an issue when the child holds a bottle in their mouth all night, that so long as they are drinking it down, and not using it like a pacifier then everything should be ok.