Help! Tantrums for Middle-of-the-night-bottles.

I did the gradual method with my daughter. Every night or every other night I gave her one less ounce of milk in her bottle. So if tonight she got 6 oz, tomorrow it was 5 oz. It took about a week or so. But that is what worked for her. If that doesn't work try watering down his milk. Little by little until he's getting only water. But I would never suggest allowing him to CIO for any lenght of time. Allowing you baby to cry for 15 mins or so isn't goin to hurt them, but crying for hours isn't a good idea. Even my doc's office doesn't suggest more then 15 mins.

Isn't helping our kids recover from an illness just so fun??

We've all been here, as you've probably seen from recent posts! With my son, we go cold turkey. We wait until he's clearly 100% better, and then we let him cry. It's surprisingly quick, how he gets back on track! And remember that you can choose your own take on "cry it out." You probably didn't leave your son to cry for hours, when he was first learning to soothe himself to sleep. You listened, you decided, and you acted based on your own experiences. And it worked, right?

Of course that nighttime soothing during his illness was so nice (and necessary!), and of course your son would love to keep getting it! But it's ok to remind him that he knows how to soothe himself. :) Whatever you did before, to help him sleep through the night- do it again! And be very consistent. If you don't make a choice and keep to it, he'll cry longer and harder (in hopes that you'll change your mind). Get that good bedtime routine going, leave him a sippy cup of water in his crib, and be ready to hug your hubby a lot. In a couple of days, he'll figure it out!

Glad everyone's better now!

J.,

You don't have to let your child cry it out. Recent studies show that when kids cry for extended periods of time it releases hormones that adversely effect the child's behavior. I learned a lot from the book, The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley. Subsituting water for milk, as other moms recommended is good advice also. If you are worried about changing diapers in the middle of the night, I find that Huggies overnights are very absorbent and there are inserts you can buy as well that work kind of like a maxi pad. These get us through the night without leaks and my son drinks tons of water!

I've been there, I know how hard it is. Good luck, and happy new year.

R.

Try substituting water in the bottle for a little while. My son did this for a short time too, and we found he wasn't really hungry, but thirsty through the night. Rather than a large bottle of water we would give him a small bottle of water (that way he would quench his thirst, but not be overly wet in the morning). Shortly thereafter, the waking for a bottle stopped. Hope this helps!

Dear J.,

We have all done the same thing at one time or another. Children are so smart all you have to do is something once and boom they remember. What you can try is supplement the bottle with water verses milk. He will be mad but if he takes it eventually he may stop getting up for water. It worked for one of my kids but not the other. My son threw the bottle to the floor and screamed louder. I think your only options are going be to cry it out. You can moderate it by going in and just laying him down and say night night every 10 minutes or so and not leave him there to cry. Eventually he will realize there is no bottle and go back to sleeping through the night. I know it is difficult to do especially since we are the one's who created the issue to begin with, but trust me he will not hate you in the morning for it. I have done it with my kids (now 24 & 19 ) and they are both very secure, smart, loving adults. Good luck an happy holidays!!