Toddler Still Not Sleeping Through the Night

My 1yr old does this every few weeks. Since I'm now weening her off the bottle and she's only get 2 bottles a day(bedtime and when she wakes up in the middle of the night)I was going to start keeping a sippy cup w/ water in her room so if/when she wakes up I'll just give her that and see what happens.

I found a bottle that did not leak, filled it with cold water and gave it to my oldest. He was sick all the time and the sucking helped his ears. I still give sippys at night sometimes. There is no shame in putting them down with a sippy or bottle with water to sleep.

I have to say just give her the bottle. She is probably a little hungry and part of it is alittle out of habit. My son is almost 3 and he is just now 1 month off the bottle. I say do what works for your child and leave the rest of the advice at the door. She will eventually sleep through the night.

K. my first and fourth children were very similar to your situation. The first thing you want to do is change that bottle to water ASAP I larned the hard way about bottle rot on my first son. His molars were filled with cavities fromt eh middle of the night bottles. My pediatricians all said that a water bottel in the night woudl do no harm and I can promise you eventually it will go away. Ihave five age seven and under and we have survived it. My first never slept thorugh teh night until about 27 months and with the fourth I learned to put the water bottle in the crib with him when I went to bed and sometimes he woudl just find it himself and eventiually it has gone away. I think somewhere around 2 or 2 and half. Good Luck.

We had the same problem when my daughter was around that age. Although, I was nursing, so it seemed as if I was the only one who could put her back to sleep. Plus, since I stayed at home, as well, I didn't want to interrupt my husband's sleep since he had to work the next day. But the solution to our problem was him! I told him, if he's going to help me break this habit, I'm going to need his help. So, when my daughter woke up in the middle of the night, he went in to put her back to sleep. She cried the first time. The next night when she realized she still wasn't getting me, it was a bit easier. And after the third night if was officially over!

Another suggestion...my son also woke up sometimes in the middle of the night and crawled into bed with us. This was usually during the winter months. I realized that he was just cold. After making some adjustments to thermastat, blankets, sleepwear...he would sleep soundly through the night!

So, it might be a combination of the two...if she wants a warm bottle, it could be because she's cold.

K., my son is about to turn 3 and up until about 2 months ago would wake up for milk also. I tried everything both the doctor and people here suggested and I really feel in the end he needed the food. I know it is very hard to keep getting up, I run a business and get up at 5am most mornings. When I gave him a snack at bedtime it really helped and like I said about 2 months ago he just grew out of it. I wish you the best.
S.

My son did that very same thing. I feel your pain! I dealt with it for about a year like you have and I was the only one who could get up in the night with him since I was BFing. The funny thing is, he quit doing that the time my friend, who was babysitting for the weekend (2nights), COULDN'T feed him that he finally quit waking up in the middle of the night. She told me he looked at her like, "you're not who i'm looking for" and didn't wake up in the night anymore. So he was waking up b/c I was feeding him and comforting him. He only quit when I wasn't able to be there as normal. I told my friend I should have had her do that MUCH SOONER! LOL!!!
-J.

I read in Baby Whisperer that if a baby starts waking up at the same time every night a good strategy is the "wake to sleep" method. "Set your alarm clock an hour earlier than your baby usually wakes up and go into her room. Jostle her gently, rub her belly a bit, and stick a pacifier in her mouth -- all of which will stir her into semi-consciousness ... she probably won't wake up completely, but her eyes may dart back and forth under her lids, she'll murmer and move a bit. Then leave. She'll fall back to sleep. Do this three nights in a row. (sometimes it only takes one night to break the habit). This gives you control rather than sitting around hoping that your baby's habit will magically go away. (It won't). By waking her up an hour early, you'll disrupt this pattern." And she also says, "Nine times out of ten a child who wakes habitually doesn't need more food (unless she's going through a growth spurt)." Good luck!!

my son didn't start sleeping consistently until about 17 months when I weaned him, he would cry for over an hour and we always gave in, letting him "cry it out" didn't work for him, but he grew out of it, hang in there.

One thing you can try is getting her out for more exercise. She' might be so tired she will sleep through the night. Also if you do give her a bottle at night, give her water only, not milk.

If she is actually eating the bottle then she is hungry. If that is the case what are you feeding her before bed? My doctor suggest (because I am having the same issue right now, that if I feed her solid foods right before bed that she may sleep better. So I always give her a snack before bed. My daughter is doing a lot better. Plus I turn some soft music on so she can't hear the noises outside her room which helps.

However there is a girl at my work who's baby was doing this even to the point of pucking and she knew that she would get mommy when she would puke. So what she did was pick her up and clean up the mess then put her right back in the bed with her bottle. After 2 nights that helped her. Maybe if you put some water next to her bed so she can give herself a drink?

Hope one of these works. Good luck to you!!!

There isn't much you can do aside from letting her cry, even if she cries to the point of puking. If you do decide to let her cry, you have to stick with it without fail or she won't get it. It won't take as long as you think, maybe a week or two if you don't falter. You can go in and shhshh her and even stay in the room until she goes back to sleep (but that could make the process take even longer).

I recommend the book, "Good-night, Sleep tight" by "the sleep lady". If you want to try to get her to stay asleep without tears, there is a book entitled, "the no cry sleep solution".

I have a four year old and a 14 month old. My husband and I never let the four year old cry it out, plus we let him sleep with us. He still doesn't know how to get to sleep on his own. With our one year old, I knew we had to be proactive and less worried about the tears. He sleeps through the night (at least until 6:30am), and teaching him wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. The key really is to stay true to your goal, your baby will get it eventually.

-K. T.

Our daughter didn't start sleeping through the night until she was about 14 months, which is about when I stopped breastfeeding her. She would still wake some after that, so we would give her a pacifier (which she used to fall asleep after I stopped nursing), and sometimes bring her into our bed. I know some people are very much against putting your child in bed with you, but we found this was the only way we all could go back to sleep. Now she is 20 months old and sleeps through the night almost all the time. If we have recently traveled or she is sick she may still wake up occasionally. So if bringing her into your bed helps for now, I think it's fine and my experience is that it won't cause her to want your bed every night. We've found, after trying many methods, that the only sleep techniques that have worked for us are being laid back about it and trying different things as our daughter goes through different phases (teething, weaning from the breast, sickness, etc.). So I would encourage you if you find something that works now, go with it, because in another few months, things may change again.

One more thought--could your daughter be waking from hunger or thirst and that is why she requires the bottle? If that is a possibility, you may want to try a snack and drink before bed, or keep a water cup in her room to offer her when she wakes.

This is what worked for me and my son (and was painless -- no crying!-- for both of us):

First night: cuddle and comfort her briefly first, then let have the bottle as usual. As soon as it's done, put her in the bed (try not to let her go to sleep on the bottle).

Next night: same thing, but decrease the amount in the bottle by an ounce. Do this for every subsequent night. By the time we were down to 2 ounces, my son didn't seem to think waking up was worth it and slept through the night from that point on.

Good luck!

Try giving her water to drink instead of milk. She'll be pleased to have it at first but then will realize it not worth getting up for. Be sure the water is room temperature not cold.

Get the book "Solve your child's sleep problems" by Richard Ferber. I couldn't have lived without this book. I have read it twice and just skimmed it a third time when my toddler wouldn't sleep in his big boy bed. It does have solutions for waking at night to eat. I HIGHLY recommend the book! Good luck!

I know your pain. My first, almost 4, didn't sleep through the night (8-10 hours) until 18 months. My second started sleeping through the night at 4 months and stopped around 9 months when he would wake up in between 2-3am for 1-2 hours. We try and tried so many strategies and techniques to control the sleeping schedules and nothing worked for extended periods of time. Then one night, my first just started sleeping. We weren't doing anything differently from the time when he wasn't sleeping to the time that he was. My advice is do whatever you feel you need to do, obviously within reason. If you feel she needs the bottle then give her one. From my experience, sometimes something only works when the child is ready for it to work.

My son is also 14 months old, he does the same thing. They will grow out of it. My other 2 kids did. Sometimes when they learn to crawl/walk/climb they have trouble staying asleep because their little minds are racing. My Dr. doesn't really approve, he says let the baby cry it out, but his crib is in our room right now, and we need our sleep! Hope this helps!

I wonder if she is actually hungry? I'm not the best advice giver for nights. My daughter has just only started sleeping solid through the night and she's almost 2.5 years. But with all the crawling...and now walking, I assume, perhaps you little one is really hungry?

Are there any other issues for her -- food allergies, eczema, illness?

-M.

We went through this and here is what our pediatrician recommended. First, try reducing the amount of milk in the bottle by an ounce each night or substituting the milk with water. If that doesn't work, (it didn't for our son), let her cry but go in every 10 minutes to comfort her. Do not pick her up! If she throws up, clean her up and clean up her bed, but then put her right back in it. She will eventually get the message. It took 4 nights of this before our son realized that we weren't going to let him get up or have a bottle, and he decided it wasn't worth the effort anymore. Good luck! Hang in there!