Hi, I need some help with my 18month daughter who still wakes at least 2 times (every 3/4 hours!) for a bottle. I'm.at a loss with her, she has always been fussy eaters and I thought once she got a bit better at solids she might sleep better at night, she is finally starting to.explore food! She shares a room with her 3 year old brother. I've tried offering water at night and she doesn't settle.back to sleep. I had noticed that if I put her to bed around 8pm as opposed to the normal 7pm she was sleeping a 6 hour stretch, but she has stopped this now as well. She has 1 day sleep the same time each day and goes to sleep on her own, the nap can last from.2-4 hours. I don't know how to help her! Don't like letting her cry because she will wake up her brother
18month old still waking every.3/4 hours
Wednesday, 4 December 2013 - 16:25
18month old still waking every.3/4 hours
Posted in:
Baby & Toddler
2 Replies
I feel your pain, my daughter was similar, at 18 months she was waking 3-4 times a night and would only settle with a feed, we ended up getting help from a parenting centre and paed, let me start by saying I have never ever liked control crying, the one thing in this world that gets me anxious to the point of not coping is the sound of my babies crying.... That being said in order to teach our DD to self settle there was a certain amount of it, And when I say crying - I mean blood curdling vomit inducing screaming - I NEVER left her alone in the room, and I had to fight the urge to pick her up and give her a feed, most of the time I sat there crying myself and sssshing her and pleading with her to settle and go to sleep. She used to use me as a dummy to settle to sleep... wanting the milk to settle back to sleep, the nurse explained it to me like this, your DD goes off to sleep in the most comforting place in her world, but when she wakes in the night she may as well be lying on the kitchen floor... The paed told me that at (18 months she was - is now 2 1/2) there was no need for a milk feed in the night and by feeding her it was actually stopping her from properly eating in the day, because when she woke for breakfast she had already had (in my case) 3-4 extra meals through the night (milk is seen type of food). Hubby had to help with the night weaning.... It only took a week (we moved her sharing sibling to another room for this time) My DD fought with all her might to keep those feeds... But for both our sakes it had to be done, she now generally goes through or only wakes once a night, it's usually cos she's cold (tassie) and will resettle with an extra blanket and a gentle pat.... I don't know if this will help, I can only tell you what I have been thrOugh.... I will admit it has been one of the toughest times in my life! I've always rocked and sung my babies to sleep.... It just didn't work for her.... All babes are just so different! I'm sure there are many methods to night wean, whichever way you decide to go just remember persistent and consistent, once you start don't second guess your self, stick with it and it'll work.... Sorry for the novel and good luck!
We had the same technique as the previous comment. When our daughter was the same age she started waking in the night wanting her bedtime bottle refilled. So, once she finished her bedtime bottle we would go in and take the bottle out of her cot so it wasn't there empty reminding her she wanted milk in the middle of the night. Then when she woke, we would offer water, or nothing, and tell her to go back to sleep and we would leave the room. She would scream, horrible heart wrenching screams, we would just have to keep putting her back to bed, and eventually, aftrr an hour or so, she would fall asleep (probably exhausted from the battle). It was heartbreaking. My husband and I would fight and cry ourselves to sleep hating what we were doing to get her over that night addiction to the bottle. It literally lasted 5 days, and a year later, shes not asked for a mid night bottle since. It was hard and awful, bit now she eats like a champ and bedtimes are always a happy loving occasion. Good luck!!