Yet another sleep query

xzanti

My 14 month old Son has recently reverted back to waking up during the night for a bottle..

He was sleeping through the night from 7pm to 6am which was working fine but it's all gone a bit pear shaped..

He will not go back to sleep without a bottle.. I've tried just lying him back down and leaving the room.. He just screams..

I also tried replacing the milk with water so he'd lose interest but he just swats the bottle away and starts bawling..

He just won't go back to sleep without milk and I'm losing my marbles now serious bags under the eyes!

His waking times range from around 3am to 4.30am..

Any advice will be great...

Cheers.

3DataModem

My advice... Just give him the bottle... what's the harm? It's probably a phase.

Not a big deal to be up for 15 mins at 4:30am IMO.

I used to worry about this stuff... but my two toddlers get a night bottle some nights. Takes 10 minutes, quick nappy change, everyone back to sleep.

xzanti

Thanks for the reply..

Hmmm yeah, I suppose it's not the end of the world and I wouldn't begrudge him the time or the bottle of milk.. but I just think if it's something that can be remedied then I would like to do so.. for both our sake..

I'm sure he would rather be sleeping through the night and not waking up just as much as I would...

Any more ideas anyone

3DataModem

I totally empathise, but I wouldn't look at this like a problem to be remedied.

If he is simply crying for attention, perhaps just use a sound-activated light or something to distract him. We have one for my daughter and this is often enough to allow her to settle down without looking for daddy(!)

The obvious alternative solution is to take the hard line and let him cry it out... takes some stomach but a couple of nights is all it might take.

Owryan

went through something similar. solution for us was to move bed time from 7 to 8 , likewise his dinner was also a little later than before. Worked a treat, he sleeps through now as he is very full going to bed and an added benefit is he sleeps on till 8ish most mornings.

Could just be waking up hungry,

How Strange

xzanti, according to the wonder weeks website there's a developmental leap from 59.5-61.5 weeks. Night waking or a change in sleeping patterns are signs that they're going through a leap.

I'd just let him have the bottle if it helps settle him back to sleep.

xzanti

Owryan: I thought about keeping him up later but he was sleeping fine from 7 to 6 before.. plus I value my 'me time' more so in the evenings than I would in the mornings as I am an early riser myself.. doesn't bother me getting up at 6 with him..

He has a great appetite and eats and drinks loads during the day..

Maybe Howstrange is on to something with the development leap..

3DataModem: I don't believe in crying out at all..

Sure I'll soldier on so and see if it passes cheers

3DataModem

xzanti wrote: »

3DataModem: I don't believe in crying out at all..

Fair enough... I totally respect that. I guess having twins with completely different eating and sleeping patters makes this harder to adhere to!

theLuggage

Sounds very similar to my daughter who is now just over 13 months. Since Christmas she hasn't slept great, combination of being in different houses over the holidays, sickness and teething. But lately her waking at night sounds very like what you describe above.

Sometimes a bottle will sort her but sometimes not - I've no objection to feeding her, as someone said it won't take long and might give you rest of night to sleep. It doesn't always work in our case tho Totally empathize with how tired you must be - I feel like a walking zombie!

At the moment we are trying the hairdryer trick. Set it on in the room or just outside (on cool setting!!!) Sends her right off. It's on as we speak (she woke up half hour into her sleep - getting really out of routine now).

We tried dropping her morning nap (in case she was oversleeping in day) and just giving her one longer nap - didn't work - no effect. But she was getting tired around 5ish so now putting another small nap back in late afternoon if she's tired. Going with the overtired theory. We've just started that so fingers crossed!

Really loving the hair dryer - managed to get out of her room in under 5 mins!! normally in and out and takes half an hour to settle her if not more. Must go switch it off now. Hope she won't wake

NextSteps

Hairdryers are big electricity consumers, you might want to switch to a recording of that hairdryer!

theLuggage

I know but at the minute it seems worth it ;-D Problem is any white noise app I seem to get isn't loud enough to do the job - I think she knows we're trying to fob her off with the cheaper option!!