14 Month Old and Middle of the Night Bottle

.

I am with Dawn B , he does this because this is the "routine" that you have gotten him into. It is easy to fall into bad habits when you just want to sleep , but they are so hard to break. You are going to have to let him cry and not give him that bottle so he learns , maybe your husband could take a day or 2 off work so you both can take turns when he is screaming to just go in pat his back and sshh sshh etc , like Dawn said will probably take a week or two to crack.

I have never let any of my 4 kids sleep in the bed with my husband and I until my youngest started doing this very thing. I am at SAHM so i am the one who gets up in the night.... i would normally go give her a bottle of milk rock for like 5 min and she would be back out. my husband worked out of town (this is not normal) for a week and i guess out of pure exhaustion like the 3rd night i didnt make a bottle and just put her in bed with me... i did this the rest of the week that he was gone once i saw that she WOULD go back to sleep without the bottle. When he arrived back home, i had to move to the couch a few nights but after that she quit waking up. Now when she does wake up its only because she looses her passie and i can go in, give it to her, and walk out!

My first question is: could be hungry? You probably know as his mother, but if you think by any chance he really is, then maybe try feeding him more protein at dinner. That said, if he wakes up the same time every night like clock work, it is just habit and he's waking up for comfort.

My son is the same age as yours, and this is what we did to wean bottle feedings, especially any late night ones. It was suggested to me by a close friend, who's a pediatrician who did the same thing with her children. It worked.

Over the course three weeks, or whatever time frame you think will work best for your son, reduce the amount of formula in your son's bottle, but keep the same amount of water. With each week, or every few days, keep reducing the amount of formula so that by the end of third week, he's only getting water. He will eventually realize that he is just waking for water and decide it's not worth it. If he's genuinely thirsty from crying, which he will do in protest, leave a leak proof sippy cup in his crib at bedtime.

If you think he's developing separation anxiety, which is very normal at this age, and the bottle is part of this, incorporate some kind of transitional object into his bedtime routine, like the sleep b sheep or any other blanket or stuffed animal. He knows you will go to him 45 minutes later--at this age, they are very aware of mommy and daddy and what it takes to get you back into the room.

He will probably still cry during this time, but don't go to him except to lay him back down gently if you can't stand prolong crying it out, especially with separation anxiety. We've had to do this with our son at times, sometimes going in every 5 minutes because he was so hysterical, but to let him get the message, we are here, but it's time to sleep. We don't say anything to him, just gently lay him down, and leave the room. He would usually calm down in 20 minutes, and stopped continuing to wake up the following night when it was just random night wakings.

Good Luck!

Is the bottle the issue or the sleeping with him? I agree with the other postings about habit however my daughter is almost 3 & despite everything she still wakes up in the middle of the night. The bottle I replaced with the Nubby sippy cups as soon as my kids had their 1st birthday. Since they have the silicone spouts it was easy. I to have done the water in the crib for over night & this works. Now sleeping with the baby is hard but if you go in hand her the cub, lay her down & tell her its still time for night night (maybe rub her back a little) and park your self right outside her door (cause she will get up a few times before giving up) eventually she will get the hint that you aren't going to lay with her. My daughter still gets up at like 430 but now she gets a drink of water, maybe goes to the bathroom & lays back down so we are only up for like 5 min tops. Good luck

My daughter gets THIRSTY in the middle of the night (for that matter, both me and my husband do too!) Anyways... she often wakes up for some water at least once every night...

Now at that age, we still co-slept so we just kept a bottle or sippy of water by the bed for when she woke up... a couple sips was usually enough.

I don't know, but maybe you could leave a bottle of water near the crib (like on a dresser that baby can reach) and see if this helps? Water wont spoil so I would think it would be pretty safe to leave some for the baby. Of course consult the pediatrician before you take my advice! If that is all he wants, I would guess that he'll wake up- find his water, and then go back to sleep... if it doesn't work you could move on to something else!

Good Luck!
-M.

When I was going through sleep issues with my 1st child, I knew I couldn't do CIO, but I didn't have any other answers either. Long story short, a friend of mine recommended this book to us, and it amazed me how well it worked. None of my following 3 children had any sleep problems, which I credit the book with (since we now knew what not to do) to wind up in that situation again.

You can most likely find the book at your library, but the nice thing about Amazon is that you can read the 1st few pages, and reviews also.

http://www.amazon.com/Solve-Your-Childs-Sleep-Problems/dp...

I remember how tired we were when we were going through this. I reall believe this book can help you too though.
Very best wishes! :)

Wow I'm sorry you guys are in this situation - you must be beyond exhausted!! We went through something similar with my 2nd...and eventually I had to just stop bringing her a bottle in the middle of the night. There was also something comforting for her about being in our living room, so for a few months after I stopped giving her that bottle, when she would wake up crying, I would get up and move her into a pack & play in our living room from her room. Sounds ridiculous but you'll do almost anything in the middle of the night just to get back to bed. Especially when it's night after every night. Eventually we were able to stop moving her from her bed too. Your son, if he's eating well and drinking the recommended amount of milk and water throughout the day, doesn't need any food at 3:30 AM. It's all comfort and habit. I leave a sippy cup of water in her bed at night and yes it took a few weeks of letting her cry it out before it started working. I wanted CIO to be a last resort, I really don't like it. But nothing else worked for her, and believe me, we tried it ALL. So I know how exhausted you are. One day I screamed at a woman for 15 minutes on the phone about the bank changing my bank account number when they got bought out and not sending me a notification letter. And they hadn't changed my account number. Yeah. Tired.

Anyway I very very strongly suggest reading Dr. Weisbluth's Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Baby. It has toddler tips in there too, and really offers great advice for parents who have babies that just won't sleep well on their own.

Eventually he'll get the point that he has to sleep in his bed. That he doesn't get a bottle in the middle of the night. I'm pretty sure that no child ever injured themselves just by crying. You have to go through it. It will suck for awhile, but will be SO worth it, I promise you, if you stick with it and be consistent, you will get to sleep through the night once again. And you and your husband will be human again. :)