15 Month Old Still Wont Sleep Through the Night

I am the mother of three children, ages 8,6,and 3. I never let any of my three children "cry it out"! Personally, I think that is cruel! My almost three year old STILL wakes up a couple of times a night for water! Good Luck, but I say, be attentitive to their needs!

wow, you are getting very different responses to your question. in my opinion your baby is soothing herself on the bottle. some children have night terrors and wake from them in a frightened state, i think the "cry it out" method may be adding to the problem, escpecially since you mentioned she will start throwing up from it. maybe instead keeping her in the crib you could keep her in the family bed or a mixture of the two. as it is she wakes up and see's the bars of the crib, for a while maybe let her wake up and see you until the needing the bottle stops, then maybe you could ease her back into the crib at your own pace once she is sleeping through the night in bed with you. i know this may be something your husband will not like, but it works with my daughter, she will sleep a full 10 hours a night, doesn't even nap during the day, although we never used a crib. we went from family bed to putting her in her own big girl bed at 2 yrs old.

HI!

I feel your pain. My daughter (now 3 years old) didn't sleep through the night until she was 16 months old. She woke up 6 or 7 times a night wanting to nurse. Some of her problems were due to her temperament, and many of them were my fault. I was a walking zombie by the time we found the book, "Sleeping Through the Night", by Jodi Mindell, Ph.D. We couldn't stand the thought of just leaving our sweet baby alone in her room crying for hours, but we knew we had to do something. This book has a wonderful, more gentle approach to sleep training, and it worked like a charm for us. We're now using the same method with our 7-month-old son, and he's sleeping about 6 to 7 hours at a time (WAY better than our daughter did at that age!). I highly recommend the book.

Hang in there!

Try feeding her more before bedtime.

First, let me say big hugs to you--this is a tough spot but you will make it through! You are doing the right thing by seeking answers...God bless and best wishes to you in setting things back on track. :)Now, on to my thoughts...

I am as big of an advocate as you will ever meet for the Babywise program (i.e. following a routine, putting babies down awake from the very beginning so they learn to fall asleep on their own--which sometimes does involve "crying it out.")

HOWEVER...With your daughter being the age she is, even I am not sure I would advocate a straight cry-it-out approach. To me, that would be literally rocking her entire world by trying to solve the situation too quickly. It took more than a week for this problem to develop, and it's going to take more time than that to set her sleep habits on a new course. (This is just my opinion.)

I wish I had some good advice for you, but I think you need to do some research to figure out a gentler, (but still STRUCTURED) plan for where to go from here. Go to the bookstore and do some free browsing of the books others have recommended in order to find the one you want to go with...and if I were you I'd also try contacting the Babywise organization and see if they have any modified advice to fit your situation.

Whatever you do, try to put together a definite game plan for how you are going to handle the crying. If you are not consistent with what you do, nothing is going to be effective. Also, look at her nap schedule...Are there things you could change about her daytime routine that might translate into better nightime sleep?. It will probably be easier to make changes to her daytime patterns as a start. For example--when are her naptimes, and approximately how much sleep is she getting?

I have a daughter that age who does sleep through the night...She is right in between that one nap/ two nap transition. In her case, (depending on what is going on for us that day) she either takes one long nap after lunch (appr. 2 1/2 hours) OR she takes two short naps (about an hour nap around 11:00 and another hour nap around 2:00). I'm just throwing this out to give you something to compare to--not saying you should force your daughter on that exact schedule.

That doesn't sound typical of a 15 month old. She could be having nightmares. There could also be something physically wrong. Maybe she has a bit of reflux, wakes up in a bit of pain and needs liquid to calm her throat and stomach. I do hope you get some answers and some sleep soon. I remember too well what that is like.

Letting her Cry It Out is cruel and teaches her that you won't be responsive to her needs. Especially if you are letting her get to the point of throwing up, I just personally can't do that to my children, and don't see how other people think it is ok to do that to babies who are only seeking comfort and support from their supposed caregiver and nurturer. They are babies and yes at 15 months she is still a baby. I do agree with the try to get her moved to her own room though, I moved mine when she was around that age and things leveled off and with some soothing, love and attention she slept fine in her own bedroom.

I have no advice about bottles though since neither of mine had a need for bottles since I choose to breastfeed them.

Since she is 'older' it will probably take a little longer, but let her cry it out. It's obviously a comfort issue and believe me I know how difficult it is. It's as much a letting go process for you as it is for her. If you can, try to block the crying out, even letting your husband listen for the 'hurt' cries, men usually won't give in. Your baby knows full well by a month old what makes you give in. I totally agree with getting your baby out of your room, she knows your smell and knows you're right there beside her. She doesn't want that bottle, she wants you. It's tough, and it will probably take a week or so of letting her cry. But you will get through it, I promise. Think of it this way, no baby has ever cried herself to death.

The first thing I would do is move her crib out of your room.Next I would try starting let her put herself down at night - this will envolve lettign her cy it out, but you can go in every 15-20min or so and reassure her that ou are there still and you love her - just don't pick her up if at all possible. My son was wakign up alot at night and unable to get back to sl;eep on his own, but now that we are letting him put himself down - when he does wake up he fusses for a moment or two and then goes right bac to sleep - at the most we go in and give him his pacifier back or cover him up again - and he goes right back to sleep.

It is hard at first but in the end everyone will feeel batter with a good nights sleep. Good luck!!

I know this will be hard, but you need to take her out of your room. She is waking up knowing that you are right there and all she has to do is keep crying and you'll get up. Put her crib in another room and then when she wakes up, go in and tell her she's ok and then walk out. DON'T PICK HER UP! After a few nights of this, she will sleep. I know it's hard to let them cry, I had to do the same with my youngest, but she is a great sleeper now.

Good Luck!!

That is a big difference in responses! Look at all the advice and pick what works best for you and things you think you can implement.

I would definately suggest removing her from your bedroom first of all. She is too old for that! Time to prepare her for her independance (and your sanity and privacy).

Make sure she is eating a big meal that sticks with her for dinner. She should eat about an hour before she falls asleep. My oldest has a high metabolism and would wake up if he didn't eat something that would take a while to digest and keep him full.

My youngest had more trouble at night than my oldest and it was a comfort issue, not a hunger issue. It took trying many methods to get him to sleep through the night. It was a long and stressful process but we finally found something that worked for him. My youngest was a sucker! He made sucking motions with his mouth in his sleep until he was about 3 and 1/2. We just plain removed the bottle and passy at about 18 months and gave him a spill proof sippy cup with water instead. He sucked on that for a long time. We left it in his bed with him and he could get it himself if he woke up. By 2 or so he was over the sippy cup being in bed and we left one on his bedside table in case he wanted it. It may be trial and error for you too but you will find it in the end!

Good luck.

I'm sure your going to get some great advise on this one. One thing kids learn what pushes buttons and her being in the same room with you already leaves you open to strike out. Does she have her own room? If she does I would get her sleeping in there first then work on taking the bottle away. I had kids that nursed so when I went to bed I guess they new the kitchen was closed.