My 14 Month Old Wakes 2 or 3 Times like a newborn.exhausted Mom Needs Sleep

I'm right there with you. My 11 mo old wants to nurse every hour. I'm dying. For the past two nights I've denied him and its hard, he cries (but he sleeps with me, so he still feels me with him) but last night was better than the first. I'm waking him to feed at 9 when I go to bed then not allowing him to nurse until 5. I have to stick with it. I think its the only way. I'm about dying, though, from lack of sleep. Good luck.

Hello C. -
I have a 15 month old who has also been waking frequently so I know your pain. We got into the bad habit of indulging him by letting him come to bed and nurse with me until he fell asleep,then I would take him back to his own room. It sounds harsh and it is very hard to do, but we have been letting him cry it out. I was absolutely against this when I had my first, but we have done things very differently with my son and it seems to be working. Last night he only woke once, fussed for 15 min and then slept until 7:15. You should try reading Dr. Richard Ferber's updated book "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems". He recommends going in and patting the baby for a minute or so at progressively timed intervals, but we found that cold turkey works best for us. Our son only got angrier and more wound up if we went in and didn't get him out of the crib. You know your child's temperament best, and trust your gut. Good luck, I know the frustration of a broken nights sleep; it is amazing how different life is when you're allowed to have a decent rest.
Blessings,
Martha

I have a 14 month old who is going through the same thing. He just got over the croup and an ear infection. While he was sick, we would go to him every time he cried. Well, he got accustomed to that. Now that he's well, we've gone back to a little sleep training. We have always done the CIO mething (Cry It Out). It works. It's very hard. I won't lie to you. But after a few nights, he stops waking up because he knows you won't go to him. Lately, he's still crying out around 3am or so, for about two minutes. I really think he's just crying out in his sleep. Or the pain of teething might be waking him. But I was giving him Tylenol before sleeping and I was finding that he was waking up on the dot six hours after the Tylenol - so as soon as it wore off, he woke up. It's trial and error, as another mom said, but you just have to keep doing what works for you. Eventually he will outgrow this and move on to other exciting things!!! Good luck.

When my 12 mos old daughter wakes up in the middle of the night, I go thru the motions to make sure she isn't gassy, have fever, or teething. I hear that babies wake up frequently when they are teething and that was why my baby girl was waking up. I did notice however that it took us twice as long to put her back to sleep if we took her out of the crib...and she continued to wake up every night expecting us to get her out. So we decided changed that tactic. And when she'd wake up, I would go down my list and give tylenol or baby orajel if needed then I would pat her belly for a few minutes till she feel asleep. Soon after a week, she quit waking up. I would soothe her but not feed her only because I wouldn't want her to continue waking up at 2am expecting a bottle. My girl wakes up easily as well so we have a fan in her room to wean out noise.

Also try feeding her dinner a little later in the evening and give her a good amount of milk before laying her down for the night. Hope this helps. Sometimes you have to try 10 things before you find a solution. Good luck!!!

I thought my first child would never sleep through the night. But, I am finding more and more parents like us. I think the "sleep through the night" kids are fewer than we think. He finally slept through the night at about 16 months. Now my 12 month old wakes up about twice a night, sometimes more. I do pick her up and it takes a second for me to rock her back. Just easier for both of us to get back to sleep. Occasionally, if she doesn't fall back asleep, i know it's because of gas or teething. I actually took her to the doctor thinking she had an ear infection since she kept tugging at her ear, but the doctor said it was clear and probably due to the upper teeth coming in, which can make their ears hurt. So, I couldn't imagine making her cry it out at night if she was suffering and not comforting her and trying tylenol. I would want some pain relief too and probably be crying too, especially if I felt ignored for my pain. It will get easier though, I promise.

A friend of mine had the same problem with her son and it turned out that he had acid reflux. By the time she figured out that he had a real problem, it had done some damage. She ended up having to have some of his teeth extracted because they were decayed from the acid. Make sure to tell the doctor about it.

Hi C. -

My son is 20 months and until last month, he would do the same thing. Now, my son is a wild sleeper so he sleeps on the floor (he falls out of beds and he sleep walks/sleep crawls). We had to just take him off the bottle during the night and make him lay back down and go to sleep... it took about a week of him crying and fighting with us, but it finally worked. He'll sleep all through the night now, or he'll go to sleep at 9:00 ish and wake up around 6:00 ish, but he usually goes back to sleep and will sleep til about 8:00. Our son would not take a sippy cup at night -- he HAD to have the bottle.

Here's what I did with my youngest that woke in the middle of the nite. She stay in her crib and I put a bottle of water in her crib. The first time she tasted it she refused and cry for a long time but I held my ground. Well she eventually figured out that it wasn't going to changed and just started taking the bottle of water. She eventually stop need the bottle all together b/c I threw out all her bottles one day.
Good Luck

Don't worry about still giving her a bottle. SHe is still young enough for a bottle--sometimes they don't want a sippy at this early age. Try giving her Gerber Cereal before bed and get her little tummy full. Maybe if she has a full tummy she won't be as likely to wake up wanting a bottle. Good Luck!