No Sleep ........ - Hawk Run,PA

Not sleeping isn't the real issue, the real issue is her behavior when she wakes, you can't force sleep but you can inforse rules. I have a little girl in my daycare who will be 16 months on the 19th, she sometimes rebels at nap time time, But whether she falls a sleep or not I don't take her out of the playpen until nap times is over, the nights she spends the night I either rock her to sleep or wait to put her down when she can hardly hold her eyes open. Discipline needs to start early, so no time like the present. J.

We went through this around the same age. The only thing I can tell you is to be consistent. If the expectation is that your daughter will eat dinner with you at the table, then she needs to sit at the table with food available to her. If the expectation is that she sleep on a schedule, then put her down every night at the same time, with the same routine and don't deviate from it. When she wakes-up in the middle of the night, don't go in immediately. See if she'll calm down after 5-10 minutes. If she doesn't- go in and lay her back down. Rub her back and walk out. Eventually she will be hungry (my son didn't eat when he was cutting teeth) and will realize that she isn't going to escape from sleeping by screaming.

Be consistent and remember that it's not all that unusual at this age- within a month or so you'll be back on schedule!

I highly recommend Dr. Ferbers "Solving Your Child's Sleep Problems." It will teach you (and her) a lifetime of healthy sleep habits. As for the not eating thing, I think it is time for some behavioral modification. I'm sure she loves Pediasure-- it is full of sugar. If I could get away with drinking a chocolate milkshake for all my meals, I would too. :-) Unfortunately, all that sugar is bad for everything-- including sleeping-- and not the nutrition she needs. Offer a healthy range of foods, and if she doesn't eat, she doesn't eat. My ped said that no kid has ever starved herself to death. I have a friend whose kid went 4 days-- 4 days!-- on 2 grapes. The fifth day the kid got up and ate a healthy breakfast, and then went on eating well.

I have a rough sleeper, too (mine had night terrors forever). He's almost 3, and just in the last 6 months has he started consistently sleeping though the night, so I know how frustrating it is. Establish good routines and be consistent and she will eventually sleep. I've found the more sleep my kid gets, the better. Good luck!

Enough daily calories is the essential ingredient to sleeping through the night. Since she's not eating, she's not sleeping You've got to find a way to get her to eat more, or you'll have to wait until this passes before she starts to sleep through the night. With all my kids, feeding them constantly all day was the only way to get them to sleep through the night. Whenever they ate less, they started waking up during the night. At over one year old, your daughter has to eat a lot to sleep.

Give her hylands teething tablets and infant mortrin or tylenol. The teething tablets along with the tylenol should help her go to sleep. Do not run to her everytime she cries. Let her cry a few times and when she figures out that you are not coming to her everytime she will go back to sleep. Good luck

Cutting some teeth, combined with the sleep loss from being in pain, causes this. Try doing tylenol and motrin--you alternate every two hours--to help the pain. Teething pain has been explained to me as easier to ignore when you're busy during the day, but when you lie down to sleep it's overwhelming. Help her through it. It passes.

We've had good luck with a few sleep 'props'... We use those Halo Sleep Sacks and a Homedics sound spa machine set to waves. (now I need it to sleep! We call it the comatose machine!) It's under 20 bucks at Walmart, Bed, Bath and Beyond, etc... It can run on batteries, or a plug... go all night or on a timer.
http://www.amazon.com/HoMedics-SS-2000-Relaxation-Machine...

Also- that little Fisher Price Sooth and Glow Sea Horse allows my son to calm himself when he wakes up... He turns it on by himself... and it plays pleasant music and glows. It's cheap! About 10 bucks at Target?
That might be a good prop to have in the middle of the night...

Good luck! I know sleep is important!