My 2 yr old wakes around 3am every night and wants to eat. She eats before bed and wakes every night needing to eat more and up at 6 for the day. She goes to bed at 8pm and falls asleep very good on her own I just can't get her to sleep through the night. Please let me know your ideas on how I can acomplish this.
Is she getting enough protein? I find with myself if I eat a better balance of carbs and proteins I am less hungry. This comes from the grandma of six -- finally I am paying attention to how I sleep based on what I eat. I really think she is hungry -- so try finding a protein that she likes and see if she will sleep for you. Everyone in the house needs to sleep well.
Good Luck!!
Make sure that she has had a big meal before bed. Include protein and complex carbohydrates. That way you know she isn't really hungry.
Give her a glass of water instead. You don't want her body to start depending on receiving calories in the night.
If she continues to wake up at night...try some motrin. She might be teething or having growing pains. Ask her if she is hurting, go through different parts of the body. Some kids don't know how to articulate anything but hunger.
Also, don't take her out of bed when she wakes up. Try and keep her in bed, keep the lights low. Try turning on the hallway light, not her bedroom light.
Good luck. My kids all went through this stage around 2 yo. It was growing pains for my kids.
Consider that she might be going through a growth spurt and put yourself in her position. Have you ever awakened in the night feeling so hungry that you try to go back to sleep again, but can't? That's how she feels, magnified. Feed her and put her back to bed. When she is older and you can better reason with her, you can teach her that waking at 3am is not acceptable. When her tummy is larger and she is less controlled by her instincts/feelings, she will be better equipped to manage hunger and wait to eat. But now, at two, reasoning with her will be fairly useless. Better to get her back to bed ASAP happy and ready to continue sleeping. The timing of these awakenings will change, as does every "pattern" we worry about with kids. About the time you think you've figured them out, things change. This, too, shall pass.
SAHM of seven
Then feed her :) My son fed through the night until 2 1/2. He was breast fed. However either give her water or cow juice in a cup / with spout just nothing with direct sugar or thing that will stick to teeth where possible.
Babies / small children do a lot of their growing at night so its normal for them to get hungry ... so may be going though a growth spurt so ... in my exprience an opinion feed her something suitable :)
My daughter did the same thing and our doctor recommended adding some rice cereal to her evening formula. It bulked up her food just enough that it kept her tummy full all night until the next morning. Hope this helps!
J. this is way to familiar also. My son was getting up still twice a night to eat and finally at 9 months old I got tired of it and let him cry to get him to sleep all night he was also getting up at 5am but he would take a bottle and I could get 2 more hours of sleep out of him then but then once he was off the bottle once again at 5am I let him cry and it worked.
Its more of a habbit now not that she is probably hungery its just she is use to getting something at that time so she has grown use to it and now its a habbit just like my son did and the longer you keep doing it the harder it will be to break. I would recommend letting her cry when she wakes if your ok with that it worked great for our son of course he was younger then but it should work the same at 2 also.
As for waking at 6am if you want her to sleep a little longer they say putting your child to bed a little later works and then they sleep in later well that has never worked for my son. He does wake anywhere now from 6:30-8am now most days its between 6:30-7am and he just plays in bed for a little bit, hes 20 months old now.
So for the sleeping try letting her go at night and see what happens she doesnt need to to be eating in the middle of the night anymore my son was fine without that since he was 9 months old so she will be ok without eating. Good luck. L.
Hi J. - Ah - this is all too familiar! We just got our 17 month old to sleep through the night about a month ago! Same thing...! We conditioned her to continue eating at those times though so part of it was us giving in! Is she eating enough for dinner? Is she eating dinner too early compared to when she goes to bed? If she's drinking a lot before she goes to bed maybe it's a wet pants issue? I am just throwing these things out there because I had to think of what it could be of why my daughter was waking in the middle of the night too. One night my husband and I decided that if nothing was truly wrong - and she just wanted milk and to cuddle then she can make it until morning. So when she would wake up in the middle of the night - we really would continue to tuck her back in. Does your daughter sleep with some sort of security item? LIke a blanket, nuk, stuffed animal? My daughter likes her nuks at night one in her mouth and one to hold and then she has this Giraffe that she likes the lullaby music from so when we tuck her in her routine is just that - we play the giraffe and she puts her head on him. I finally realized that we had to keep reassuring her that it was night night time! About 4-5 days later it worked - she slept through the night and continues to. In the morning she's much happier and so are WE!! Good luck with this one - I know each child is so different. At 2 years old though - I am thinking she has a good understanding of what she's doing! :) Have a great day - take care! - KM
Has she ever slept through the night? or is this a stage that just started? I would consult a pediatrician. They are very helpful, and can help you determine if this is nutritional or behavioral. Then thay will give you tips to help stop the behavior so you (and she) can get a better night sleep. Just a thought...try feeding her more during the day. Good luck and best wishes!
My pediatrician told me my daughter (then almost 2) would not be harmed by not being fed in the middle of the night.
She suggested that if I did not allow her to get up and eat, she would get what she needed during the day by eating more at meals. It did seem to work well for us, good luck!
What is she eating when she goes to bed?
Perhaps eating right before bed is not good (makes your stomach think it wants to be full) and eating something sticking (not carbs) a bit earlier would help.
She might also have a food sensitivity. sleep issues are one of the signs.
By "eat" do you mean table food or breastmilk? My daughter didn't sleep through the night until she was almost two and she woke often at night until we weaned. You do not specify so I can't give you more of my thoughts on this.
Anyhow, it could have to do with her stage of potty-training...you don't mention if she's in diapers or what, so that may be a realm of consideration. I'm betting she's still in diapers, so I would suggest that you change her diaper in the middle of the night (like if/when you get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom) because she might be really bothered by the sensation of soaked pants.
Another thing to consider is whether she's got enough iron in her diet. Low iron can cause a feeling of hunger.
