My 14 months old has been pretty much sleeping through the night since about three months. There are two problems 1) he wakes up in the middle of the night, i go in there and give him his pacifier then he goes right back to sleep or I don't go right in and he cries for a while and then by the time i go in there he is sitting up and so out of sorts that it takes a long time to get him to go back to sleep 2) just after his one year birthday on top of issue 1 he now wakes up sometime between 4 and 5:30 and the only way i've gotten him to settle down is to give him a cup of milk. I didn't want to give in to that but I figured it was a growth spurt and would fix itself. It has now been going on for two months. The hard thing is that I work too so I really just want to do whatever makes him go right back to sleep but I think it is backfiring as it seems to just be dragging out my sleeplessness.
I tried letting him cry through it the very night I wrote this. He cried for a 30 minute patch (3-3:30) and another hour patch (4-5). When he got up in the morning he was NOT starving. He didn't even finish his breakfast milk cup. So he must not have really been needing that milk. The next night was a 15 and 30 minute cry, the next night 15, and since then it is usually a 5 minute cry to get himself settled. I haven't had to get up to give him a cup of mil since I wrote this. Thanks moms for your advice and support!
Our now 20 month started doing that when she was around the same age. But she was looking for her pacifier. We played the go in and get it for a few months then decided it was time to take it away. When she finished cutting her two eye teeth we took it away. She was very upset the 1st night bit didn't wake after that. Good luck!
Wake him up just before you go to bed and give him the milk. He's either thirsty or hungry. So waking him will help him to sleep until you wake up. Just my trick which my aunt taught be about getting the baby to sleep nights.
Try a cup of water. If he sees that all he gets is water, maybe he won't wake up. Plus, you can leave the water in there with him and not have to worry about it.
Can he get his own pacifier when it falls out? I would think at that age he should be able to take care of it in the middle of the night. I would start there. I don't believe that he's either thirsty or hungry, I think it's become a pattern and he likes it and wants it, naturally, but I would break it sooner rather than later. If you're up to Cry it Out, I would suggest that might be a possibility. Good luck!
My ped had us give one ounce less each night and then finally a bottle of water. He really wasn't interested in the water and after a brief protest, stopped waking up for it. Put a lot of pacifiers in the crib so he can find one if one falls out. I gave into my daughter until I became pregnant with my son and I was just too exhausted. One morning at her normal 430 waking, I just turned off the monitor. It was hard, but it was the last night she woke up screaming. Good luck.
I, too, would give him water. And make sure he is full when he goes to bed.
My guess is he's thirsty, given the time of the year and the condition of the air at night now. Give him water to drink instead.
