My 13 Month Old Does Not Sleep Through the Night!

He should not be drinking milk in the middle of the night. You brush his teeth at bedtime and you don't want to have the teeth decaying when they have a good many years to go before they will be lost. A sip of water should do. If you have not weaned him from the bottle, leave the bottle of water at his bed. He does not need the calories. Apparently he does not need quite so much sleep so you may need to keep him up until 8:30 or 9 if you want him to sleep to 7 am. He just should not be drinking milk before breakfast. V.

It's normal. If he wasn't hungry/thirsty, he wouldn't take the milk. Trust his little body to know what it needs. Feed him, snuggle him. My daughter was still nursing pretty heavily at night at this age.

Be glad he falls right back to sleep!

He won't cry all night. It could be an hour or 15 minutes. But he will fall asleep eventually. The next night he will cry less and even less the next night until he won't cry anymore. Had to do the same with my daughter who's now 2.....sooooo worth trying it. Good luck.

Stop the milk, offer plain, room temp water and stick to it. He will soon lose interest and sleep through the night. Expect to put up with several nights of crying before it gets better. Just remember who knows best. Good luck!

I don't know the best way to soothe a bottle-fed baby, but I can tell you that letting him cry isn't the answer. Imagine if you were alone, in the dark, crying for help, and the people you trusted to save you didn't come. CIO has been proven over and over to cause brain damage from the irregular breathing and screaming.

Your husband/SO will have to help out. Instead of offering milk, walk or rock him first. If he must have milk, give him less at a time. A 13-month-old doesn't need nearly 10 ounces of milk over a night. Try to get him to settle without it. Take turns getting up with him. You want him to know that his bed is not somewhere he is left alone. If he fears his room, he won't sleep.

This takes time, and there's not a magic fix. The most important thing is your son, and that he learn that his room is a happy, comfortable place for sleeping, but that you'll be there if he needs you.

Hi L.,

My only advice is to buy the sleep sense program by Dana Obleman. I have a 14 month old who NEVER slept through the night (except for 1 night at 11 months). I was looking at buying to sleep sense program for months and months, but I didn't want to spend $50! My husband and I finally got so fed up, our relationship was suffering and I was so exhausted I felt like I was going crazy. It's a money back gaurantee...so really you have nothing to lose. I read the 198 page book in one day! I was so ready to change our sleeping habits. That night my husband and I decided on the "stay in the room with him" method. I also did not want my son to cry...which is what got me into this situation in the first place. The first night was AWEFUL! the protest was beyond belief...my son was so unhappy. He never learned how to fall asleep on his own so he really was mad and upset. We just stuck to the plan. During the night awakenings, we did the same thing. Sat right next to his bed and tried to assist him in finding a method to soothe himself and fall asleep. My son always had a pacifier to sleep, but we took it away...cold turkey. The next morning and all of the day my son was tired for being up most of the night. I let him take more naps than usual but nothing after 3:30. We then proceeded to put him to bed early around 7:30. He protested for 25 min - 30 min. Then was sleeping THROUGH THE NIGHT!! I am not joking...he slept through the night from 8pm till 6 am! Buy the program. It's worth the money. It's been almost 4 week since we've started the program. He still gives us a fight every night and every nap time but it's getting less and less. The other night my husband put our son to sleep in 5 minutes. Another amazing thing that happened is our son goes right into the crib and goes to sleep for our caregivers. he gives them not one pee. he just knows what to do and that started on the second day as well. Unfortunately he's not that good for us yet...probably cause he is trying to see if we'll budge and change the rules. Our son has slept through the night on 99% of the nights in the past 4 weeks. We've had 1 night when his diaper leaked and needed to be changed, also last night was a bit of a disaster but his molars are coming through. Just stick to the method. Sometimes you may need to offer more soothing techniques and that's ok, but always let him fall asleep on his own in the crib. Even if you help him get to the point were he is very sleepy, but not asleep.
Our lives have changed since we are all getting a healthy amount of consistent sleep. It will work for you too. Just stick to it! Also she says on the 10th night you finally leave the room after putting them down. That hasn't worked for our son yet, so we still stay in the room by the door...even though I'm thinking now is the time to do that. Be aware your child WILL protest! It's only normal, but if you want sleep and sanity you need to do this for all or you, espeically your child. He/she is just as tired as you are. They need consistent sleep as well, and they need to learn how to fall asleep and stay asleep all on their own. You just have to help them learn how.
god bless. let me know if you have any questions.

I wouldn't let him cry it out - there's just too much risk in the long-term. Some children just take longer and it doesn't make sense to punish him for waking up or for being hungry. It's a milestone and every child will get there on their own, there's no need to push.

There is some excellent information on kellymom about what REALLY is "Normal Infant Sleep." My kids NEVER "slept through the night," I mean all the way through the night, until they were way past 2, and that's also normal. I learned to accommodate in various ways, like getting to sleep earlier so I could wake up in the middle of the night to take care of them and still get enough sleep, taking naps with them on the weekend, and keeping them nearby so I wouldn't have to go tromping down the hall. But mostly, just accepting that this is the way they ARE, not trying to change it, just changing what *I* do so I can deal with it and not become a sleep-deprived zombie and still be able to get to work and function...

http://www.kellymom.com/parenting/sleep/sleep.html

Good luck, and if anyone tries to talk you into something you don't feel right about, look elsewhere for advice. (And don't discuss the subject with them.)

I know I am late, but just cannot help replying because I know from experience how exhausted you probably are! I remember it and lived with it for so long.
I put my son on a rotation of rice and almond milk (3 months each) and he slept after trhee days! The digestive discomfort was causing him to wake, wanting relief, which the milk temporaily provided and then caused another problem as soon a the digestion began failing again.
Just something easier than sitting up all night trying to comfort a baby....that may be hurting or uncomfortable with heartburn.
J

L.,
It sounds like your son is waking up during his normal wake/sleep cycles. We all go through a sleep cycle every four hours...deep sleep to light sleep. Is he crying when he wakes up or is he just rolling around, talking, etc? Maybe try giving him a little more food throughout the day and seeing if he will just get himself back to sleep during those light sleep periods. Maybe a paci would help?

Don't do the cry it out method. Every little one is different and some kids need more soothing than others and there are still so many developmental things they are going through like growth spurts and teeth coming in that they shouldn't be expected to fit into the cookie cutter convenient time lines that society has set on all of us to make our children conform too early. Attend to his needs now and you can enforce stricter guidelines for sleeping when he is able to communicate better with you verbally.

I breastfed, and weaned my daughter at about 1 yr. She still was waking to eat as well. What I did was give her water instead of milk (in a sippy) and eventually she stopped waking...well wanting something to eat/drink! She is 2.5 now and finally started sleeping through the night on a regular basis. Ugh, hope it is not that long of a road for you!