Restless Sleeper - McKinleyville, CA

My son does the same thing. He used to wake up three times at night for his milk. I just try really hard to ignore his cry (even though he is laying right next to me)That helped half way because now he wakes up only once and so i give in that once and get him milk. For my son it's not that he's hungry, it's the comfort of his milk and he's a light sleeper. Good luck.

J.,
Your son should be sleeping through the night and he does not need a bottle during the night. His teeth will take the brunt of this habit. Offer water if anything at all. try moving his bedtime around. See if offering him as snack at beditme will fill him up so he sleeps longer.
Get a book abut healthy sleeping habits. Learning to sleep throught the ight is like learning to walk. It is a step in human development that is very improtant. The longer you keep this up the harder it will be to help him develop self soothing sleeping habits.

Hi J.!

I hope I don't disappoint you when I tell you that this is TOTALLY normal for a 1 year old :O) Majority of us mommy's have/had this same late-night issue, it's only the "lucky one's" that have the perfect sleeper right away :o)

It sounds like you are doing everything just perfectly! Especially when you keep putting him in his own crib. I let both my boys sleep with me for along time, but it was always nice to have them used to their crib, too. Plus, if you decide to make him "crib only" you are already on your way. But, for now, let's get back to the issue here.... not sleeping through the night...

Usually, a great sleeper is developed in the daily "routine". The same naptime, awake time, eat time, sleep time, etc..... So, if you have this routine pretty solid, then he's just growing too much to let you sleep all night!

But, if his routine is not perfected yet, then you need to work on it so he becomes a more routine baby which will lead to a sounder sleeper. I found that I usually let my babies sleep as long as they wanted in the morning, but after I started to "make noise" at the same time each morning, they would begin to wake up at the new earlier time. This earlier wake up time, made an earlier naptime, then eventually made a better/earlier bedtime. My oldest didn't sleep through the night until he was like 3 or something wild! But my youngest began sleeping through the night around 1 1/2. Probably because I had more practice by then :O)

In the meantime, I forced myself to become an actual "morning person" instead of burning the midnight oil. This helped MY schedule, too, and in turn I was able to help keep my son's schedule. It all goes hand-in-hand, as I'm sure you are learning :O)

For now, your son just misses you during the day, so he is truly adjusting right now. I believe that he is also just hungry, so have that bottle prepared so it's easier on you :O)

You can always try to have 2 smaller bottles ready for him, this way you can "shorten" his feeding. If it's not enough, then you have the 2nd backup bottle. Maybe he is just needing the comfort from you, and is not really hungry at all??? I tried that, but my boys were just plain 'ole hungry! :O) But it's worth a try.

J., keep trying to take care of yourself, too. It gets tiring on the mommy to get up each and every night. Try to get plenty of rest whenever you can.

~N. :O)

Yep, just like the others said, this is normal. My daughter will soon be 18 months old and just started sleeping through the night a week ago. I gave in and tried the CYO method where I stayed on the floor near her crib, and it ultimately didn't work. She was sleeping for longer stretches in her crib, but after cutting 4 molars she's back in our bed. So she's sleeping through the night, but it's in our bed. My best advice is to comfort him as he needs it and do what you feel is right.

You as a working Mom need your sleep too. As an idea, give your baby a bottle of water. Water will not hurt his teeth like milk or juice. Babies usually wake up 10 times a night and just go back to sleep on thier own. It is good to check your baby once to check his diaper and make sure no fever or illess. Firmly and with love tell baby it is night time and to go to sleep. And leave. It is sad to hear them cry but they need to learn it is not play time.
And all Moms need their sleep not just working out of the home Moms.
F.

Yep... I agree with Nicole.... my son is 13 months and still doesn't sleep through the night. Some nights he will get up once and other nights he'll get up 3-4 times.

J., I always chuckle when parents want their kids to sleep through the night. My son didn't sleep "through the night" until he was three years old. VICTORY for us - except... he became such a heavy sleeper he wet the bed until he was nine!!! Now, he'll be ten in a few weeks, he doesn't wet the bed, but he still doesn't usually wake up to pee in the middle of the night, his bladder is big enough/mature enough to wait til morning. If I knew then... maybe I would have potty trained my boy when he wasn't asleep anyway! :)

Hi J.,

Sleep is the most important thing we do. Your son may be missing nutrients that is needed to help with sleep and or his body temperature may not be regulating itself. That causes the body to toss and turn.

I was that child when I was young. I always had sleep challenges. I now have my whole family sleeping on magnetic sleep systems. We started my granddaughter sleeping on one when she was 2 days old. She always sleeps well and stays healthier.

If you would like more info let me know.

Have a Happy Valentine's Day.

N. Marie

My son was about 13 mo. old and waking up for his bottle in the middle of every night, even thought he dr had been telling me since like 6 mo. or so he didn't need the nutrition- it was just habit. My son would eat and go right back to sleep. I had an awful job at the time and just wasn't willing to deal with the sleeplessness of trying to wean him. I finally started the process during a vacation. Water didn't work. What wound up working for me were 4 things: 1) using the moniter to catch him starting to wake up and not let it get to the point where he was very awake and crying for me to come with the bottle 2) not picking him up from his crib and just holding the bottle for him while he layed there drinking 3) a pacifier 4) most importantly,systematically decreasing the amount of milk. He was drinking 8 oz. So I started by giving 6 oz for 3 nights, then 5 oz for 3 nights, then 4 oz for 3 nights, then 2 oz for 3 nights, then just the pacifier. He had to know he finished his bottle or he didn't feel satisfied, regardless of how much milk was in it. But he had to adjust. He couldn't just go cold turkey from eating 8 oz at a specific time to nothing at that specific time. It would be hard for adults who are used to eating at a certian time to just give it up cold turkey too! There was minimal fussing. Hope this helps. Good luck! (PS-it might help to feed him food or milk right before he goes to bed, even if he ate just a little while before-babies sleep better on full tummies)

Well J.,
I'll be the unpopular mom (again!) with my suggestion. I hear from so many moms that their children did not sleep through the night until way down the road. It is a proven fact that if babies are getting good nutrition during the day, they should be sleeping 10-12 hours through the night by age 2-3 months. There is absolutely NO reason why this should not happen except for two things: 1, a medical issue such as croup or some other worst case scenario issues, and 2, the parents not being willing to let the crying happen. It sounds like you fall into the latter category. I certainly am not trying to make you feel bad or ignorant, so please don't read that into what I'm saying. It is so incredibly innate in us as moms to want to stop the crying and console our sweet babies. But, as was mentioned earlier, sleeping through the night is very, very important to learn for so many reasons. It's so hard to believe it will ever end when your baby is going on his 3rd hour of crying for the 5th night in a row....been there, girlfriend. And there is a certain camp of people who believe this is harmful to the baby. The fact is, there is no legitimate research proving letting our babies cry themselves to sleep is detrimental to their physical, mental or emotional health. There are, however, many reputable studies that show a child past the age of 3 months with no other physical issues who wakes up crying in the middle of the night is simply doing it out of habit and will have to learn to self-soothe. I have use pacifiers for any of my babies who would take them, and that has been helpful. Babies do have the inherent need to suck and that is what they are looking for in the middle of the night. The soothing act of sucking, not food. My advice as a neonatal nurse and a mother of 4 myself, brace yourself for several nights of crying, but in the end, oh is it worth it! I know we don't feel like we can listen to them in such distress, but if you do all your checks, they're not dirty, not hurting etc, believe me, they really are okay. And the wonderful thing is God made us to where we don't remember having to cry it out as babies. It's a win-win. Good luck J., and God bless, whatever you decide to do.

Try the No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley and www.sleepyplanet.com Good luck