how can i get my 19 month old son to sleep through the night. he still wakes for a bottle, i long for sleep!!?

Question

i've tried to give him water instead but he's not interested. will he ever sleep through? also do i give him formula or cows milk because he drinks his pint of cows milk during the day. i'm so confused and feel helpless.

Answer 1

Start diluting his middle of the night bottle. You know you shouldn't do this with his milk normally, but as you know he's getting his milk supply during the day he'll be OK.

Start with one ounce of water and top up with milk, then after a few days go to two ounces of water and keep going (slowly) until it's mostly water. Then drop the milk entirely and go for just water.

He might just start sleeping through anyway one day. My son was over 2 yrs old when he started sleeping all night.

Take care of yourself, get early nights and insist on a lie-in at weekends.

Follow your instincts about leaving him to cry - if it makes you feel awful, don't do it.

Answer 2

Over 1 year old, your child should be getting whole milk, not formula at all. He should be getting more than a pint also.

Try giving him a bottle before he goes to bed. If he wakes during the night, try letting him soothe himself back to sleep. It's going to be hard to let him cry a little, but see if he goes back to sleep in a few minutes without the bottle. Often, children do this as a habit and then it's comforting to them.

Answer 3

I would leave a bottle in my son's crib at night, propped up where he could find it. 19 months is plenty old to hold a bottle or sippy cup by themselves. By the time my son was that old, however, he was off the bottle and on the sippy cup. They make all size of sippy cups that would make him happy.

I hope that you are not getting up and holding him while he drinks. No wonder you are so tired! I'd give him formula b/c cows milk does not have all the vitamins and minerals that a young child needs. They make formula for older babies for that very reason. My son could not tolerate the milk-based ones, so I had to put him on Isomil and Isomil2. Read on the labels and you'll find the one that suits him.

Answer 4

He shouldn't need a bottle in the middle of the night anymore. Unfortunately, there's no easy way to go about it. Water would be better if you must give it to him, because milk or formula is bad for his teeth. Start using water, and then start lessening it each day, when there's only a little bit, take it away, and don't give it to him in the night. He will cry, but you can be there to reassure him, and if you stick to it for a few days to a week, he will learn to go back to sleep without it.

Answer 5

First of all, shrug off all your negative feelings. You are doing fine! I don't care what the "experts" say, 99% kids have sleep issues at some point.

My first daughter is 9. She woke up during the night until she was about 2 and a half. It peaked right around 19 months when she wouldn't even go to bed without screaming for an hour or two.

My second daughter is 3. She wakes up periodically because there are scary monsters in the closet. I beat them over the head with a sponge tennis racket and all is well.

My son is 11.5 months. He gets nursed to sleep, and wakes up frequently during the night to be nursed. It drives me bonkers, LOL! However, as with his older sister (I never nursed my first), I will cut off his night feedings shortly after he turns one. Kids don't really need anything to drink in the middle of the night if they've had supper or an evening snack (sometimes my 3 year old refuses her supper so I give her a healthy snack later on like fruit salad and cottage cheese).

You could try reading him a story or singing him a song. It will be difficult even up to a couple of weeks, but it took my 3 year old (when she was 1) a matter of days to realize she wasn't going to get what she wanted at night and soon she was content to fall back asleep on her own. You could also give him a flashlight so he can turn it on and play around with it till he falls asleep on his own again. Get ready for some tears, some screaming, and whatever else, but once you start YOU MUST BE CONSISTENT.

...and good luck! I have to repeat this mantra to myself at least fifty times a day: They have to go to college sometime.

"The joy of motherhood; what every mother feels when her children have gone to sleep for the night." -Unknown

Answer 6

He is waking up becuz he is use to doing that, he is not hungry for a bottle at his age. My son started sleeping through the night 1 month ago and he is 4 and a half months old. but during the day, he would fight going to sleep for his naps so i had him cry himself to sleep and he would wake up and cry himself back again, It took about a week but now he does not cry when i put him down and it's so much easier now. Yes, you are going to have to put up with hearing him, scream but he will eventually fall asleep and sleep through the night like a big boy. be patient and whatever you do , Don't give in

Answer 7

My son went through the same thing when he was a baby. It's a habit that has formed and he has programmed himself to wake up every night for a feeding/bottle.

It's gonna be tough, but you have to stop the bottle and put up with the crying until he goes back to sleep....or give him a bottle with just water in it. After a few nights of water, my son started to sleep through the night.

Good luck

Answer 8

OMG That sounds just like my 13 month old.Is so much cows milk O.K. for my son.He can drink almost the whole gallon during the day?Anyway,I started letting my son sleep with me at night.I know that isn't what you wanted to hear.But hay I sleep through most of the night now.

Answer 9

what i did with my daughter 15 months was to put a stair gate up at her bedroom door so that she couldn't get out and when she got up in the night i would go to her and put her back down on the bed then leave the room, going back only when she was crying, about every 5-10 mins until she fell asleep again

it took about a week to get her into the idea that she would not be having milk in the night but now one month later she sleeps through every night.

Answer 10

he needs to learn that you are in charge not him. You need to get him into a new routine. It seems like he is on a routine now that wakes him up in the middle of the night wanted to be fed again. They only way you can change this is to stop giving him milk when he wakes up. It will be hard in the beginning but it will work. You will have to follow through, and don't give in. It will make it worse if you do. His body will eventually learn that it doesn't need to wake up in the middle of the night to eat.
Try that and see if it works