My 18-month old baby still doesn't sleep through the night. He wakes up at 1am at which time I give him a bottle and cuddle him a bit. It doesn't overly bother me, but I'm just wondering if when he gets older he will stop doing this. I know I should stop catering to him, but I hate to hear him cry. Giving him a bottle allows us both to get back to sleep faster.
Will he eventually just sleep on his own???
2006-08-02 06:50:42 · 17 answers · asked by CC 3 in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Newborn & Baby
yes, it will happen eventually. some things you can do to help it happen faster is give him a snack before he goes to bed, fill his belly up so he doesnt wake up hungry. you could also try what i do, my daughters crib is in my room and when she wakes up at night, i put on a lullaby CD, i have a remote so i dont even have to get out of bed, sometimes the soothing music makes her fall back to sleep on her own, that is how i eliminated my night feeding with her, it worked pretty good for me.
2006-08-02 07:14:24 · answer #1 · answered by krystal 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I think the better question is...why is your 18 month old drinking a bottle? He should be on solid foods during the day with whole milk in a cup. As long as you continue on this path the crying to get your attention will continue. You need to start a new routine without a bottle and cuddling in the middle of the night and stick to it. If he cries go in and reassure him that it is OK and then leave. He needs to learn that nighttime is for sleeping and you will play and cuddle with him in the morning. He will never do this unless you show him how.
2006-08-02 15:56:00 · answer #2 · answered by totspotathome 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ask any "good" pediatrician and they will tell you that stuffing your baby's bottle with cereal is a "NO,NO". This advise is so outdated and dangerous. Besides being a choke hazard, it's a possible link to SIDS and Obesity. It does not teach your baby to go to sleep on his/her own. Chances are he is not waking up because he is hungry. Most of us wake in the middle of the night and turn around and go back to sleep. Babies have to learn to "self soothe". He hasn't figured out how to go back to sleep and so the next best thing is to look for mommy. By all means respond to him, but make your cuddle times shorter and shorter. Give a bottle of milk only at the beginning and then reduce the amounts over time to nothing. Feed him more during dinner if you need to.
But please don't give him cereal in the bottle. Would you like your steak pureed in your Coke and then be forced to lie down right after drinking it?
2006-08-02 14:20:04 · answer #3 · answered by questiongirl 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
an 18 month old no longer needs a bottle at night. Really dosen't need to be on a bottle at all. Give her a sippy cup of milk and a lite snack later in the evening and when she does wake up at nite DO NOT give her a bottle , this is just habbit , and you need to stop it now or it will continue for a long time.
2006-08-02 14:08:50 · answer #4 · answered by soon2b mommy of 4 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yeah my 19-month old sleeps through the night every now and again she wakes up in the middle of the night. what worked for me is instead of putting her to bed around 8 -8:30 like I do with my 4 year old I let her stay up till about 9:30 and I give her one last snack before putting her to bed and she sleeps all night. When she used bottles I would put baby cereal in it and that helped as well.
2006-08-02 14:01:52 · answer #5 · answered by Elizabeth O 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Nope - you're messing up big time.....why should he bother to learn to sleep through the night when you reward him when he wakes up...no this won't ever stop - you are raising a child custom designed to have sleep problems - I've got 2 kids that never had a hint of sleep problems and trust me, there is only 1 way - you have to let them cry it out.....Use the Ferber method and don't be affraid of their tears.
See http://www.babycenter.com/refcap/7755.html
Also I agree - bottle is a terrible idea for 18 month old - time for sippy cups.
2006-08-02 16:21:27 · answer #6 · answered by Clockwork Grape 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It can happen naturally but I think it's more about the child's personality than about the routine itself. You get up with him because that's the routine he's developed. Not the other way around. My oldest child woke up regularly every night as an infant/toddler and as he got older came to our bed until he was 6 yrs old. On the other hand, my youngest three children just naturally slept through the night between 3-6 weeks of age and were wonderful sleepers. It wasn't anything I did differently, just their own individual differences.
2006-08-02 14:26:47 · answer #7 · answered by J 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My son started sleeping through the night at 2-1/2 weeks...and still does at 23 months
2006-08-02 15:23:38 · answer #8 · answered by mommy_2_liam 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He will probably stop in another 6 months or so. I tried with my 15 month old to let him cry it out and two weeks later he was waking up every hour and a half! He was crying nearly half the night, so I gave up and gave him his milk and he eventually went back to waking up once a night.
2006-08-02 14:56:01 · answer #9 · answered by pennypincher 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He will never sleep on his own if you keep going in and cuddling him and giving him a bottle. He has got to learn to sleep by himself and soothe himself back to sleep. Hes not nutritionally starved at that age to need the bottle so why give it to him, you just teaching him that when he wakes up he must have a bottle or he cant go back to sleep. I would nip that in the bud as fast as you can.
2006-08-02 14:00:46 · answer #10 · answered by ChantelleWilliams 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋