Help! My 1 year old wakes once each night and at 5.30am!!?

Question

My daughter is 15 months and falls asleep by herself every night with a bottle. Each night she wakes between 12.30 and 2.30am and will not fall back to sleep without another bottle! I have tried different routines - even cutting out her daytime sleep and nothing is working.
She also wakes extremely early in the morning but is still tired.
Please help.

Answer 1

she has got into a routine which she needs to be broken out of, make sure you have black out blinds in the windows to make sure no light gets in, although hardly likely in this time of year, also try to make sure you settle her straight back down dont fuss her etc or she is learning it gets your attention, once you have checked she is ok go back to your own bed. she will soon realise that you are not going to play ball and give up.

Answer 2

5:30 is not that unusual. Some kids wake at 5:30 and will do so for the first few years. If not as part of a longer pattern.

The middle of the night (12:30, 2:30) is a different story. At 15 months, she's likely ready to sleep "through the night" (at least until 5:00 or 5:30).

Most likely, she's become dependant on the bottle. Either because she's hungry or because she's soothed by it. If the later, you can try replacing it with another form of soothing, like a pacifier, music, rocking, etc. If the former, consider giving her a heavier pre-sleep meal. And check her diapers. If she's poopy at 12:30 or 2:30, then it's possible that she's losing what she's eating.

Answer 3

I have a 16 months old and he did do the same for ages with the bottles. I just feed him more through the day and now he is going to bed at 7 he does wake at 5am but i put his dummy back in and he goes off again till 7.30. I just gave him water through the night and once he realized which was only two nights he stopped waking up at 12ish.
You could also talk to your health visitor as she might have some good ideas for you to try.
Good luck it can be hell at times.

Answer 4

Feed her more during the day. I had the same trouble with my 12 month old. After every meal I give her a small bottle also. She's been doing pretty good. Now if I can get rid of that pacifier she will be in good shape.

Answer 5

just give her some cereal or a piece of toast before she goes to bed...if this does no help is there some thing else that is waking her up?and she just needs the bottle to sooth her back to sleep a friend of mine had the same problem with her son believe it or not he was woken up by the sound of the neighbours heating kickin in as their boiler was on the same wall as his cot!she only found out because she had been chatting to them about his sleep patterns so she moved the cot...and then there was no more broken sleep

Answer 6

This is normal night time behaviour. She is probably hungry. We adults snack every couple of hours or so. It is reasonable to expect an infant to want the same.
Incidentally, letting her fall asleep with a bottle is a huge risk factor for tooth decay. The "milk" pools behind the teeth and rots them. Ask any dentist.

Answer 7

When she wakes in the night try giving her a bottle of water,she will begin to realize there is nothing worth waking up for and not bother.Trust me it works,we had the same problem with our youngest.

Answer 8

Bed time bottles are not good for teeth as they promote decay.
Try a later feeding and bed time. If you must use the bottle, make sure it is only water. She will find her own schedule, and it may just not be easy for the parents.

Answer 9

have you tried a supper before bed. just to try fill her tummy up but not to soon to bedtime.
The bottle at bedtime could be a hard thing to stop i had trouble with my daughter you could try keeping bottle of water in the bed mine sucked on that ,hardest part was removing bottle totally i didnt ever give her a dummy so i suppose she used the bottle like a dummy.

Answer 10

Give her a bottle of water in the night - cold if necessary - this worked for my Mum.