I made the mistake with my third child and let him sleep in the bed with us. He is now 16 months old and needs to move into his own bed. Besides sleeping with us he needs a bottle of water to fall asleep and is still waking up thru out the nite mostly because he needs his pamper changed from all the water he drinks, every time he wakes up he wants his bottle to put him back to sleep. He has his own toddler bed and i put it in our room until he gets used to it but so far he has only slept in it once. How can i get him from needing a bottle thru the nite and into is own bed?
Try gradually reducing the amount of water in the bottle. If has has it at naptime, too, then get rid of that one first.
your choice: gradual reduction of water in the bottle....or cold turkey. Either way, he needs to learn to self-soothe without the bottle. I'm glad you've thought of that issue!
Does he have a fav blankie or stuffed animal? Both of my sons had dolls which totally freaked my DH! One had a Cabbage Patch with curls just like his...& the other had an Ernie doll. Both sons used these dolls for comfort thru the night & during naptime. :)
This is so hard! Our daughter just turned 3 and we still have issues (i am a pushover) the bottles were easier. We went on vacation, you could go anywhere, when she was about 17 months and we "forgot" them. It was tough for about 2 days but it worked. She now has a sippy cup with just a little bit of water but she rarely drinks it all. I could tell you with the sleep no matter what you do stick with it! I did not and we have had sreaming fits for months-i nursed to sleep, bottled and laid down with her, tried CIO, walk in walkout, i am sure you get the picture :) i was fed up about a month ago and just stuck with my plan. She is now laying in bed without crying. If she throws a fit she loses a story, she only gets 2 a night. It works but only after i followed through. :). Good luck and sorry to ramble.
He is at that age where he is about to shoot up. He is more than likely very hungry and water is not fitting the bill.
Make sure you are giving him a good snack at bedtime. He also needs milk. I usually have something that has some good complex carbohydrates and protein. Maybe a bowl of cereal or some other grain option. I often do cheese tortillas too. Last night they did those and the boy used almost half a jar of salsa. I figured he'd be up all night but he just woke up early instead.
Milk is milk is milk. It does not matter if it comes from a bottle or a cup. It goes in the mouth and since they don't hold the milk all night in their mouth it does not hurt their teeth. Saliva rinses the mouth in everyone all the time. That is saliva's job.
If he is wanting a bottle it does not have to be water only. I would probably not do milk in the bottle just because he is taking water so well. BUT water rinses out the stomach and is just making him hungrier.
I am sure some people will poo-poo my answer, but cold turkey. When my daughter was 14 mos, she bit through her favorite pacis, refusing all others. She had been using it to get to sleep. We had no choice but to cold turkey it. Of course she put up a fuss for about a week or so, but afterwards, it was a blessing. She slept all night and has ever since. We did the weaning thing with my son and it was painstaking and went on forever. And was still painful at the end of the process.
Start off with naps in the crib. If he will handle those well, then there is no reason why he can't at night. All these sleep crutches are just getting in the way.
Hope this helps.
I would wait until he is closer to 2 yrs old.
I know you're tired but he is so young.
Mine went to about the age of 2.
He was very active during the day (more so than his sister or friends that
are female) so he seemed to need to hydration/nurishment (ours was a bottle of milk....could no longer nurse).
I'm glad I did it that way. A lot changed when he turned 2 years old.
Maybe keep giving it to him a bit longer until he is 2 years old. He's still
quite young.
Hang in there and all the best!
The bottles throughout the night are simply a habit. Can you try to replace the bottle with a pacifier?
I think you'll have better luck getting him to stay in his bed if you move the bed out of your room.
