My 2 Year Old Daughter Wakes up 5 Times per Night

I agree with trying to stop the afternoon nap. it really worked wonders for both my girls, 2 and 4. they still get up one time at night to see mama and papa, but they go down at 6:30 and don't wake really until 6:15am. Good luck!

We experienced what you are experiencing, albeit to a significantly smaller degree. 27 oz of milk a night is a lot. I don't support crying it out, personally. One way to go would be to gradually dilute her milk. Take 1-2 weeks to work yourselves down to straight water. You might even have a container of 'diluted' milk in the frig so it's easier to do at night, prep the bottles before bed, whatever. My daughter was an absolute milk fiend, so I sympathize. Water is really not as exciting as milk, so I think there's a good chance that this would cut way back if you took this approach.

I've got to say that this was one of the hardest things for us to work out. It was hard to stop night breastfeeding, hard to stop the milk bottles, etc. Just hard. Definitely a case where you have to remember that parenting happens as much at night as during the day. You can also stay with her and just believe that she'll take comfort in your being there as her bottle use is curtailed. But for you, perhaps, dilution is the solution!

I wanted to add that we're still working on this one. My daughter will still reflexively ask for a milk bottle. It's just in her bones to ask. And I say 'no, we have water at night and milk in the morning.' She's three and a couple of months old now, and I'd say we've been working on this one for close to a year.

Hi O.,

I have the same problem with my 2 1/2 year old. When he has a cold he wakes about 5 times a night for a bottle (anytime he is coughing or just being disturbed during the night). When he is not sick he is up 1-2 times per night. He LOVEs the bottle and he also loves his blanket. I've been telling myself I am going to break it, but haven't and should had stuck to it when he was agreeable to water only bottles. He does not go to sleep with a bottle ever, just wakes for one (or two or three). I don't think it has anything to do with daytime napping, it is simply a habit that needs to be broke. My opinion - they wake for the bottle, not because they've had too much sleep during the day. My son could have missed his nap (heavan forbid) and he will still wake for the bottle.

I agree though with the other parent, take baby steps. Water the milk down, put less and less in the bottle or just try to comforting her back to sleep. I found with my other children that talking a lot about the situation and telling them we were going to give them to the garbage man (my older son was obsessed with the garbage man) worked. Also since my younger son has a favorite blanky it works a little in our favor at times too.

Good luck.

Hi O., I feel your pain, you are not alone. Just know that it will change. My daughter (3 years 5 months now) is the same, crying it out only made her more upset and then she wouldn't go to sleep! I only tried it once, and just decided that she would learn when she was ready. So many times I would think "what am I doing wrong, no one else has this problem, I must be a bad mother, I'm spoiling her, why won't she sleep?" We were still nursing, and I thought it was that, and because she cosleeps. We wanted to let her wean when she was ready, but when she was 2 years 7 months I had to take medication for a seized up back, so we just told her that she had to stop. She was fine for three days, and actually slept very well, but then she started asking for bottles. She would wake up often, every 2-3 hours like your daughter. Then, it started gradually becoming less often, and she will now sleep most of the time through the night. If she does wake up, she will wake up once and ask for milk. She is very slowly and gradually doing without. She still has her bottle to go to sleep (I'm sure there are lots who would criticize that), and slowly but surely she is waking up less and less. I am now glad that we didn't try to force her, she is very attached to us, and very loving, and trusts us.

It could be that your daughter is waking so often because she is getting her two year molars. Or she could just have a very speedy metabolism, like my daughter, and be genuinely hungry. I don't see anything wrong with it, as you say your daughter is happy when she wakes up.

It is SO hard on the parents, I know. But it will change, believe me. You are exhausted from interrupted sleep, and it's really, really tough. It's easy to start doubting yourself. A book that really helped me come to terms with it, which has lots of great suggestions for trying to get the child to sleep was "No Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers" by Elizabeth Pantley. The main thing I got from the book though, was that every child is different, and every family is different, and there is no one way to do anything.

Good luck, I hope things start to ease up for you soon! Feel free to message me if you want to ask anything or just chat about how hard it is!

L.

Hi I understand how you feel. It seems we were the only parents in the world that still had sleep issues with our 2 yr. old boy. With our daughter we did the cry it out method and in two nights she was sleeping through the night. When we tried it with our son he threw up because he got so upset. That was the end of that method!

So, like you, with our son we gave him bottles when he woke. I finally figured out they were making him gassy. So we still do a bottle at bed time but before we put him in his crib we burp him. Then I sit on a pillow on the floor and sing to him and hold his hand till he falls asleep. I just started this a week ago and it is working. He is now sleeping through the night (knock on wood!)

OH and one other factor was that his daily nap got latter and latter so we started strictly nap time earlier and only for one to one and a half hours. I think that was another problem.

GOOD LUCK!

This sounds so difficult! I know you are needing that uninterrupted sleep. Is there any way you could eliminate her daytime nap? My daughter only slept through the night after she gave up napping. Sometimes it was a challenge to keep her awake all day but I made it a priority so we could all sleep at night. She had just turned two when we did this, so it's not too soon...

Let us know how it goes.

Cheers,
J.