Please Help with My 15 Month Old That Won't Sleep

My daughter did that exact same thing as does the baby I am now babysitting.

It's the bottle.

My daughter NEEDED her bottle to fall asleep. She got so used to it that she would wake up several times a night for it until I took it away at 2.5 -3 years old. I think they must like having something to suck on and a full belly or something. It was one of the hardest bad habits I've ever had to break. But once the bottle was gone my daughter stopped waking up several times a night. Also it's alot of unneeded calories when they're on the bottle past age1.They fill up on liquids and don't need to. I know my daughter was a FAT-Chunkie baby and most likely it was her bottle habit. She's now very slender and fit.

I'm now going through this with a little 1yr.old I watch overnight frequently her mom has her with the same bad habit and I'm at the point now where her mom has to break the habit or I can't watch her overnight anymore because I NEED MY sleep. She woke me up 4x on Saturday night and I was about to go bonkers.

The only thing that worked for me was to take it away from my daughter cold turkey. The first night was horrible the second night better and by the 3rd or 4th night not a big deal.

I did only give my daughter water but during the day she did have milk or juice and by age3 she needed 3 cavaties filled and her enamel was wearing off her front teeth. So we had serious dental damage from the bottle as well. Now my daughter is 6.5 years old and since the bottle has been gone we haven't had a single problem with her teeth since.

If it's not the bottle then she's got this habit formed of waking up. I would just let her cry it out. I don't even think you need to go in and rub her back or anything unless she's been hysterical for over 10min. or is sick. She's got this little game going where she knows you'll come running.

My boys never had a bottle (breastfed) but I would be willing to bet its the bottle. Not only is she used to going to sleep with it, but drinking 8 or whatever ounces of water before bed, she is waking up because she has to or is peeing! Kids are dumb, both my kids were trained around 15-18 months, and they know when the yare peeing. I'm guessing not only does she require the comfort of the bottle to sleep, but she is waking up because her bladder is full and when she is 1/2 asleep that scares her.

I'd ditch the bottle, she doens't need it at her age.

My Son is 17 months and did the same thing. We tried everything, music, white noise, not getting up, getting up. I would suggest having her ears looked at just to be on the safe side. We have resorted to putting our son in bed with us. Which is a very bad habit but I need my sleep and so does my husband. We can't let my son cry for two long because we have two kids that go to school and get up at 5:30 am. We both work full time and leave the house at 6:00. So for now that works. Good luck this will eventually pass. By the way my son was off bottles by his choice at 8 months so that wasn't the sleeping issue for him.

Hi C.,

My daughter did this at this age too. Around 2 years she gradually grew out of it. We asked our pediatriacian about it at the time and she said whenever she hears about sleep problems in little ones, they always seem to eventually sleep soundly between 2-3. All kids are different. Looking back I think she would wake up suddenly and be scared and too young to figure it out as she was not in a fully awake and happy zone like mornings.
Some things to try:
Lots of exercise for her during the day

Letting her sleep with you so it's easier to settle her down when she wakes up and then you'll sleep better too. We ended up doing this and it really helped. When she got older we transistioned her to sleeping in her big girl bed and now at 3 she loves her big girl bed in her room and sleeps great. Of course, she'll have the night when she wakes up once and comes to me because she's had a nightmare or is sick. A two year old is so different than a 15 month old, a two and a half year old is so different than a two year old, etc. If you can keep this in your mind, it'll be easier to see this as a stage to ease her through.

Maybe a soft night light so when she wakes she's not so scared.

Also, napping is important as I always noticed that if my daughter didn't get one or didn't get a good one, she'd wake up more often during the night. It seems counter-intuitive and but this holds true even at this age. In fact, our daughter went without a nap for three days in a row this week due to a chaotic weekend and last night she woke up screaming about 2 hours after she had gone to sleep.

Good luck!

M.

I remember reading somewhere when our kids were little- (ALL 4 OF THEM NEVER SLEPT ALL NIGHT!)that it may be BECAUSE of the bottle and Nuk- she goes to sleep with them, so feels secure, but if they slip out of her grasp or mouth, that may be what is awakening her. Try a snuggly blanket or toy instead. Also- possible allergy to her mattress or linens (or ANYTHING_ food, etc forthat matter!)could be causing her breathing passages to become occluded as she sleeps- or just that she has a tiny throat and cute little chubby cheeks- as she sleeps the muscles in her throat relax, diminishing her airway- as her oxygen levels decrease her body's natural response is to "startle" herself awake- a sleep disorder commonly diagnosed in adults- sleep apnea- try seeing your MD and asking for a referral to an Ear, Nose and Throat Dr.- maybe a simple tonsil/adnoidectomy? That actually did help my son sleep all night. Also, for one of our daughters we raised the head of her bed and put wedge cushion around her so she wouldn't slide down to keep her head slightly elevated. One of our daughters likes soft "mood music" and/or nature sounds.

I went through that with both my kids (ages 4 1/2 and 20 months) and it is so exhausting. I finally got so desperate I quit going in at all during the night, it seemed to make them mad to see me and not be picked up anyway. I got up and got on the computer or watched tv or read during the crying and stuck to it night after night. I know someone is going to chime in here and say how horrible that is to do to your child but I was so exhausted and crabby I really needed to get them sleeping through the night.

I hope it goes without saying here that if I thought they were in pain from teething or not feeling well or whatever, I took care of them. I adore my kids and would never want them to feel like their mom wasn't taking care of them. This is about waking in the night and needing mommy to fall back to sleep.

I was successful and now enjoy evenings with my husband, plenty of sleep, and quiet time each day during nap time. It is wonderful and there is nothing wrong with needing some sleep after 15 months of deprivation.

I recommend Sleeping throught the Night by Jodi Mindell and Dr Ferber's sleep book (I forget the title.)

I used Dr Ferber's daily schedule recommendations:

6:00 am: up for the day if crying

8:00 am: wake up for the day if still sleeping

no naps until at least 11:00 am

one nap after lunch, no more than 2 1/2 - 3 hours

7:30 pm bedtime by herself after a loving bedtime ritual

Good luck! You deserve some sleep. If you decide to go through "sleep training" it will be very difficult, it sometimes actually physically hurt in my chest to listen to my kids cry. But I can say I am a much better mom because I am getting enough sleep and some quiet time during the day.

I'd love to hear how you're doing in a week.

J.