16 month old wont sleep through! at my wits end.

[Alexasmummy12]

Hiya,
my lg is 16 months old and will not sleep through she wakes between half 12 and half 2 and wont go back to sleep without her bottle. I'm 13 weeks pregnant and terrified im going to have to deal with two babies every night when baby is born. shes been in a good routine at night since she was about 5 weeks old. I tried not giving her a hottle the night before last and she was crying on and off for half an hour before I went in and gave her a cuddle hoping that would settle her but after 2 hours of putting her back down and again her crying on and off (she'd cryfor 2 or 3 minutes and stop for 2 or 3 minutes) I couldnt do it anymore and gave her a bottle and she went straight off. she has tea between 6 and half 6 and bed between 7 and half past with a bottle and she goes down like a dream its just the waking up I'm going mad :( any suggestions? thankyou x

[ExBrightonBell]

Have you tried reducing the amount you give her each night by a small amount so she gets used to less. Then when you remove the bottle it is less of a drastic change.

Also, there is a long way to go yet before you new baby is here. You may find your dd naturally drops the bottle on her own by then.

[Alexasmummy12]

Thankyou for your reply, I have thought of reducing it by an ounce week by week atm she wont take much less than 6 ounces otherwise she'll want more. Do you think reducing it will help? I did controlled crying and it worked until she got ill then it messed it all up and she slept through about a month ago for around a week but it just seems eveytime I think we're getting somewhere it goes back again.

[ExBrightonBell]

It does seem like that, doesn't it. My ds has been poorly and had gone back to waking every 2 hrs, poor thing. Has just got back to sleeping through thankfully.

Some people try watering down the bottle instead of reducing the size. Maybe worth a try? When you get to basically just water, sometimes babies don't wake for it anymore. Also, maybe your DP could try going in when she wakes, and comfort her without giving milk. She may settle quicker than with you. I bf, and my partner can often settle my ds much quicker than I can, as ds is not so distracted by the possibility of a feed.

[Alexasmummy12]

Yeah my partner suggested watering it down so I may try that one from tomorrow. My partner works full time so we soon got into the routine of me waking for her so now she doesnt settle very well atall with him when it comes to sleep and she also is attached to playing with my hair as comfort although shes not quite so bad if I dont let her now.
O no every 2 hours? makes my lgs waking seem less tiring lol. How old is your lo?

[PrincessScrumpy]

Maybe try giving her the milk in a freeflow beaker rather than a bottle?

[ExBrightonBell]

My ds is 11 months old (almost a year old already - wow time flies!). He also likes to play with my hair - I tie it up all the time now so he can't.

I'm back at work now, so my DP now does some of the night wakings. My ds initially complains when my DP goes in, but then settles a lot faster than for me! It's quite annoying