19 month old waking in the night

[madame]

Hi
I have a darling daughter 19 months who over the last few weeks is having interrupted sleep. She is taking a while to go to sleep and then is waking around 2 to 3 o'clock crying. I do go into her and if very upset I will pick her up. Because of teething she is eating less and therefore I have been giving her a bottle which seems to get her off to sleep. I have never really done the whole controlled crying thing as I felt really uncomfortable with it, but is this the time. Is she now manipulating me a bit for milk, or is she genuinely hungry?

Last night I had to do controlled crying going into her every 5 mins and calming her, she finally went to sleep after 25 mins of that. Do I let her get really worked up or does that then loose the trust. I feel really anxious and out of contol at the moment about this. Wish I could be more relaxed.....

any thoughts please

Madame are you sure she isn't just getting her molars? Will she go back to sleep if you give her some pain relief? My dd (same age) only wakes up if she is a)thirsty - and usually she'll help herself to a beaker of water left near her cot or b)in pain in which case she needs nurofen and a long cuddle before she'll go back to sleep. Both ds and dd woke/wake a lot during the night when their back teeth were/are coming through - it is really painful for them.

The only other thing I can think of is my dd doesn't go off to sleep well if she's not had enough exercise in the day or if her afternoon nap has gone on past 3.30 (she doesn't go to bed until nearly 1pm most days). But that doesn't explain the middle of the night waking.

HTH but sure someone else will come along soon.

DS1 went through so many phases and I remember fearing that things would not return to normal. They always did though.

A little milk and some pain relief may be the answer. If you conclude that it's not hunger/pain the the other thing that worked for me was camping down on the floor next to DS's bed. Get all your spare bedding ready and go to sleep next to her...that way she has company but is not getting lots of attention. You can get some sleep and stay warm as well. Hope this helps.

My DS is 15 months old and I am having a similar problem too. He is still waking through the night at various times and the only thing that seems to settle him is a bottle. I keep telling myself that he does not need a bottle at 15 months old but you try anything when you want to go back to sleep yourself! I think we have now got into the habit of this and think I need to be strong and try the controlled crying method to break it but am a bit unsure about it. He does have a dairy and soya intollerance and still suffers a bit from tummy ache which is why I'm a bit unsure of whether to try contolled crying or not. Hard isn't it

Thanks

It's really difficult, she is getting teeth and I am sure this is what is waking her, but at the same time every night makes me think is it a habit for the milk now! I am putting gel onto her gums and offering her calpol if she seems warm with it. After doing these interventions should I then do some controlled crying?

petitfilou

how did you get your dd to take water at night.Where do you leave it? My dd drinks water in the day but when I have offered it to her at night she sneers at it!

I leave water on the bookshelf by her cot so she can reach it. She just helps herself! Btw I really would try nurofen as opposed to calpol - calpol just didn't seem to touch the pain for my two with teeth coming through, especially the later, really big teeth. Also, calgel at this age isn't worth the bother, it just isn't strong enough.

Thank you I will, I agree the calgel seems to do nothing. Would you recommend giving the nurofen pretty much straight away if she wakes in the night as long as not quite obviusly something else,or would you hold off?

i don't think cc is the answer just yet
this is common at this age, with teeth/sleep patterns changing etc..
give some calgel, a cuddle/shush shush, and a bottle of well-watered down milk. hopefully it'll pass.

thanks, just nice to know it's not uncommon

Hi madame. I have this same problem on and off with my dd who is 2 years and 2 months. She is currently going through a phase of waking between 2am and 4am, although not every night. Luckily a bottle of milk always gets her back to sleep. Yesterday I noticed that one of her molars is coming through so I am putting it down to teething. She's gone through this phase several times and although it's tiring for us, it always ends and she goes back to sleeping through the night.

Hi Madame Any luck with getting some sleep yet?! I would usually give cuddles/offer water first time around (after checking no obvious pooh/sick/nappy leakage problems) If dd woke up a second time and yelled - or still wouldn't settle - I would give nurofen. Think about it, if it was you and you couldn't sleep because of the pain you'd take something (well you would unless you were my dh who would just whinge ) My dd now says 'teeth, medicine' when she is teething so there is no mistaking the problem these days though. It isn't very often I hasten to add...... And just keep repeating to yourself that this is a phase!

PS If she goes off to sleep straight after the nurofen you know that teeth are definitely the problem - it is reassuring.