Help!! Anyone have a 14month old that doesnt sleep and wont leave anything alone???

[malibustacey]

My 14 month old ds since last august has taken it upon himself not to sleep at night??
He goes to sleep about 8pm, and then its pot luck he could wake up once or four times, sometimes for milk or others just to scream!!

Also any tips on stopping him touching things?
Its a nightmare visiting anyone, he isnt interested in toys just ornaments and anything else he shouldn't be touching, i keep taking him away and saying no but he goes back again and again!!! My other two never went through this stage so im at a loss what to do.

Sleep management training says not to 'reward' waking in the night, so don't give him the milk. If he's thirsty he can have a drink of water, but make no fuss about it. Don't even make eye contact. Just settle him back down, say goodnight and leave the room. Somehow your ds has learned that it's OK to wake up in the night and now he has to unlearn it. Do it now before he gets much older - it's far harder to listen to an older child crying "Please mummy, don't leave me" than a toddler crying. Does he still sleep during the day? I'd imagine so, at 14 months. Maybe it's time to reduce the amount he sleeps in daytimes, so that he's tired enough to go the whole night once he's in bed.

Touching things is normal, I reckon, if not desirable. Some kids are happy to play with their own things, others are curious about other people's possessions. At that age sometimes there's no choice but to moved valuable/breakable items out of harm's way. My ds is six and even now I have to take a bagful of books and other distractions to keep him occupied when we visit people, and I have to make visits short.

Your ds is too young yet to understand if you explain the rules before you go on a visits, but in a few months time you could start explaining to him that it's not appropriate to touch things and eventually he'll get the message.

When I go to someones house I usually just start moving things out of the way otherwise you cannot relax at all. (as it is its not usually that relaxing) My friends would rather have that than stuff broken. (two that are trying to get pregnant are taking notes about hwo they may have to rearrange their houses.) I have given up taking his own toys as they aren't half as interesting as new stuff. My son is 20 months and he does stop when I say no (then starts again later) but I can't see him really understanding that its not appropriate for some time yet. I mean look at it from their perspective, we constantly give them things to manipulate and stimulate them so why shouldn't everything be up for grabs? I can see that hes interested in stuff and how it works which I hope can only be a good thing!

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