My 16 month old keeps waking - leave him to cry?

[Greatfun]

I have 2 DCs aged 3yrs and 16 months. My 16 month old keeps waking in the night and crying. We live in a smallish house so I have had a tendancy to go in pretty much straight away to settle him before he wakes DD. The problem is this is now getting out of control. He always has milk to settle (I know thats a bad habit I have perpetuated). I thought by now he would have stopped it but it seems to be getting worse. He has never slept through the nights without waking at all. Sometimes he wakes just once for milk which is fine but its always random so on the nights that it happens early there is no problem but on the nights that it happens at 2,3 or 4 AM its not so good. Last night he was awake 6 times! Each time I left him to cry for a few minutes, then went in and tried to comfort him he then cried even louder so I gave him milk. Most of the time he only took a few sips. I tried control crying a few nights ago but he just cried for an hour and a half before I gave in. My friend says its hard but I should just leave him to cry even if it takes hours. She did this with her son and by the second night he was much better and by the third he was sleeping through. Any thoughts? I know I can't go on like this I am so tired and snappy.

Sorry, can't offer advice but am lurking with interest as DS 14 months looks to be going down a similar route. I have always hoped he would sleep through without 'training'. I hate the thought of controlled crying.
I've been encouraged by other threads where poster's children sleep through of their own accord between 12-24 months.
Fingers crossed for some lovely positive advice coming this way and some uninterrupted sleep v soon

He is yelling right now. Its about the 4th time he has woken since he went down at 7 so I will try to ignore.

Hope he doesn't wake DD, good luck

He is really going for it now. I am going to put the dishwasher on and faff about for a bit to see if he shuts up. I really want to go to bed as well.

Perhaps offer him water instead of milk and maybe break the milk thing that way?

Leaving him to cry himself to sleep isn't controlled crying. Controlled crying is reassurance at regular intervals.

I spent quite a lot of time sat on the floor, shushing and patting but not being visable, gradually making my way towards the door. Gradual retreat, it might be called, and took a few nights, but it worked on DC4 at 10 months old.

I left DC1 to cry at 8 months old, and it took 3 nights, 40 minutes the first, then 20 minutes, and finally 3 minutes. But I was desperate and knackered, and it wasn't 'controlled crying'. He seems to be a fairly well-adjusted child of nearly 8 and doesn't hold it against me [winnk]

The problem with leaving a 16 month old baby to cry is that they can be very loud and very persistant! Good luck with it, however you do it.

Yes he is both loud and persistent.

I tried the whole controlled crying thing (went in every 5 mins then every 7 mins etc) but he yelled for an hour and a half so I gave up.

Tried water but he threw it across the room.

Am tired and fed up.

I can imagine. I was desperate and had no idea what I was doing if I'm honest. But really, it did work. And I didn't regret doing it. I cried and I hated it at the time, but 3 nights later I got a whole nights unbroken sleep, and that was worth the heartbreak. There's a reason why sleep deprivation is a form of torture.

I've just got softer as I got older.

Last night not so bad. He cried on/off for about (more on) 2.5 hours up until half 11. I relented and gave milk. He woke at 2 and 4 but I ignored and he went back to sleep within an hour.He normally wakes between 10 and 12 for milk. More often than not he can then go through until 7AM. The problem is when he does wake after midnight and expects more milk. Should I try and knock the earlier feed on the head to discourage him from waking again even though the earlier feed is not so inconvenient. I think I will have to do controlled crying rather than leaving him as he is very persistent and very loud.

Hi, our 16 month old son in the last week has gone from sleeping the night to waking almost every hour, sometimes a quick cuddle allows him to go back to sleep other times we have found that if he wakes up proper it can take up too 2 hours for him to get back to sleep.

Note - if he wakes he now stands in his cot and obviously doesn't know how to lay back down gain.

We are adament to get him back to consistant sleeping. He only has 6 teeth but shows no signs of teething, we thought his room maybe too warm so last night we reduced the temperture but that made no difference. Tonight our plan is to put him down 45-60 mins later than usual so we know he is truely tired. The last two nights he has not gone down like he used too and coincidently he wakes throughout the night. We are thinking if he is tired enough and goes down quickly he will hopefully sleep the night as he used too

No, he is 16 months old. DD2 did this at about that age. We allowed her cuddles in her room, rode it out and within a few weeks she was sleeping through the night again.

Hi all

We have a new sleep issue with our 18 month old you can read it here

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/behaviour_development/881401-My-20-month-old-will-not-sleep-through-the-night

Any comment or similar experiences would be appreciated