Oh sh*t, i've started giving her milk during the night again at 16mo! help!

[olivo]

DD2 has always been the better sleeper; just as well, as DD1 has only recently started sleeping through, aged 4! However, for the past 2 1/2 weeks, she ahs been waking oin the night, any time from 12 till 2.30, and takes over an hour to settle. she will fall asleep on me but wake as soon as i put her in her cot. she did have a cold and was off her food but that is now gone.

A few nights ago, i was at my wit's end so offered her a bottle of milk, which she drank and promptly fell asleep till morning. unfortunately, this has now happened for about a week; she will neck 200ml of formula.

have i goven her a new habit? is it a growth spurt at 16mo? any ideas oir suggestions?
i'm exhausted! Back to work next week after 3 weekso ff and I'm more tired than i was at the end of term

you have my sympathy as I have the same problem with my 18 month old DD2 but we never really ever have properly stopped the milk in the night thing and I need to do something.

with DD1 I remember though her going through a funny phases and they just passed on their own, hopefully it is just that and she will start sleeping through again soon.

I could have written your post wrt DS1 and then DD's sleeping habits, except DD started waking at about 5am. Milk would sometimes get her back to sleep but it depended on how long she had been awake and was certainly difficult to leave the room once I took milk in to her - often we would be up for the day, a killer with DS1 and DS2 (waking for night feeds as you would expect from a baby)to deal with...so I started leaving a bottle of milk within her reach when I went to bed. She invariably found it (night light on), downed it and slept for at least another hour, without making a fuss. We still do it now she is 2.5 - I don't see the problem, she eats well in the day, we all sleep better, where's the harm?

thanks for your responses. It's not a big deal giving her milk, though she has slept through without milk for so long, it just feels like regression. It's more the fact that she has room for 200ml after having 200ml anyway at bedtime, and that only the milk plus holding her till she is sound asleep again is re-settling her. i am knackered!
it's just a phase, it's just a phase, this too shall pass, this too shall pass....

Funnily enough was about to post a thread asking if it's 'normal' to give a bottle in the night to 11mo. We have NEVER - EVER - made it through the night without that bottle.

It's quick, he goes back to sleep - but it's always necessary. He will scream the house down if I refuse it (I never refuse, sometimes he just rants like mad while I make it). I just keep getting up, night after night.

I wonder when it will end. I guess it may never end!!