Ok I give in, what do I do please??

[staylucky]

DS 2.5 basically I think cannot fall asleep by himself. He has a good bedtime routine, bath, pyjamas, wind down, story, Milk and sleep for about 6.30pm-7pm. Goes to sleep no bother. Will not nap during the day, hasn't done so since he moved into a bed at 2. He's tired and cranky most of the afternoon.

Wakes anything between 2-5 times during the night and then wants to be up at 5.30am. Will only settle with a bottle of milk, only has to be a small amount maybe 2-3 ounces of cows milk, so I know it's just a comfort thing.

Basically I have been happy to give him a bottle when he wakes to keep the peace and get back to sleep, also DH will just get up with DS when he wakes early. So that seems set now.

We are having another baby at the end of Feb and I plan to BF again, so am trying to prepare mentally for waking every 2 hours with a tiny baby but also aware that i'll more than likely still be running around after DS too :(
I almost lost my marbles when DS was tiny due to sleep deprivation and am terrified about how i'm going to cope.

DH thinks that once baby is here and DS is being woken up by someone else he will naturally be tired and adjust to sleep more but being the one who is going to have to do all the settling i'm really not so sure....My DD now 8 was a sleep 12 hours like a stone baby from being 2 weeks old. I really had no idea how easy I had it.

Sorry bit long this now, trying to get everything down.I guess what i'd like to happen is:

1. Bedtime stay as it is, it works for us all.
2. No night waking, teach DS to settle himself back to sleep
3. I think if he napped for even just half an hour a day he'd feel MUCH better and sleep better.
4. If he was napping we could cope better with early start am

Any advice gratefully accepted, off to make a coffee xx

IMHO sit him down and tell him ge needs to sleep. Get a reward chart and tell him no milk through the night. Reduce his routine and let him cry it out.

I have a 2 year old who doesn't nap- night times are fine- she knows the score. If you explain why your doing it- so he feels happier etc.

Also the day you begin it ask him if he would like to go swimming that day as a reward for beginning his new routine- good luck

Thankyou for your suggestions buggyRunner We have had a talk this morning and put his bottles in a bag to throw away, and said no more milk at night. Think am going to try cold turkey, he's always responded well to crying it out in the past (when he went into a bed etc)

Think this morning just realised that we've bent over backwards trying to do everything to ensure we all get enough sleep but actually are ending up spending more time awake pandering to him. So expecting a couple of hellish nights and hopefully can get a month of full nights sleep in before the next noisy one arrives!

Ok to update, lastnight absolutely no mention of bottle so really pleased he's taken to that change. He woke about midnight and couldn't get back to sleep, offered him water in a cup, stroked his head, settled him down. About 1am still awake and claiming to have a monster in his bed so fought them off, got in and fell asleep together (sigh...one bad habit for another) managed to get him off to sleep in the end though. Try again tonight!

Oh that was the only waking though so once is a massive improvement on five times.

Good stuff- seriously the more you participate the more they wake up. They are intelligent buggers! It's really tough but once you have made the decision it becomes a lot easier

Just to update incase anyone else is in a similar position...
We had a talk about DS being a big boy now and not needing bottles anymore. Put bottles away, when he woke in the night repeated no more bottle. He woke maybe three or four times over a couple of nights and has since slept through beautifully!

I really underestimated how much he understands and was def babying him. He is much brighter during mornings now and we're all enjoying more sleep...for now anyway.

Thankyou and imagine will be back soon when new baby is here