Is milk the only way?!

[jumblequeen]

Hello all,

Looking for advice / reassurance / something / anything.

My son is 20 months old and has only ever slept through twice. He usually wakes at about 10pm & 1am, wanting his dummy or to be settled down again, which isn't such a hardship as I can pretty much do that in my sleep. The problem is when he wakes at about 3/4am... nothing with console him except milk. Nothing. I've tried controlled crying but to be honest, I really need the rest (I'm not one of these people that can function on a couple of hours) and end up caving... he usually ends up in my bed by this point too.

What works for you?

Any help very gratefully received...

Hey. Have you tried water? Or increasing his day time milk intake so he isn't hungry during the night?

Is he eating plenty at dinner time before going to bed? Could try giving a final snack nearer bed time to help

How long are his naps during the day?

I have the same problem with my 14 month old DD, and we have tried water, reducing formula powder to water ratio, less milk etc. Her day time food intake and sleeping seem to have no effect. At 3am she just wants milk! I work full time and like you OP, don't function well on too little sleep. It's a nightmare!

Food might be a red herring. If daytime naps are not right, sleep at night can be affected.

Or he's learnt that if he creates a fuss, he will get milk. Does he settle to sleep independently at naps & bedtime or do you have to help him by feeding/rocking/cuddling? It may be he has sleep associations so he doesn't know how to put himself back to sleep without assistance IYSWIM?

he'll grow out of it.

i am sure you can do some kind of "training" whereby you let him cry until he learns that you won't come and gives up.

personally i like the path of least resistance, give him his milk, enjoy the fact that he does back to sleep and find other ways of getting more rest (go to bed earlier? get your partner to get him up in the morning so you can lie-in for a bit?)

my youngest 2 have both been like this, and both grew out of it by themselves when they were ready.
sleep deprivation is a killer, i hated it, but in the grand scheme of things it really wasn't for that long