2 year old waking almost every hour and needing drink please help.

[pinhill24]

Neither of my ds have ever slept very well so I am familiar with pretty much every sleep method there is but nothing has worked. Ds 2 is very determined. At the moment he wakes at 11, 1, 3 and then wakes between 5 and half past. He goes to bed at around 7 but it could be earlier if he is tired. He naps for 1hr on the day but this is at around 10.30. I have tried no naps, later naps and later bed times but none of these have helped the pattern. He will now scream the house down unless he had a bottle of water. We' have tried to progress to a cup or beaker but that also results in screaming. He is a happy boy during the day but I don't think I can take much more of the night waking and the early mornings. Please help!!!!!!

If you think that a bottle of water at the side of his bed will help, I'm sure you've tried that, but I suspect that it's purely about attention and nothing about needing water.

Honestly, I would be using controlled crying for this now....ignore the crying, place back in bed/cot, pull door to but don't lose your rag or plead or anything else....it's part of the attention seeking. It will be a crappy two to three days but will work eventually. Don't give in though or let your dh give in or you may as well not start.

Will controlled crying work this late in the day? We have tried it before but he is just so loud and he wakes ds 1 up who struggles with his sleep. Will try the controlled crying again tho as we haven't done that for a while, hopefully this will be the time it is successful!

It will work but your second sentence has answered why it didn't work in the first place....if you're worried about waking no1 ds it is difficult to do. I have friends who have put their other children downstairs for 2 nights to try and get the habit established.

It WILL work, but you can't give in....seriously. It is not a thing to start and then stop and is not something which you can do and then when you're knackered on the second night you say 'oh just let him come in for a cuddle for a minute'. For those two or three nights you are boring, calm and determined in the night......loving in the day, as that is when your ds should get lots of love and cuddles. You're almost trying to show the extreme difference so he realises that it's just not worth waking up for!

Good luck x

Thank you !!!! Have never been quite so determined! Had to wait til ds1 was at school before he slept through regularly and can't do that again! Ds2 will not know what has hit him!

Is he drinking a lot? If so, doctors pronto!!

He only drinks a lot in the night so not sure whether it's just because the drink is in a bottle or if it is the drink he needs.

Hmm - my gut feeling would be attention, but try offering more water during the day to see if that helps first (or take to drs to check first) Good luck with whatever you choose.