Constant need for water in night

[jki1]

My DS is 12 mo and sleeps very badly, wakes almost every 2 hours after midnight. He has tea at 5pm then a bottle of formula at 7pm for bed and then another bottle of formula at 11.30pm. During his bedtime and the 11.30pm bottle he sleeps OK but then he starts to wake every 2 hours roughly. He cries and when I go in he won't settle back to sleep unless I give him some water from a bottle with teat on it. It reaches a point always at around 3/4am when he seems to want lots of water and won't settle at all. I was worried about the amount of water he drinks (he has a lot in the day) and saw the doctor who reckons it's more likely to be a habit rather than a thirst which is backed up by the fact he gets angry and upset if I offer him water from a sippy cup he doesn't like rather than the teat bottles or one cup he loves. Has anyone had this problem? Should I stop giving him water at night? That seems bad if he is thirsty but I need him to be able to go back to sleep without always having to have a drink. He's always been FF if that makes any difference. Please help x

Whilst I wouldn't suggest you stop offering water - it is a healthy way to hydrate if thirsty - I would be trying to break the habit.

The first thing would be to throw away the bottles, all of them. Just say that they are not there anymore.

Then I would buy 2 or 3 lidded beakers that are exactly the same and call these 'night time water beakers'. Set rules - they will be filled every night and put at the end of your cot (get non-drip beakers) and you can have as much as you like, but Mummy/Daddy will not come in to you - he can help himself.

That way you are not limiting water (surely 3 beakers of water is enough? if not, buy more beakers) but he is helping himself without waking you. The aim would be that he becomes less and less inclined to wake up for a drink, so will stay asleep.

Thanks for your reply, I will give it a go x