My little one is 16 mo and has always woken at minimum once a night. I am due to have my second in a month and it got to the point where I thought enough is enough so I really started looking at proper night weaning. At first my plan was to reduce the size of the bottle she was having during the night wake and this is what I started doing. We did this for about a week but then she got a chest infection and I actually had to stop the bottle altogether (cold turkey) because if I gave it to her she would throw up about twenty mins later due to coughing. What has naturally happened over the last week is that DS initially would wake and cry for about 5 to 10 mins (really not as bad as I thought) before settling herself back to sleep. I was unable to go in and comfort her because she would fly into a full toddler style 'I'm so angry I can't breathe' rage when she realised I wouldn't be feeding her. So basically we have ended up over the last week doing a very mild version of CIO because there is no other way. Tonight she woke for maybe 1 min, had a little cry and went straight back down so I think it is working. I think she has found the whole thing surprisingly alright because for daytime naps and bedtime she is used to falling asleep by herself and has done since about 10 mo after MONTHS of me gradually retreating.
My question is, if she has finally learnt not to wake for the night bottle by having to cry it out, if she was unwell in the night will she still cry? DS has complex medical issues (she is developmentally normal but has issues with her feeding and respiratory systems) and I am now panicking that what I have done is wrong and that if she is unwell in the night she won't cry and so I won't know to go in to her. She sleeps with an oxygen monitor that we got from hospital so I know that if she is very sick this will alarm but I am more worried that let's say she gets a little temperature as toddlers do, would she still cry? I know I am probably being a massive overthinker (she is asleep currently and I am awake panicking about this!) but I just need some advice from those of you that did night weaning a similar way.
Can anyone help?x