16month bedtime battles and multiple night waking.

[Lottiebugz22]

I'm struggling and feeling really low with my 16 month old now. From about 15 months she fights bedtime until 9pm. She's not eating during the day, she goes through phases of eating well then not at all so she's only drinking milk. Now she's waking up twice a night 2am and 4am for milk feeds and will settle until 6.30am or 7.00am. Could this be a regression? She naps well in the day. She has an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon.

At 16 months all of my children have still waken up 2/3 times a night. It’s tiring. I would try whatever you can to get her to eat more during the day and drink milk from a sippy cup. But the night wakings themselves are not unusual

Hey,

Could it be time to consolidate the naps into just one nap at lunch time? What time does your lo sleep until in the afternoon?

My DS sleeps for about 1.5-2hrs during the day from around 11am. When he was having a morning and afternoon nap I found it led to big bedtime battles.

Basically, he’s 16 months and we try and have an awake time of 5hrs. Hope this helps!

Does she need to drop to 1 nap? My DS did at about 15/16 months. That won't help with the eating though unless she's so tired doesn't wake at night for milk as much.

My DS is 4 and will have days/weeks where I can't fill him up them days where he seems to just live on fresh air, he never really fussed about breakfast.

Yeah I'm thinking it's time to drop the nap. I've just found that when she doesn't haven't the afternoon nap she treats bedtime like an hour nap. Always wakes after an hour bright as anything. She's only just started wanting milk in the night again she's slept through until then. It's really random! But I can only think it's because she's not eating allot during in the day. She will nap for an hour and half in the morning and an hour in the afternoon. I struggle to get her to have one long nap. How can I do this?

Could it be time to consolidate the naps into just one nap at lunch time? What time does your lo sleep until in the afternoon

I was going to suggest going to one nap too. Could you keep her awake in the morning and do one nap after lunch? It might be hard work to keep her awake in the morning for a bit, especially in lockdown, but she will soon get used to the new routine

It is perfectly normal for them still to be waking at this age but if you want to try and get her to take more calories in the day, you could try some gentle night weaningg*. The article is aimed at BFing mothers but works well however you feed your baby.

I'd also try her with some tempting things to eat in the day, mine loved things like ready brek with chopped banana, toast with smooth nut butter or blueberry pancakes for breakfast. A Pitta pizza might tempt hr at lunch too

We found the No Cry Sleep Solution useful too

Thankyou.
I've tried the pizza pitta she ate a bit of that. She won't let me feed her with a spoon so she only eats finger food. She also hasn't grasped how to use a spoon herself yet. She is very picky which makes things Challeging.

She didn't go to bed until 4.30am last night then woke at 7.30am. I'm. Absolutely exhausted.