13mth old waking 4 times a night for last 7 months - help please

[cupcake78]

Its last ditch attempt to try and fix the problem.

DS goes to bed at 7 has good rountine of bath, book, bottle and then bed. He goes down well. The problems start after 11pm.

He wakes at approx 11pm, 1pm, 3.30pm, 5.30pm then up for good at 6.30am. He has regular meal times and a nap each day around 1ish for 40mins to an hour.

Each time he wakes he has a small amount of milk to settle him 2/3oz. He will not settle without it!

We have tried the following:
Not giving him anything
water only,
Controlled crying (6 days of hell and no improvement).

I am now giving him up to 6 meals a day, by meals I mean cheesy mash instead of a snack etc. To try and build up his food intake incase its hungry.

Controlled crying didn't work. He just got more and more upset even with me going in every 5 mins (couldn't leave him for longer or he was sick).

Advice please, we need help!!! Don't have the resolve to do the crying thing again were just too tired.

sounds like my ds exactly. is he waking like clockwork at these times? it could be habit or it could be that he is genuinely thirsty. it could also be teeth.

does he go to sleep on his own or does he suck to sleep?

what i have been doing is trying to get ds to wake one less time in the night to break the habit of waking every two hours. so i am working on the first waking episode of 9pm or theirabouts. so i wait near ds around this time and as he stirs i gently pat his bum to get him back of to sleep, if he stirs to much he gets a quick sip of his bottle. this has been working well along with not sucking to sleep and we are now at the stage that most nights he goes until after 1am.

of course after 1am its another story.............

Oh bless, I would def stop with the milk and just offer water even if you don't notice an immediate improvement at 13 months they don't need milk in the night IMO! Umm have you tried relaxing music or singing to settle? Does little one have a blanket or special cuddly teddy that they can have to settle with? I think if it was me eventually if all else failed I just would not physically be able to get up and out of bed 4 times a night (am a single parent so no one to share broken sleep with!) That probably makes me an evil mother but I know I just couldn't do it so my dd would have to settle herself back to sleep and there would be no point in her waking up. Good luck xX

Hi cupcake
My DS2 is 13 months and we have EXACTLY the same problem. He goes to bed without a problem and then around 11pm it all kicks off. Last night he woke 11, 2, 5 and then we got him in bed with us, where he rolled, thrashed and messed about until I brought him down just before 6am. The other issue we have is that he shares a room with DS1 who is 2.7 so as soon as he starts I have to leap in there with milk or I have the pair of them crying. I tried controlled crying in the past but he's a determined little devil and screamed for hours. DS1 will sleep 7-7.30 as long as he's not disturbed and always has done, so DS2 has been quite a shock.
I know it's of my own making... if I didn't leap in there with milk he wouldn't be expecting it but I don't know what else to do. We have a spare room but it's in the attic and it's FREEZING so he'd probably wake up cold as well. I have no idea where to go from here but wanted to offer support. I am going to try water insted of milk and maybe send DS1 to a friend for a couple of nights. I just can't go on like this anymore

DS is only just reducing the number of night wakings now at 20 months (only 2 3 nights this week). We have been battling molars since June and they're only just cutting the surface.

Went through this for the first time when dd was a few months old and followed the techniques in the Baby Whisperer book, they took a few weeks but really really worked and for months she slept right through. Recently she has been waking again (now 17 months) and I have just realised that I have fallen in the trap of giving her a bottle of milk to settle her in the night. This works at the time but has definitely made things worse as now she routinely wakes for the bottle. So I have gone back to the Baby Whisperer book (she does one for toddlers) and am trying again - basically being strict and not giving milk but repeatedly putting her down in her cot each time she sits up crying. This takes for ages the first few nights but is working again and I can't recommend it enough, a no-pain no-gain thing really. DD is still waking very early in the morning so we've not cracked it but I would strongly recommend the Baby Whisperer. Even very sceptical DH is now a firm believer.

My dd woke every 1-2 hours every night to bf back to sleep when I stopped bf she stopped waking after a few nights. The first few nights were difficult, I just cuddled and kissed her and if there was no way to settle her I put in the night garden dvd on, naughty I know but it worked .

Now she wakes once or twice in the night for a drink of water but that it is.

Sounds like your ds is bottle fed, I really would stop giving milk no matter how hard it is.