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Any relationship between food and sleeping all night??

7 replies

andyrobo237 · 09/02/2009 17:41

I am putting this in here and in 'Sleeping' section as well, so apologise if you read it twice!!

Does anyone think there is a link between the amount of food a toddler eats and his inability to sleep all night??

DS who is 2 (just) has never beena goos sleeper and has very rarely slept all noght on his own in his own bed. He seems to like the comfort of being near me!

He is not a great eater - he prefers to graze all day and does not eat great quantities of food. He will eat cheese, yoghurt, the odd bit of Weetabix and would happily eat chips and sweets and crisps if I let him! I serve up a small portion of tea, literally two tablespoons - the same meal as we have, as well as fruit and yoghurt. I do this so he eats something, as I end up getting up and down all meal time to try to tempt him to eat, so I give him everything I want him to have all in one go. he will pick at them all, sometimes only eat the yoghurt and sometimes just the fruit. He does not get any more.

He has a full 8oz size beaker of milk before bed, which he drinks over a 15 minute period. He then goes to bed at 7 and sleeps until 12.30am or somewhere half an hour either side. He then wakes up and shouts for me. I go in and try to settle him, not very well, and he may do another half hour to an hour. He then ends up in with us and sleeps / wriggles for the rest of the night. At this point he asks for milk, so I get him some (watered down) milk, as you can usually hear his tummy rumbling. Now I know he is too old for this, but I have tried saying no, and it ends upa screaming match for hours, whereas if he has the milk it takes 1 minute and then we go to sleep.

DH is unhappy about this as he gets no sleep and has to go to work - well so do I for 4 days, and then look after 2 kids for the rest of the time, and run a house, etc.

He thinks I should be sorting it as he has had enough - I dont think it is as simple as letting him cry it out, and then we will all sleep happily ever after, and I also dont see that it should be only me that does it!

I cannot see a way forward with this, and I chose the easy option, for me.

Has anyone solved this problem??

OP posts:
christiana · 09/02/2009 17:50

Message withdrawn

christiana · 09/02/2009 17:52

Message withdrawn

andyrobo237 · 09/02/2009 17:59

Yes I probably need to be a bit stricter but it is hard when you have had over 2 years of sleep deprivation!

I reckon I get average 4 - 5 hours a night!! Just as well my job isnt too stresful at the moment.

He has eaten loads tonight - about 5 different components to his tea, and will get his milk, bath time now, so we will see what tonight brings.

We are away next week for 5 days so I know his routine will go to pot, so I will try to sort out what I want to achieve, starting next weekend!

OP posts:
andyrobo237 · 09/02/2009 17:59

Yes I probably need to be a bit stricter but it is hard when you have had over 2 years of sleep deprivation!

I reckon I get average 4 - 5 hours a night!! Just as well my job isnt too stresful at the moment.

He has eaten loads tonight - about 5 different components to his tea, and will get his milk, bath time now, so we will see what tonight brings.

We are away next week for 5 days so I know his routine will go to pot, so I will try to sort out what I want to achieve, starting next weekend!

OP posts:
christiana · 09/02/2009 18:09

Message withdrawn

ches · 11/02/2009 03:48

You can't force a child to eat, can you? You can try, and create some awful negative food associations, eating disorders, etc. I don't see the point of watering down milk at night. Are you trying to make your DS wake up even more to wee? Just give him milk the first time he wakes up! He could be going through growth spurts, he could have teething pain, who knows? Why does your DH think it's YOUR job to "sort it out?" Has he forgotten he's a parent too?

singalongamumum · 11/02/2009 08:07

My DS has had phases of waking with hunger. I keep a pile of (no sugar) oatcakes by the bed and give him one of those and some water if he wakes. I tried the getting him to eat more tea route but TBH it all got stressful and ruined our lovely days together. He's younger than your DS (16mo) but very active, and will now go most nights without them, unless teething etc.

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