help my 19 month old ds wont sleep through the night

[addictedtolatte]

my ds has always slept through the night but the last 3 weeks he keeps waking about 3 wanting a bottle. i dont give him the bottle because i dont want to create bad habits but was wandering if babies get scared of the dark at some stage in there life? he sleeps in the pitch black so would it worth buying a night light or putting a little lamp in his room? would appreciate some advice. as i have no idea what is going on with my child.

anyone?

my dd likes a night light, its a night garden one she can switch on and off herself. is he hungry, maybe he needs supper before bed?

thanks for replying. i do give him supper. i am just reluctant to give bottles in the night because then you end up having to change them and they are constantly getting disturbed and not getting unbroken sleep. i have put a night light in with him tonight so fingers crossed.

no i wouldnt give a bottle in bed or he will wake up for it on purpose.
is he cold and its disturbing him? or his nappy full?

no hes not cold we have the heating on a timer in the night. the only thing i can think of is he had an ear infection 4 weeks ago and had to be given painrelief in the night. his sleep hasnt been the same since. i have been doing cc on him for 5 nights now but it hasnt really made much difference. i am just assuming he devoloped a fear of the dark because i cant think of anything else. i just feel so mean not giving him a bottle but i know its for the best not to.

hopefully the nightlight will work then
i think they have phasees of night waking, my dd now wakes for a wee and gets too wide awake, ther is always something.

I would try a nightlight - or crack the door open a bit and leave a light on in the bathroom with that door almost closed (sort of thing). My 2 yo (who was having feeds till about 22 mths, so not new to sleeping through at night) has been creating at night after about a month of 'going through', and I have found that leaving his door ajar has helped him. Developmentally I think they might well go through a stage of developing something like an imagination around this age, so familiar silhouettes in the bedroom could sudden become scarey monsters, if you know what I mean.

I would hold back on offering bottles at night - not a habit you want to get into - he should be getting enough to eat. If you start offering milk at night, there's even less chance that he'll get the calories he needs during the day, and by nearly 2 you should be able to get a variety of solid food into him (as well as some milk) which will give him a wider range of nutrients than those found in milk exclusively.

thanks for your advice i know what you mean about there always being something. you spend ages sleep training them then it all goes out the window when they decide they had enough of all this sleep business

boyraiser i need to learn more about children i am useless. it makes sense what you are saying because when i go in to see him when he is crying in the night he does look a little bit scared. he has plenty of food in the day so i know hes not hungry. i will leave the door ajar like you describe and see if it makes a difference

Does he always wake around the same time? It could be that when he was ill he developed a habit waking pattern. My DD2 slept through the night from about 9 weeks, then at around 13 months started regularly waking at around 4am. Very annoying. It went on for a couple of months and I was going spare. Then someone mentioned habit waking and the 'wake to sleep' theory to me. Basically if they are habit waking at around the same time every night the theory is that if you do 3 or 4 nights of setting your alarm for an hour earlier than their usual habit wake time and go and wake them up it distrupts the sleep pattern and breaks the cycle and after a few nights the habit wake will be broken and they go back to sleeping normally.

The idea of getting up at 3am was too much for me so I tried waking DD2 up before I went to bed. The first couple of nights I stayed up until about 12, then woke her (a v hard thing to do, I just about managed to get her eyes flicking open and a bit of grumbling) and she went back to sleep - lo and behold no 4am wake. After a few nights I went back to my normal bed time (10.30 / 11pm) and would wake her just before I went to bed. It really cured her of the habit waking. I was amazed. After 3 or 4 months of the waking - that was it, over.

A nightlight was (and is) vital for her too. Both DD1 and DD2 wouldn't sleep without the door open and a night light from around 18 months.

I agree you are doing the right thing not to give a bottle. Offer just water if anything.

AtL, am sure you're not useless - sometimes we don't see the obvious when we are sleep deprived and stressed out (most of the time here!)

Hope things have improved. Have also heard of 'wake to sleep' technique, so might be worth a try.

thanks both for your replies. i tried the nightlight last night and he actually slept till 7am. if he wakes tonight even with the nightlight i think i will try the wake to sleep technique it sounds a strange way of sleep training but it obviously works because so many people rave on it.

Atl - did you get a nightlight and did this work? DH and I were talking about this yesterday as DS (20 mths) has recently started waking in the middle of the night very upset and I've had to put his fairy star lights on to settle him. I think he is starting to have bad dreams, or see 'monsters' in his room in the dark.
I don't really like the idea of leaving the fairy lights on all night (is that daft?). What nightlight did you find useful?

deese20 sorry about the late reply only just got my laptop fixed. yes i did get the nightlight and it did work i use the boring plug in style ones that just glow a yellow colour. good luck

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