I have a 10.5 month old son who is breastfed and will not take a bottle with any kind of milk or formula in it. He also will not take a sippie cup with anything but water in it. I've tried multiple formulas and milk/cup/bottle combos! I need advice on how to get my son to sleep longer in the night. He goes down at 8pm and wakes up anywhere from 1-3.5 hours after going to sleep. If it's shortly after he went down, dad goes in and shh's him back to sleep. If it's 3+ hours I go in, feed and place back in crib. Now it's roughly 11pm, I'm going to bed...within an hour he wakes up, sits up and stands up immediately in his crib. (One night last week, he stood up and said 'mom'...I'm NOT kidding!) Now it's the pick up, shh's him back to sleep, place back in crib, crawl back in bed and wait til it happens again routine. LAST night he woke up 7 times from midnight to 6am. (He is teething and I realize this has something to do with it.) So, teething aside and the fact that he's in my bedroom aside, I feel that if he were on formula, he would be fuller and therefor would sleep longer. He has solids at 630pm. Someone HAS to have gone through this.....any insights? I don't care so much about my lack of sleep, but he needs to sleep more sound. I also thought maybe he gets cold??? He sleeps in PJs, a tshirt and pants no socks, he takes them off. He sweats a lot when he sleeps, so that's why I haven't placed him in a 'mummy suit' to sleep. And he kicks off the blanket. But I am going to try pjs with feet tonight. I would appreciate any help!
I've given my son some solids right before he goes to sleep. Not a full meal, but 1/4 or even half of what he would normally eat. I feed him his dinner around 7 pm and then around 10, give him a little more. Then give him some milk if he takes it. I've found that the solids help.
Good luck!
C.
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Maybe he just wants mommy and daddy?After all who wants to sleep alone?!! Is there any chance you'd bring him to your bed in the middle of the night? I hope you will continue with the breastmilk. formula might make him sleep longer but the negatives far outweigh that bonus. I hope this will help and not come off in any bad way. Best, H.
You poor thing! It's been awhile since I had really little ones so I don't know how insightful my advice will be but I felt compelled to respond. My first question (or I guess comment) would be that your child should not need to get up in the middle of the night to eat at 10 1/2 months. You give him solids before bed. He should be fine. It sounds more to me like he is enjoying spending a little too much time with you in the evening. He is basically controlling your nights! You say you are not worried about YOU getting enough sleep. I am worried about you getting enough sleep. With a husband who works alot (I've been there) you need to be ready to handle all of this on your own. And with a daughter going through puberty (or almost!?) you definitely have your hands full. You say your son is in your room? You've got to find a way to ignore him if it's not an emergency. Believe me, at first he will definitely make everything sound like an emergency. I am far from an insensitive mommy so letting my kids cry it out was probably more painful for me than it was for them. But it works!! If your son is sweating at night, he is far from cold. My sons strip to their underwear at night because they get so warm when they sleep. My first son was a terrible sleeper, but now that he's older, I realize there is alot more I could have done to prevent it. Back then I had more time to rock him to sleep, etc. After a while, I realized I was not doing him any favors and I let him cry it out. It really only takes a few days of sheer agony! If you decide to try, you will see that it will be well worth it. Hindsight is 20/20. I wish I had known then what I know now.I hope that this advice is taken with your best interests in mind. I am by no means belittling what you are doing with your son. You sound like a great mom who completely cares about her childrens' well being. It just sounds a little to me like, even at such a tender age, he is learning to manipulate you and that definitely has to be controlled. Good luck to you. I hope you get lots of advice on this issue and follow your heart. Use your instinct to find the best solution for you. You have already been through one child. You will find a way to get through this too!!
My daughter is 25 months old and until a couple of months ago, she woke about 3 times per night. I gave up on the crib idea because we both were too tired - instead I nursed her back to sleep in my bed.
I just told myself that this is a very small amount of time in the grand scheme of things and I'll sleep more later :)
Good luck!
