Baby to Bed with Sippy Cup of Water?

Hi! I am reading "The No-Cry Sleep Solution" and even though it has suggestions for co-sleeping, it also has a ton of advice and help for those that don't co-sleep. I do not co-sleep and have found the book very helpful for me and my 9-month daughter. I would definitely reccomend reading it!!

What does it matter if the advice is from a single mom? I am a married mom of 2 boys with one on the way and I can count on one hand (that's probably being generous) how many times my husband has helped at night with them as babies or toddlers. I do not co-sleep.

I weaned my kids at night slowly. I can't remember the age I started, but you could start by picking one feeding to skip at night and not answer the cries at that time and then at the next scheduled feeding go ahead with it. After skipping one becomes routine, skip another feeding until eventually you and baby are sleeping thru the night. It also can help to cluster feed at bedtime and wake baby to feed when you go to bed if you think it's an issue of hunger. Sips of water can help, but that is going to become a habbit hard to break and you'll end up with a 2 year old crying for water at night. I give my boys water at bedtime, but they are not allowed to have it in their bed. And every once in a while when they sneak it in there....they always pee thru. Good luck!

You've got the right idea. When I weaned both my boys off bottles I put a bottle of water in the bed with them. Then went to the sippy cup. They were both still in the crib when I did this- about 15months old, so I put a small handled pan in the crib and that was the place to keep the cup and the pacifier. They knew when they got up the cup and pacifier went in the pan.

Some people may think I went over board but I always gave my kids a cup of water, books, flash light and radio by their bed. This eliminated the "I need a drink" or read me one more story, or keeping the lights on all night. If they couldn't sleep they were free to "read" their books with the flashlight until they could sleep.

I think it made them feel secure that their needs would be met and that they were capable of meeting alot of their own needs also.

Whatever you do,, follow your instincts. Each child is different and you know yours best.

:)

My little guy just turned a year and I finally weaned him off his night time nursing sessions. He's very little (not even on the growth chart for weight), so I kept letting him nurse at night thinking it was extra calories that would help. BUT it was getting to be so exhausting! I got him down to one session a night by just letting him fuss and cry a little at the earlier night wake up. He would eventually go back to sleep (although I had to endure some fussiness at first). Then at a year it seemed like my milk supply was getting low (as that was the only time he was nursing...once at night) and he would get fussy nursing because I don't think he was getting much. And since he hit a year, I decided to try to get him to give up nursing altogether. So the next night I tried to ignore him and let him cry and fuss, but he got so worked up that I had to go get him. I thought about giving him a bottle, but I didn't want to start another bad habit. Eventually he settled down and I put him back to bed. He slept till morning and then the next night fussed a little but fell back to sleep. The third night he slept through the night! Now some nights he sleeps all the way through and other nights he wakes up but puts himself back to sleep quickly.

As for the sippy cup, I can't get my little guy to take one. But I've heard other people say they put one in the crib and show there child where its at so they can drink when they're thirsty.

Good luck!

I can certainly understand where you are coming from...my first child didn't sleep through the night until he was 2. I also gave him a sippy cup of water in his crib, thinking he must be thirsty. He wasn't...he just wanted me ;) I will say that taking the sippy cup away eventually because of potty training was extremely difficult and he took a really long time to potty train. I didn't give the cup to my second child and was much easier to potty train. As far as the getting up multiple times during the night...I am still doing that with my 3rd and just keep telling myself that it won't be forever :)

There is a lot of advice in here. I never believed in co sleeping and I am glad of that. When my kids woke up during the night I would go to them, feed them when they were babies, not leaving their room, put them back in the crib and they would sleep well. My oldest was still waking up at two years of age for drinks. I put a glass of water by his bed and told him if he needs to have a drink, he can take a drink from that and not wake me up for it. First night it was half gone, second only a bit gone and third night none was out of it at all. He slept fine through the night since.

My daughter was 10 months old and I figured she should sleep through the night so instead of a bottle of milk, i would offer a glass of water. She would tell me "no" and fight me on it and I stood my ground, but after a few times she would take a sip of water and go back to sleep. That was a bit harder and I feel now I should have waited a few months.

My youngest nursed and as I said it was always nursing sitting in a rocking chair, then put to bed awake, turning on his mobile. He started to sleep all night when he was only 3 or 4 months old so there wasn't any breaking him of any habits.

I guess what I am saying is that every child is different. Sometimes it is better to work with what is best for your child and trial and error until you find what works. All three of my children are in their 20's now and I am sure none of them wake up much during the night.

My breastfed my oldest daughter. She wanted to nurse when she was upset, and at bedtime. I was having a difficulty weaning her. Then a friend of mine, that knew how bad I wanted to wean her, gave me a call one evening. You may not believe this, but it worked. According to her dad, a hog farmer, he was going to wean the piglets that night because the Farmers Almanac told him that was the night to do. Old wive's tales state to follow the Farmer's Almanac. So, I did just that. Instead of nursing, I gave her a cup of milk, just prior to bedtime and took her upstairs and layed her down and tucked her in. Low and behold, I never had to nurse her again. Try the Farmer's Almanac calendar for weaning. It really does work. I've shared this info over the years with other breastfeeding mothers and they followed it and it was successful for them too.

I'm a single mom, too so I know how hard it is to be the only one getting up. Just a quick note; when my son was that age he didn't want to sleep through the night. He wanted to cuddle & he was hungry! I gave him cereal or something filling before he nursed and that got him sleeping through the night. I never had to put a sippy cup in either of the kids beds - not sure you'd want to have them roll over on it and wake up to that cry!
Hope this helps!

When my son was about 4 months old I started giving him water when he would wake up in the middle of the night. A week later he was sleeping through the night. It wasn't worth it to him to wake up if all he got was water!!
I say go for it!!

When I was in your shoes. I started by keeping track of when my son was getting up. It was like clockwork 1am & 4am. Then I would slowly push the time back. So, I would wait an extra 15 or so to feed him. I would do this every couple of days. After awhile, I got him down to waking up only once at night (around 2am). It was a long process, but it worked. It took me a lot longer to get rid of the one night waking. I tried the water sippy cup too, but he wouldn't have any part of that.

I started sending my kids to bed with whole milk and then slowly started watering them down a little more and more each day. They at first hated water in their cups, but if I watered them down a little at a time then they did not notice. I know the dr says going to bed with milk is hard on their teeth, but I did this with all my kids and now I have a 10, almost 4, and 2 1/2 year olds and they have all had great dentist check ups. Good Luck!

Sure, maybe the sippy cup of water will help her when she's thirsty... but maybe that's not why she's waking up. Maybe she's hungry. My son, now 20 mos., still wakes up multiple times (probably only for 1-2 minutes at a time), and since we co-sleep, it's not very disruptive at all. I don't have to get out of bed, I just have to roll over. At 11 months, your daughter needs to know you are close, and though I'm sure she knows since you respond to her night cries, a sippy cup probably won't give her what she needs.

I've found that it was more than being thirsty for my babies when they wanted to nurse at night. It was the cuddling. So I started to offer to nurse them while standing in the crib. It didn't take long before the baby thought that it wasn't worth the effort and start sleeping through the night.

My daughter had a sippy cup of water in her bed for a while when she was that age. She rarely drank from it, but just knowing she had it if she wanted it, kept her from getting me up at night. It's worth a shot!

And if it's just water, you don't have to worry about her teeth rotting out or anything!

Only downfall: If she does drink the whole thing, she may be wet from head to toe in the morning! Had that happen a couple of times. :)

I can't address the weaning part- you can probably research it online as to how to wean to a bottle, but I know by this age she should not need to eat or drink at night. She is most likely waking because she wants you. I would work on weaning her first, and then try having her cry it out to sleep through the night. If it helps make it easier, you can go in after 5 minutes to say some comforting words, but do not pick her up or feed her. Each time you go back in, wait longer and longer each time. We found that it worked best for us to let our son cry without going back in, because that just riled him up more. Your daughter is younger, though, so it may be different. Good luck!

Single mom here-

I let my daughter scream it out! Took 3 days total. Was harder on me than on her. But really at 11mos. they should be sleeping through the night and donot need to nurse or eat or drink. If you start a sippie cup with water it's not a big deal but it is starting another habit. My daughter had her bottles with water at bed and would still wake up screaming for a refill 1-3 x every night. It was habit and her security object. Finally at 2.5 years old I just took it away. Yes it took me that long to take it away I kept giving in. If you switch from breast to sippie she may still decide to keep waking up for more so you may just want to take night feedings away all together or wean her off.

When my first was still waking in the night after 1 year for nursing, I realized that she SHOULD be sleeping through the night by now. That's when I gave her a sippy cup of water when she awoke and left it with her. She stopped waking in the middle of the night within a few days. Like the other poster said, it wasn't worth getting up for water. (I made sure that she was accustomed to her water bottle during the day. You don't want to introduce something TOTALLY foriegn to them.)
It worked great for us.

My daughter is older and we co-sleep, but this is how I recently (last week) weaned her. Occasionally, about an hour or two before bed I would fill her up on some "heavy" food, like pasta or oatmeal. She would wake to nurse, when I would turn to her I would place a pillow over my chest, so she would not have easy access. I would cradle her and offer her a sippy cup of water or milk. She would cry, I would comfort her, but it would be less and less each time. Now she wakes up, tries to go for the breast, I just hold her and she falls back asleep. This is also happening less and less.
I had accidentally trained her to fall asleep while nursing, so this was a 2 year cycle that we have finally broken. And by we, I mean me and my daughter. I am hoping the next step is that she will begin sleeping through the night.

I wouldn't do the sippy with water. It's probably just habit at this point and if you give her a sippy you are just exchanging bad habits. Try cutting down on the time that you nurse (only 5 minutes) or only doing one side. Or try to give a pacifier first or just go in to soothe her and turn some music on and let her cry it out for 10 minutes. Then go in to nurse if you feel that you must. I know it's hard. It's ok for the baby to cry. Thats totally normal and it's good for them to learn how to put themselves back to sleep. Make sure when you put her down for naps / bed she is going down awake so she is not looking for you. Your doctor should have some ideas as well. If you completely want to wean you can try the 5 minutes of crying, go comfort WITHOUT picking her up, then 10 minutes, then 15. After 2 nights I promise she'll be used to it!