Sleeping Through the Night at 1 Year

K.,
I agree with the 1st post try to let her cry herself back to sleep. (no matter how hard this seems, I think this is always harder for us than them) Does she have a lovey? I would get her a glow worm that plays music my 15m old wakes up sometimes fusses pushes the glowworm(i can hear it through the monitor) then goes right back to sleep. Try this. Also for the bottle to sippy I recomend the Nuby brand IT is soft like a bottle. Everyone I have suggested this to it has worked for them.
Good luck!

K.,

Sorry I do not have advice for you. I just wanted to let you know we are in the exact same boat as you! My daughter will be one on Sunday and you sound just like me. She still wakes several times a night and 99% of the time the way I (finally) get her to go to sleep at night is with a bottle. So I am shamelessly piggybacking your request for suggestions! Good luck and hang in there, I know how frustrating going with too little sleep can be!

I totally can relate to you. We did the same thing - my son (now 19 mths) hated his crib -so to get a good nights sleep we ended up bringing him to bed w/us. Well I'm expecting another baby so we thought we mine as well get him his own big boy bed. He now sleeps in a full bed and seems to like it better. We have to lay w/him till he's almost asleep then he'll still wake once or twice - but we are all sleeping much better now. I've also started taking him to a chiropractor - I've heard this can help infants sleep better - and I must say it is working!! A few mths. ago I switched from the bottle of milk to sippy cup and now he only wants a few sips then he's done - I think it's a security thing.

K.,
Sleeping with your baby is NOT a bad habit that you have to somehow "break" later. When she is about 2 to 2 1/2 depending on her personality, she will not want to sleep with you all the time anymore. To switch the bottle, give it to her a little earlier, and then give her water.
Read http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/T070100.asp for other sleep questions.

Best wishes,
K.

Coming from a mom who still has a 5 yr old girl kicking me in the ribs and elbowing her dad in the nose in bed every night... the earlier you can figure this out the better. ;-) She was our first. I think where I went wrong was nurse her in bed when she was a baby, then I'd fall asleep and end up keeping her with me all night. I weaned her at 7 months and we started trying to get her to sleep in her own bed. She'd wake up SEVERAL times a night. She did not respond to the cry it out method... or any other method. She could cry for hours... she has the will of 10 men. We tried and tried and tried, but we finally gave up after about a year and just let her sleep with us. We'd make another effort every few months... to no avail.

When our son came along, (now 2) I made a point to nurse him and put him back to bed. He slept in a cradle next to me for the first 4 months to make this a little easier on me. I read in a book that as long as you get them in their own bed at night by 4 months, it will be an easier transition. As a result, he has always slept in his own crib and now has been in a toddler bed for a month or so and doing great.

Our son is a text book baby that those baby psychology books are written about. He rarely fussed about going down in his own bed, and if he did, he cried for 5 minutes, MAX. Now he tells us when he's tired and wants to go to bed at night. All kids are different, so just find what works best for your and their personalities.

ALso recomend trying to get her to take a sippy of water to bed in lieu of the bottle. Worked for my girl.

GOOD LUCK!

K.,

I know what your going through, it's really hard. I have a three year old son, that still every once in awhile comes into our bed. It took him awhile because the only time my husband got to spend with him was around bedtime, so he would let him fall asleep on his lap. The best thing that I found to do will be hard on you for a little bit but it worked for me. Take her in and lay her down when she's getting sleepy, sit in there with her in a separate chair of course until she falls asleep, then leave, when she does wake up it's best if you just go into her room, let her know that everything is fine but try not to pick her up, and whatever you do don't put her in bed with you. It took us about a week and a half, but he finally was able to put himselg back to see if he did wake up in the night. It will be rough not to want to pick her up, but as long as you know she's fine you will get through it.
Hope this helps a little bit.

Hi K.,

I just recently went through a similar change with my now 13 month old girl. I was doing the same thing, bringing her into our bed when she woke up (usually around 4:30 or so). It was hard to break but all we did was let her cry herself back to sleep. She was over it in about 3 days. It really wasn't so bad. She would whine/cry for about 20 minutes then fall asleep. This also teaches kids to put themselves to sleep. The key is to NOT go in there becuase then they will get more excited once they see Mommy or Daddy. As for the bottle, a good transition tool for to a cup is a soft topped sippy cup. My baby didn't really use them, one Saturday I went and bought her regular sippies and by the days end she was a pro. Good luck to you, it feels good to have a good nights sleep!

We decided to put my daughter into her own bedroom in her own bed at 4 months because the pediatrician said it was time. We usually put her to bed afer her last bottle when she was either sleeping or close to alseep. We didn't know she had to be awake when she was put down to sleep. At six months when the pediatrician told us she needed to be put to bed awake..I needed a new plan. I read about the importance of bedtime routines. (Bath, book, singing etc...something to calm her down allow her to unwind and signal it's time for sleep) This seems to work very well for my 16 month old. I put her to sleep everynight and most naps. We usually say "night,night" to dad and then go up and read a few books, say good night to things in her room, sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" and I give her a kiss goodnight, during the day I put some music on for her at night it's usually not necessary and we have done this since 6 months and I have never had to get up with her. You could also establish something like a doll, blankie, pacifier etc..that she can cling to when she wakes up. My daughter doesn't use any of these but they help a lot of children. Good luck..I know sleep is precious.

I'm sorry to say that my advice will differ greatly. I can't stand the "let them cry themselves to sleep". We let our son sleep with us if he or I wanted. He also took a bottle of water until he was almost 2, then we switched it to a cup of water. He gave the cup up on his own. We believed that if this is what he needs to get a good night sleep, then so be it. By the way, there was almost no water in the bottle or cup. It simply seemed like a security. He was been sleepin through the night (11-12 hrs.) since he was almost 13 mnths. I know that everyone has an opinion, but in the end, you have to do what works for you & your children.
Good luck

My youngest is 13 months. I didn't have trouble getting him off the bottle, but he still sleeps with me, and he doesn't sleep thru the night most nights. I asked my ped. at his one year checkup, and he said it is normal..Of course he doesn't have feet in his eyeball at 2am..but whatever..I think they will grow out of it..all my others did. We just need time and PATIENCE..good luck to ya

K.,
I'm not sure how valuable my advice is gonna be, my sons only 6 months. but IMHO there's nothing wrong with bringing your little one to bed with you. i'm not a big advocate of the cry-it-out method, there is a book i think called the no cry sleep solution that you can check out. but whatever sleep arrangement works for the 2 of u, where you both get the most sleep, is what you should do. even if it doesnt work for anyone else, or people think its weird.
as for the bottle before bed, i've read that if you start filling it with water rather than formula or juice or whatever that sometimes the little one will give it up on their own.

Hi K.,
I had the same deal with my 10 month old. For 3 nights I actually got up and fed him in his room and got him back to sleep and I went back to bed (The first night I actually had to get up 6 times) but by the 3rd night..he started sleeping though the night. I think he just figured out that he wasn't going to get to come into my bed any more...now he sleeps from 7pm until 5:30am and then I bring him in bed for the last hour until I get up to get ready for work. Hope that helps.

It is very normal for a one year old not to sleep through the night. I don't think there is anything wrong with giving a bottle before bed. Ideally, rocking her while she takes the bottle vs leaving her in the crib with it. It is also normal for babies to want to sleep with moms. There is actually great research to support it. It is almost essential for breastfed babies to sleep with the mom because they eat throughout the night. If you daughter wakes up in the middle of the night, she might be hungry. Maybe give her a bottle and then go back to bed with your baby.