How to make toddler sleep through the night?

Parenting and Education (Other) General Parenting
1

Hi, I have a 18 months old and the problem that I have with him is that he doesn’t sleep through the night!!

He still wakes like 2-3 times at night, though he’s no longer an infant.
I usually feed him milk when he wakes up and after milk, he USUALLY goes back to sleep. Those are the good nights.

He’s really active, so we are completely exhausted by 7pm. He goes through his bedtime routine by then and is in bed around 730 - 8pm. He sleeps well through till 11pm for his first feed. Then once each at 3pm and 5pm.

Any suggestions on how I can make him sleep through?

I wonder if this is hereditary cos my first born slept through only when he was 1.5-2 years old too. But it’s affecting my sleep completely. :frowning:

2

Hi,

When my son was 8mos. old we did the Ferber Method. This is a method which you will leave your child on his own to fall asleep. It might take a while and patience to make this happen. You can google this kind of method for better understanding.

In my experience it took our son 1 week to be able to sleep on his own w/o the rocking or even pacifier the whole night. He woke up in the middle of the night and cried for several mins. but went back to sleep w/o milk. At the age when we began this method our doctor said he can go straight 8-9hrs. w/o milk as long as he is well fed before bedtime. So when he woke up during the night we didn’t give him milk. 1 week later, he sleeps through the night.

Now my son sleeps on his own alone in his bed from 8pm to 6:30am. He is almost 3.

Ask you doctor if this method is right for him.

Goodluck and hope this helps.

3

My pediatrician recommended the Ferber method also. But, personally I can’t do it. I’m not saying that it shouldn’t be done or that it’s not right for some families but me, personally, I just can’t do it. I tried several times with my oldest son only to be up changing the sheets in the middle of the night because he would scream and cry so much he would make himself throw up. Then on other nights I would give in so it would never work for us because we just weren’t consistent with it.

My now 10 mo old son (who is my 4th child) does not sleep through the night either. He never has, except for some strange night back in August where he did for one night and one night only. Talk about a tease. lol

Any way he also requires a bottle of milk to fall back to sleep. What I have been doing with him is slowly watering down the middle of the night bottles. So we are now at the point where I only need to give him one full strength bottle somewhere in the middle of the night and the rest of the time he just keeps a bottle of water in his crib and on more then one occasion he has put himself back to sleep without help from me. Now I know I shouldn’t encourage his bottle habit but when sleep deprivation kicks in at this stage I can’t help myself. :wacko:

But you might try the watering down of his milk during the night. Just slow enough that he doesn’t notice it at first. I hope you get some sleep soon, Good Luck to you! :slight_smile:

4

Hi, the Ferber method worked miraculously.

He didn’t have a difficult time getting to bed, so it was easy to make him sleep.

We had a tough one when he tried to wake up for his first feed, around-about 12am. I was persistent, fed him some water, did some patting and told him that’s it. No milk. He cried a little, a few sobs and went to bed. Woke up again, gave him a sip of the water and he went back to bed. Think I went to his bedroom for 5 times before he finally gave up. And that’s it, he slept till 645am before I fed him the full bottle this morning. lol

Thanks for the tip! I was worried that his brother might wake up from his cries (they share the same bedroom), that’s why I had hesitated using the method.

Am ready for tonight’s battle. He’s a persistent baby, so I guess he’ll put up a fight tonight. :nowink:

5

I have the EXACT same problem. I’m all for the Ferber method, but my husband isn’t. He doesn’t have the patience for the crying. :tongue:
I will try the watering down the milk idea…Wish me luck!!!

6

I just want to mention that you should not let a baby lie down with a bottle. It causes ear infections and dental decay.

7

I agree you should not let baby stay with a milk bottle but I do let him keep a water bottle in bed. We haven’t had any problems with ear infections and I actually like that he usually takes a few sips of water after his milk bottle in hopes that it rinses the milk away from his teeth. Cuz I am not waking him up after his middle of the night bottle to brush his teeth! :wub:

8

I give him some water in his sippy after his “midnite feed” I wouldn’t leave him with the bottle 'cause its glass and he’d probaly whip it at the wall when he’s done. I sit him in his chair and feed him…
Good luck for tonite!!!

9

Hi,

It has been a few nights since I’ve refused to give him any milk during night-time.
On the good nights, he would just wake up and I’ll pat him to sleep. :nowink:
There are some nights he would require sips of water.

I’m still hoping that he’ll surprise me by not even waking up during the night.

But this watering down method sure beats having to get milk prepared a few times nightly. No more scalding of hands and toppling over milk powder. Yey!!!

10

Hi,

My baby boy sleeps with us in the master bedroom, but in his own cot.
I must be one lucky parent for he sleeps throughout by the time he reaches 4 months. So, we had a very easy time managing him.

Only problem is he needs a pacifier to fall asleep. I don’t know how he’s going to react if we take out his pacifier. We intend to make him less reliant on that treasured pacifier of his. Can I use the Ferber Method in this case?

11

Did you know sucking is good for babies, developmentally speaking? I learned this from my local La Leche League leader. I was wondering if my baby should still be relying on nursing herself to sleep, but the LLL leader told me it’s actually beneficial for babies to fall asleep this way.

I quite agree with what this expert is saying: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/718636.html

So I would let the baby have his pacifier to fall asleep. Maybe you can minimize its use during the day and distract him with other things. But at night, if it’s a source of comfort, is that really such a bad thing?

I don’t know if I could do the Ferber method, but I think every baby is different. If your baby cries a little and falls back to sleep, that would be fine. If your baby ends up puking, that’s not okay. My baby tends to escalate her crying (to gurgling followed by inconsolable gasping), so I doubt Ferber would work for us.

My DD was sleeping through the night (night feeds notwithstanding), but she recently started waking up at 6:30 instead of 7:30am, which has been tough on me.

Her nap times changed as result - she started sleeping two hours instead of one in the morning, and taking her afternoon nap later, when it’s nearly evening.

Yesterday, her afternoon nap was so late (6:30pm) that she ended up sleeping through till 10pm! I gave her something to eat (the trusty bland baby cereal… for times when real food would be confronting), and back to bed… She woke up at 4am and wouldn’t go back to sleep for an hour! She spent about half that time chatting and playing and the other half crying. :confused:

Is anyone here nursing their 12-18 m.o. at night? Anyone doing the family bed?

For those with a 12-18 m.o., when and for how long does your child nap during the day?

I think if I can get her naps right, my DD should go back to sleeping through the night. :sleep:

12

Maddy, Gabriel is almost 12 months, and he sleeps about 13 hours at night straight through. Since he likes to sleep so much at night, he normally only takes a very short (less than an hour) nap. Sometimes he won’t take one at all.

13

Wow, that’s awesome! What time do you put him to bed?

I don’t want to put Naimah to bed too early, as by the time my husband and I (on the days I work) get home it’s nearly 8. She goes to bed at 9:30.

I think no matter what time you put a baby to bed, they will wake up at roughly the same time, right? Have you found that with Gabriel on days you put him down later than normal?

14

Laurana is 13 months old. She has never been a good sleeper and has only ever slept through once in her whole life (20:30 til 05:30) Most days she still gets two naps usually at about 09:00 til 10:00 and then again at about 15:00 til 15:30 or 16:00. If I can keep her from napping early and she can make it til about 11:00 in the morning then she has only one nap and I actually prefer this - she then naps about 11:00-13:00 and is easier to get to sleep in the evening.

Her bedtime is usually at 19:00, but varies depending on when her last nap was and how tired she seems to be at night (anything from 18:30 til 20:30) Lately she has been waking very early in the morning and not falling back to sleep at all - one morning she woke at 03:30am, but mostly now it is around 05:00am. I can handle 06:00, but earlier than that and I am exhausted.

I do nurse her in the night, but have dropped from about 3 feeds down to one (usually at about 02:00am) and then she has a feed when she wakes up for the morning too. I do feed her to sleep most nights, but I am trying to feed her and then get her drowsy and put her in her cot awake - it is starting to work, but will take some time.

15

Sometimes I really wonder if your little ones can actually ‘smell’ you.

Whenever I open the bedroom door to check on them, no matter how fast I was to just take a quick peep (usually I’m on stealth mode), my 18 month old will wake up within 5 mins just so that I could pat him to sleep.

Which is why I’ll usually think twice or thrice before I enter their bedroom. Nowadays, I don’t even want to enter their bedroom anymore. However, if Daddy tries to check on them, they won’t wake up. :blink:

I think no matter what time you put a baby to bed, they will wake up at roughly the same time, right?

Hi Maddy, I think it is for my case too. My 18 month old sleeps around 7pm, and wakes up the next morning 7am thereabout. Even if I try to make him sleep at 9pm, hoping that he will wake at 9am, that never happens.

16

Thanks for the details Tanikit - karma to you!

Actually Naimah, who is the same age as Laurana, has a similar rhythm (this is her old one): she would wake at 7:30, nap 11-12, then again 4-5/5:30. So I think the key will be to keep her awake until after lunch, so that she only has one nap. I will try that - though I know it won’t always be possible (sometimes she’s exhausted by 11am - particularly with the new 6:30 wake-up).

Winth, I know what you mean! Somehow babies wake up the moment you walk in the room, even when you don’t make a sound. :ph34r:

And when you BF, they literally do smell you (the milk). I think that’s why Nim always seems to wake up when I come to bed at night (but not when her Daddy does).

17

He doesn’t go to bed until 11:15 (any earlier and he’ll wake up after a while). I have been fairly consistent with his bedtime since I have been putting him in his crib, so I’m not sure about if he would wake up at a different time if I put him down later. He does sometimes wake up earlier. Like this morning he woke up at 11:15 (an hour early), but I think that is because the dog and his dad were being noisy. :ohmy:

I definitely agree! I go in every night to make sure Gabe is still covered up, and he normally wakes up. Luckily I just tell him to go back night night, and I leave quickly, and he goes right back down.

18

The book series “On Becoming Babywise” helped me put my baby to sleep.

We trained him to sleep in his own room at 4 months. He started sleeping through the night when he established his 3 solid meals a day at 7 months. Subsequently, I also dropped his night feed/early morning (2am). Since I was still breastfeeding at that time, I had to ask my husband to wake up and pat him to sleep when he would wake up in the middle of the night as my baby could ‘smell’ me. This took about 3 days of training and then he didn’t wake up anymore (he must have figured that I won’t be there to give him milk). From then on, my baby sleeps from 7pm-7am. He has 2 day naps of 1.5-2 hours each, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

The key learning for me is whenever he cries, I would just go in and pat him or stroke his back and say re-assuring words that would comfort him then I would leave. I would go back if his cry becomes distressed.

19

Hi Zaja,

I noticed that he is able to sleep through after you mentioned when he established his 3 solid meals a day.

Are you able to share with me what you gave him for his solids? I have been wondering if my boy is actually hungry or even thirsty that he required milk/sips of water? And he sleeps in an aircon room.

I have tried now to even not give him any water and by patting him, but he simply refuses to go back to sleep unless he has something to latch on. This happens especially at 3-4am in the nights after he has rested almost 70-80% and is not as sleepy. Patting him back to sleep is much easier at 12midnight when he’s still so tired.

20

K was having trouble sleeping through the night too. She usually ate an hour or so before bed, then nursed at bed time. I thought that was enough, but she kept waking more often - at her worst it was every hour or two through the night. I finally started giving her a large snack at bed time, then nursing. She now sleeps 6 or 7 hours, nurses once and sleeps for another few hours. That is so much better!