Toddler hungry at 3 a.m.?

Recently I wean my 15 month old from night nursing. He has his breast before going to sleep and than at 6 a.m.(he’s better than alarm clock!) He still wakes up once or twice during the night, sometimes he goes back to sleep easily, sometimes he asks for breast and when I say no, he starts crying inconsolably and we can spend up to 3 hours just trying to put him back to sleep (but I don’t give in with the breast).
For the last two nights. after being refused his milk, he went over to his daddy (he sleeps with us still, I didn’t want to wean him and put him in a crib at the same time, I thought that would have been too hard on him, but he’ll get his bed soon) and first asked for water, than for food. Daddy complied, seeing that just trying to put him to sleep in his arms was not yielding any results. So the baby had a little snack, some water and went back to sleep. The next night the same thing happened… I’m not sure if he’s really hungry or if he’s just looking for another ‘excuse’ to get attention and avoid going back to sleep right away. I would hate to see him developing a habit of night snacking, because that’s pretty much what I tried to avoid with weaning him from night nursing. I have not slept for more than 4 hours straight since he was born and it has to change. Daddy says it’s just a temporally thing, that eventually he’ll just sleep through the night, but I’m not so sure. Anybody has any advice? Thanks!

Have you tried leaving a small bottle of water in bed? Maybe tucked between two pillows so he knows where to find it without waking you up and going back to sleep on his own.

I had the same problem with my girl, so my mom said for give to her a good snack before I put her to sleep, something like crackers or cheerios, and don’t let she sleep a lot at day time, and play a lot in the afternoon (after her nap), works with my girls, but it is not working with my boy :ohmy: maybe works for you to

feeding the baby well before going to sleep helps a lot. Small babies are satisfied only with milk so what u can try is before u go to bed try giving some milk with bottle or glass however he is comfortable with. don’t wake him up.
this might take a few days but ur child will get used to it.
this helped me a lot & at the same time he drinks a glass of milk without any forcing…

I will suggest you to let him cry, it will be easier if he will sleep on her own crib I think.Anytime my daughter wakes up more than usual, I go check on her, she is warm ,she has a clean diaper, give her a bottle or breastfeed her, if she wakes up again, same thing go just check on her and go back to sleep let her cry for few minutes and she will go back to sleep on her own.Like I say it is easier for me because she sleeps on her own bedroom on her own crib, must be really difficult having him crying in your bed besides you…I honestly couldn’t put up with that I will move him to his crib.Maybe he will sleep better on his crib, he needs more space to move, children need their good sleep and maybe something is bothering him, not only he is hungry maybe he gets too hot sleeping with you guys…I don’t know.
We should think about everything. On weekends I take my daughter to sleep with us…let me tell you she wakes up more than usual three or four times(she usually wakes up only once for bottle and a fresh diaper, then she goes back to sleep right away).She points to her bedroom and keeps kicking the blankets because she gets really hot and makes her unconfortable besides she needs more space to be able to move and stretch her arms. We finally take her back to her bedroom where she is happy and quiet.

Thank you all for your words of wisdom! He usually eats quite well in the evening, but there are some other schools of thought that suggest that it’s not so good to go to sleep with a full stomach… These days you don’t know who to believe… Well, he seems to be sleeping better after a good dinner, so we’ll try to continue to eat well.
He’s definitely not too hot, if anything, he’s cold, because he absolutely hates his covers, if he’s not fast asleep, he can’t stand the feeling of cover on his legs. Maybe that’s also why he sometimes wakes up, because I keep covering him. And we’ll definitely look into getting him a bed, hopefully he’ll sleep better.
Well, again, thank you all!

Have you tried a grobag- those sleeping bags that mean babies stay at the right temperature and can’t take the covers off?

Try giving him a snack before going to bed. I know my grandson wakes up when he is hungry. If he is not hungry he will sleep very well. Feed him a significant snack right before putting him to bed.

my 3 years old boy also wake up at 3 above and he is very hungry he said…
So, i just give him a slice or 2 slices of buns, and then he will goes to bed…

For me that is not a problem, because i know he plays more before he
goes to bed so he wakes up because he is hungry… :smiley:

Bebita,

You will get to sleep well when your baby is around 2y, but if you intend to have another baby sooner, I advise you to get accostumed to this routine, because it´s really this way. There are few mothers who say that their baby sleep all night but in my case it never happened. In according to the snack at night, doctors say that the SLEEP FEEDS and we don´t need to feed them we must let them to cry. Sincerely I never followed this, because It´s not easy to interrupt our short time to sleep waiting them to shut up, I don´t worry, I give my babies the milk bottle and I wait they become 2y old. I have 2, one is 3y and the second is 1y3m. I live the same situation of yours. Be free!!!