Maiya wakes up almost every night. She is 16 months old and I'm totally over it. What I have been doing (judge me if you wish) is giving her a bottle of warm milk, rocking her while she drinks it and then putting her in bed. She goes right back to sleep.You might suggest that I give her water and I will tell you that I have tried that. She drinks it and then screams hysterically when I put her to bed.
Sometimes we think she wakes because she's hungry. She tends to be a picky eater and by principle I try not to cater to picky eaters (at least not to those under 3 feet tall). So, sometimes she does not eat much for dinner and we don't generally eat dessert. It stands to reason that she could be hungry by 2 o'clock in the morning. So what is the solution? Some nights I put whatever food in front of her that I think she will eat (generally all things pasta), sometimes I stick to my guns.
On the nights that she eats plenty and still wakes up, I often think that she is teething, cold or has soaked through her diaper. These thoughts make it impossible for me to leave her to cry it out.
On my strong nights, I have tried letting her cry. This worked with Haven. Maiya, however, gets extremely worked up and when I finally go in it takes ages to calm her.
Maybe it will work if I just leave her. Maybe I'm being more of a baby than she is.
Ideas, anyone?
8 comments:
I'm a baby - totally can't let my kids cry it out. Not a fan. To each his own. That said... does Maiya wake up at roughly the same time every night? You could try setting your clock (ugh!) for 30 minutes before she would normally wake up and giving her a bottle. The goal would be to slowly wean her off of that bottle and ideally she wouldn't even wake up then. So says the book that I got that one from. I could never convince myself to actually set the alarm and wake a sleeping baby. I have to look for that book. I can't remember why you were supposed to wake the baby to wean from the bottle. ?? Anyway...
When Nehemiah was little he stopped taking his middle of the night bottle when we were on vacation. The hotels microwave smelled like burned popcorn so I had no way of heating a bottle (burned popcorn at 2am is not fun)He refused to take it cold... so he was done. Slept through the night ever since.
How about you go on a nice vacation and see if it works for you too! ;)
send Dave in and invest in ear plugs?
I think your strategy is good. There is nothing wrong with some milk at night since it is far enough away from mealtime for Maiya to connect the milk to you 'giving in' to her about picky eating. Good stuff
Nothing wrong with what you are doing Jen :-) I agree with your dad.
There may be nothing wrong with what you are doing, but it sure stinks to be waking up every night! Jude is 11 months and wakes up 2 to 4 times a night. Sometimes a quick cuddle is enough, and sometimes he insists on nursing. Bleh. I am over it, too, but he is in our room, and Dan wakes up at 5:30, and there are students above us, so I don't feel like I can let him cry through, even though that is probably the only thing that will work.... but Maiya sounds like she's still hungry, if the water doesn't work. I didn't have this issue with the twins, they slept through once they got their own room, but we don't have an extra room for the Boy! Drat!
Oh, Jen! I feel for you! I am in the throws of the same thing. Just knowing someone else is having trouble too make me feel better somehow. ;) Cora Lynn is turning one this weekend (!) and still nurses twice at night. Not only that, she's a screamer. Wakes up the house with ear-splitting screams twice a night or more. Won't stop till I nurse her. Plus, the kids share a room, she refuses to sleep in her own bed from 11pm on, so she sleeps with us in a too-small bed. GRRRR!!!! I used to give advice because things worked for Wesley. Now, I am learning that some kids are curve balls, and nothing applies but your mommy intuition. And that's ok, I think.
Here's the baby sleep expert's website
http://www.childrenshospital.org/views/june06/sleep.html
I think what you are doing is fine. If she is hungry it wouldn't be right to just leave her. I have found with picky eaters (I am one of them) to not push the food and try introducing it again later down the road. Otherwise if you force them, they will grow up and never eat that food again. Good luck. I don't think there is ever a wrong or right answer. A mothers intuition is always the best answer!!!
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