Quote:
Originally Posted by Kalenn
1. Yes, she is too old for bottles at night. You are basically "feeding" her to sleep and that's not a good thing for the child. She knows if she wakes up and cries then she will get a bottle. Yes, they figure that out really quickly.
2. If she does wake up and cry you are going to have to let her cry it out. I know this is harsh and will tug at your heart (believe me, I know this) but you have to break this cycle now before it gets worse.
3. Is she teething? My daughter, who will be 18mos in 2 days, is still cutting teeth. She wakes up sometimes crying but it never lasts for more than a minute or two at the most. Check to make sure she doesn't have a low grade fever, unusually rosy and warm cheeks or excessive drooling. If so, try a shot of childrens Tylenol to help with the pain. Obviously don't do this if she isn't exhibiting signs of teething.
4. Are there any noises that might wake her up? The wife and I like to watch television before we go to bed so we found that if we shut our bedroom door, we never wake up our daughter.
5. If she's eating like a horse at daycare then suggest the daycare people cut back a little bit on her feeding while there. Let her eat more dinner at home so she will make it through the night.
The biggest thing is getting her off the bottles completely. We were lucky and our daughter slept through the night almost immediately. Like... a month after we got home from the hospital? Something like that.
If the problem persists you may want to seek the advice of your doctor.
I hope this helps. Best of luck!
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Well, thanks for the advice, both you and PQ!!!! No, she's not teething. I definitely can tell when she's doing that (super-duper crabby!!). And there's no noise that is waking her up. I guess we're just going to have to try and be tough and let her cry. Man, we tried that last night for a while, but after about 30 straight minutes caved in. Looks like many MORE sleepless nights ahead!!! I think we may have to slowly start reducing the bottles, I don't think she would deal well with going cold turkey!!! Anybody else have any words of wisdom???