14 month old sleeping habits...1st time MOM

[jennyb2446]

I'm at the end of the rope on my little ones night time sleeping habits. We're now waking between midnight & 3AM. Sometime she wants a bottle and sometime the binky has been lost. Should I remove the binky before bedtime? Do I let her cry it out:cry: :cry: :cry: ? What to do?

[neeleymartin]

first off, a 14 mos old never needs to eat in the middle of the night. we were told by our pediatrician that this becomes unnecessary beyond 4-5 months.

our ds sleeps with a binky or two or three or five in crib. that's how he soothes. i'll worry about ditching that later. he just uses it in his crib anyway.

we have a 14 mos old as well. good sleeper. but wasn't always. we decided to let him cry it out. the first night was long. 57 minutes of crying, then silence. night 2, 23 minutes; night 3, 4 minutes. night 4, through the night and hasn't since aside from vomiting flu bug. i should mention that we own a video monitor. it made it SO much easier. i could see him the whole time and know that he wasn't suffocating on a blanket or foot stuck in crib railing. or any other horror i could come up with.

i had no reservations to cio, hubby was not a fan. he works the midnight shift and i chose to do it when he was working.

i should add that many friends have done the same thing with similar or better results (just 2 nights). this board has few fans of cry it out. so don't be surprised if you get some trying to talk you out of it.

we had to do something. we both work full time and needed out sleep. i function terribly on little sleep. work was hard, but parenting was harder. do what's best for you.

good luck,
n

[pomegranate]

Hi,
I've got a 12-month old who wakes a lot too. At what age did you let your baby CIO?
Thanks.

[JBaxter]

My 2 oldest did that at about that age. Go in to their room do not turn on the light offer them a sippy cup of water ... no milk no bottle dont pick them up dont talk take the cup and lay them down pat their back for a few minutes then leave. It took about a week of doing that to break my 2 of the habit. Going in makes sure that they arent sick, pooped stuck etc...

[SnuggleBuggles]

first off, a 14 mos old never needs to eat in the middle of the night. we were told by our pediatrician that this becomes unnecessary beyond 4-5 months.



That is such a broad generalization. I know that my ds needs to eat in the middle of the night because during the day he is so busy playing that he barely nurses. If he didn't nurse at night he would be down to 3 sessions/ day- way too little for a 9m old. ALso, with things like growth spurts it really is impossible to know whether baby is actually hungry. I agree that it does become a habit and sleep crutch t some point for some babies but I wouldn't go so far as to accept that a 5m old doesn't wake up and need to eat. Even a 1m old might actually be hungry in the middle of the night.


There are a lot of emotional changes around 14 months- like separation anxiety. Often these things peak and then get better once baby works through that milestone.

I hope you can find a good solution! Be consistent and do some preliminary experimenting.

Beth

[pinay]

14 months was sort of our breaking point w/ DD as well- it just got to a point where DH and I were constantly snippy w/ each other due to the lack of sleep and we knew that it would benefit our entire family if everyone was getting a full night's sleep. We did a modified CIO that worked well for us- when she was waking and crying in the middle of the night, I went in to console her but did NOT pick her up. Basically just hugged her through the crib bars, patted her back, kept repeating to her to lie down and she eventually did that. It probably took about 20-25 minutes the first night, then about 10 minutes the second, and by the third night she slept through the night! We also introduced a little lovey (she didn't have one before) and I think that helped her a lot- she sleeps with it every night now and it's a good signal for her that it's time for bed.

Good luck- it's tough, but do what's best for you and your family.