The wee lass has never really been like that. Sure, there's been the isolated night where she's almost slept through, or just had a bottle at 10pm, or 2am but those have mostly been prefaced by a night of no sleep whatsoever or a dose of Tixilix. She's one in two weeks time but most nights wakes up as much as she did when she was a new born.
I don't want to sound like I'm comparing our kids and coming out with the conclusion that one is better than the other, because that's not what I'm doing at all. The wee lass is a lovely sweet natured little thing, with a ready smile and a lovely cuddle, when she's not screaming through exhaustion, much like M'laddo is energetic and full of joy when he's not being a little sod.
We've tried everything- feeding her up in the evening so she's full, giving her a lighter evening meal to make sure she doesn't get a tummy ache, making her room cooler, making her room warmer, having it in total darkness, having a night light on, and so on. We've tried ignoring the crying (in case we were rewarding her with milk etc for making a fuss)- all that happened was she woke her brother up and we had two little ones to settle.
Right now at 7.30 she's trying to climb onto the sofa. She's been up for 3 hours, and had 3 bottles during the night, plus 4 or 5 settling downs prior to 11pm. By mid afternoon, even if we can manage to get her to take a nap, she will be so tired that she will be grinding her face on the carpet and making a terrible fuss. She has a good bedtime routine, bath, bottle, bed at 6.30pm. We daren't put her down earlier as we have the sneaking suspicion she'd be up at 3am, and she wouldn't have her bottle if she went down any later.
Short of drawing pentagrams on the floor, there's little else we can think of to try- mainly because she wakes her brother up if we leave her- so has anyone got any suggestions?
From reading this it sounds like she is having too much milk, 3 bottles in the night at 1 year old? I am assuming this is in addition to daytime bottles too?
ReplyDeleteI am assuming she is formula fed or on cows milk rather than breastfed? At one year old the recommendation is 16-24 oz of formula/cows milk a day (3x 6oz bottles & 6oz on breakfast cereal perhaps?)I have no idea what her eating habits are like but maybe try cutting back on milk and increasing foods, with a good variety of food groups etc. Perhaps she is waking through the night from hunger? Offer her water in the night if she is thirsty.
Probably no help but just my initial thoughts. Best of luck, you will hopefully get lots of ideas to try, give them a go & let us know what works for you :)
I'd agree that she's having too much milk for a one year old. At one, my three were on three solid meals a day with snacks, plus one cup of milk at bedtime. They got most of their milk intake via yoghurt, cheesy sauces, porridge etc, but also had the odd cup during the day. It could be a combination of hunger that's waking her, and the habit of always needing milk to settle. Does she fall asleep on the bottle? If she does, you definitely have a sleep association problem. I got mine off milk in the night by offering watered down formula that became weaker every night. We had a couple of nights of cross crying because they weren't getting the real thing, then they soon stopped waking because it wasn't worth it. But I made sure they were eating plenty of solids in the day.
ReplyDeleteThe only other thing that made mine sleep badly at that age was overtiredness. If they get really tired, and it sounds as if she is, they find it hard to settle and hard to stay asleep for long stretches. It's a hard cycle to break, but you really need her to have a long nap during the day, whether that's in the buggy, car or best of all cot. All three of mine tried to drop their nap far too young (between 12 & 18 months), but I made them carry on, even if it needed a few days of crying when I put them down, because they simply can't survive a day at that age without a good long sleep.
You could try watering the milk down to help with the above suggestions. The trouble is you are probably so tired now, that in the middle of the night (possibly in the day time too) you aren't thinking straight. My eldest was (and still isn't) a great sleeper (she still pops down for a glass of water at about 11pm, but at least now she takes herself back to bed, and she still gets up at 5.30am. She is 7 ). Not all of them are, they are all different. I agree about the day time nap, it is essential and they need it, however much they resist, stick with it(these kids are the ones who when they are older are going to be the last to leave the party as they don't want to miss a thing!)
ReplyDeleteYou will get through this...And you will get a good long sleep too, one day.
TB had reflux as well and in the aftermath the solution was more solids and less milk...
ReplyDeleteWell... that and getting him to sleep with his torso in a slightly elevated position...
And of course... ignoring the crying and screaming and shouting till he got the message...
hard but it worked.... :)
Don;t forget that they also go through phases... now you reminded me of it... I SOOOOO don't look forward to going through that one again... :)
Cheers all for your comments, they're very helpful.
ReplyDeleteThe wee lass has an enormous appetite, she eats more than M'laddo does most of the time. By bed time she can hardly manage more than two or 3 ounces of milk as she's so stuffed. Over night, the first bottle she has, she usually has 5-7 ounces (because she's skipped her bed time bottle), and subsequently anywhere between 2 and 4 ounces.
I think what we need to do is force her to nap twice during the day, even if it takes a week of screaming. I think she might be too tired to sleep though...
Shudder. Shiver. Cringe!
ReplyDeleteI am feeling for you guys, really! No advice from this side available, unfortunately. The only thing I did with little L was insisting on 2 naps a day early on. Even if it meant screaming and crying for a few days.
Maybe you can split forces and one moves in with the grandparents with the laddo for a week?
Was going to suggest much the same as all of the above. Naps in the day seem to help sleep at night. We did controlled crying with the twins. Controversial, yes. Effective, yes. But you both have to be completely united to encourage each other through.
ReplyDeleteAnd letting her brother stay at granny's for a couple of nights might help too. Good luck.