14 mth old waking 3-4 times a night - what can i do?

[RoyaUK]

Hi,

DD2 has always been settled by me as DH puts DD1 to bed. I've always breastfed just before sleep either day sleeps or before going down for the night.

But DD2 is now almost 14 mths and still wakes 3 to 4 times a night and will only settle by a breastfeed which means i've had a year without quality sleep and it's impacting on everything i do!

I feed her until she's relaxed so her eyes are open etc when i put her down in the cot - she's not asleep. Then i leave her to it. Sometimes she'll talk/winge for a while but then she'll get off to sleep by herself. All good. But it's the waking all night long and not settling for anything else other than a feed that's starting to get to me.

All too often it'll get to 2am, i'll be over it and then she'll come into bed with me. Which is easier for me but i'm not sure she's properly rested.

She sleeps well in the day - morning sleep about 2 hrs, afternoon sleep about 1.5 hrs. Very happy girl and very alert.

Any suggestions of how convince her to sleep longer than 3 hrs at night without wanting me?

[Marlene]

I'll be watching this thread as this is EXACTLY what my DS does!

[BabyMama]

I've got absolutely no advice as my DS still wakes 3-4 times a night but just wanted to offer some

I'm finding it hard to see the light at the tunnel too - sleep deprivation is a killer.

Hope someone has some ideas.

[RoyaUK]

any advice?

[danniellabella]

My dd is almost 14 months and sometimes wakes 2-3 times. She's bottle fed (no FF anymore, she has lactose free cows milk). My dd isn't fully awake when she cries so I just go in and shove a bottle in her mouth to soothe her and then I go off to bed. I imagine that if you are still BF that it's not that simple though. Could your DD be too hot or cold perhaps? I know that my DD will wake if she's either of these. She always kicks blankets off even if it's cold so I put her in a sleeping bag when it's cold but the disadvantage is that she can't take it off if she gets too hot.

It could also be bad dreams that wakes your DD up in which case she needs comforting from you.

[Rahjah]

I have a 15 mth old exactly the same!

We looked into Jay Gordon's thing of night weaning. I don't think it's ideal> I wouldn't recommend nightweaning except that we found we were at the 'end'. Just so damn tired and not functioning very well. (ETA he was waking up to 7 times a night and wanting milk!)

SO. For the first few nights I still fed him but not to sleep.
The next few nights I didnt' feed him but carried him around, sang, turned the tv on...whatever it took to calm him. It was surprisingly easy.
Then he got sick so I started BFing in the night again.
When I got energy enough, I started over again.
The second time around was harder I found because I lacked the energy and wasn't consistent.

BUT...he is sleeping MUCH better now. IF and when he wakes (a month on) he doesn't look for milk and is easily settled with a dummy and a cuddle.

I hope that helps
xx