19 month toddler still waking 2-3 times through the night. Is this normal?

[Ella]

Hey there,

I have a 19 month old little boy who is happy and healthy other than an allergy to dairy. The problem is he is still waking 2-4 times a night and even though he goes to sleep in his bed ends up in ours everynight. I'm just wondering if this is normal for his age? We have baby number 2 coming in November, so if this is more of a habit thing I need to try and break it before then, not that I'm bothered if its normal. Would just be super nice to have a full nights sleep for a couple of weeks before we start the newborn routine all over again...

TIA for any advice or experience.

[MantaRay]

Ella, as tiring as it must be for you right now, I'm afraid it is normal! It is believed that 1 in 2 babies still wake in the night by age 2, and 1 in 3 by age 3. I have also found that even once babies are sleeping through, something will happen to change that. This year, our 5yo started school and started waking in the night again.

I wonder if it is an option for you to have your DS in bed with you from the start? Sometimes doing this can result in you getting more sleep. Obviously once the baby comes that will be more difficult, but if it helps your DS get through this time and you as well, then it might be helpful.

[Ginger]

totally normal.
i used to have a nap in the afternoons when ds1 had his nap when i was pg with ds2, just to get a little bit of extra sleep.

[Phteven]

Totally normal
I think what's not normal is the babies who sleep through.

My 4 year old still ends up in my bed a couple of times a week and my 5 year old can't start the day without crawling into my bed and waking me up.

My sister gets frustrated with her teen and tween because they sleep all morning - I have no idea why. I'd love it lol.

[nic]

My 23 month old is still waking 1-3 times a night. He did a brief period of sleeping through for a month, which was pure bliss, then we went away for a weekend, and he hasn't been the same since. He was a 2 hourly waker for the most part of his first 14 months of life though.
I wish I could offer some suggestions to help. We just tried everything we could think of. Massage, baths before bed, or earlier in the day, we bought a sleep sheep which did help a bit, downloaded a CD of Metallica baby tunes, played the ipod in his room, have the air con on have it off, Amby hammock, formula for bed time as opposed to breastfeeds, reading as many books as i could find to explain something or anything at all for that matter.
goodluck, hope your little one discovers the joys of sleeping through the night a bit longer, very soon

[onthefly]

My DS has gotten progressively better since about 19 months of age, but he still often wakes at night. And often several times.
We gave up trying to 'fix' it a long time ago - it's easier to just go with it.
Fingers crossed you get a break before the next one comes along

[Mad Scientist]

My DD1 didn't sleep through until she stopped teething which was after 2 years of age. We also had her give up her dummy to the dummy fairy and so she doesn't wake for that anymore either. She wakes every so often but more like once every two weeks, and usually because she's had a bad dream. It does get better. I have to keep telling myself that, as my 15 month DD2 is waking often at the moment. Big hugs xx

[indie24]

DD is a couple of months older and she still w akes twice a night (on a good night)

[Liviam]

Both of my kids are still waking overnight. DD (now 3) went through a few months of sleeping through which was just awesome but now she is back to waking up about 2 times a night and DS (11 months) is still waking 2 - 3 times a night. But of course they aren't at the same time so I'm up minimum of two times a night and anything up to 4 or 5 times. Hopefully it will settle down for you soon. But it is totally normal sadly. I just can't wait for them to be teenagers so I can wake them up every morning!!!!! That is what is getting me through, LOL!!

[Ella]

Thanks for replying girls.

I have thought about having him in bed with me from the start but him and DF are both wigglers and DS likes to sleep on my arm so I keep getting very little restful sleep at all. I thought it was normal gues like every mum I was just hoping there was some magic fix lol. Apparently DF was like this as weel waking every 45 mins till he was about 3, his mum ended up putting rum in his bottle to get him to sleep but I don't think I'll be doing that lol.

Oh well I guess we'll just keep trucking along, maybe I'll get a month before bubba #2 is born, maybe not, I've become pretty used to waking up and thinking, I can't wait for night to come again lol.