2yr old waking for milk

[BLC]

I would like some advice, my daughter has just turned 2, and the last few weeks she has been waking about 12-1am and crying for milk. We tried to just give her water but as she can speak quite clearly she always asks/cries for milk. She has her dinner at 5-5.30pm and milk just before bed at 7pm. Last night she had her dinner at 6.00pm, her milk at 7pm and still woke up at 1am for more milk.

I know she must be hungry, but I can't force her to eat more.
Should I try giving her a snack with her milk before bed?

Any ideas!

Thanks

 

[carang]

my son used to do exactly the same thing.
we decided that it had become a habit and that he wasn't eating enough at dinner because he knew he'd get more milk.

one night, i told him that there was no milk left, we'd have to buy more in the morning. we did this every night for about 3 or 4 nights. by the 4th or 5th night, he was happy with the water he was offered instead.

he has now been sleeping through the night for almost 2 weeks without waking up. we always put a no spill sippy cup on his bed in the same place so if he wakes up he can help himself and then go back to sleep. judging from what's left in the cup some mornings, that's exactly what he's doing.

good luck & be strong!

 

[BLC]

Hi Carang
Simple but brilliant. Thank you for this tip, 2nights in a row we have 'run' out of milk and she has slept through. Thanks.

 

[joannek]

you guys are LUCKY!!!!!!! cara, congrats on finally making your son sleep thru. moi, no luck yet. the only time she slept thru was when she only had 17 hrs of sleep in 2 days, she slept from 7.30 to 6am. if i told her we ran out of milk, she'd scream & sream until she throws up, etc. =(

 

[carang]

glad to know that it worked for you too! funny thing is, the first time i told him we'd run out of milk , we really had...

i'm glad to report that he has slept through the night EVERY SINGLE night over the past 2 weeks! not only that, but he's now going to sleep all by himself!!! before we had to sit on the armchari beside the bed.... now, i can just tuck him in and say good night! at nap time too!!!!

HOORAYYYYYYY!!!!!!!! it's been two years coming! and it really makes dealing with the baby soooooooooo much easier!

 

[kellyst]

wow cara, congrats! how i wish for those days. DD (19 mth) used to be able to sleep on her own with only minimal crying, but now she knows that if she cries really hard, i'll go in.

can't wait til that day comes! how did you do it? did you just talk him into sleeping on his own?

 

[carang]

i have a 10 week old baby girl as well. one night my son woke up and was crying and wanting me to sit beside him.

i was exhausted as i hadn't slept yet and it was about 3am! the baby had had a bad tummy and was crying almost non-stop...

i sat on my son's bed and wastrying to steel myself to the fact that i'd be lucky to sleep before 5am. then i thought, "this is INSANE! he's over 2 years old. there is NO reason that he can't do this by himself."

so i just said, "mummy is very tired. daddy is sleeping, baby is sleeping, all the dogs are sleeping. ya ya is sleeping, even the peopel upstairs are sleeping. mummy NEEDS to sleep. here's your juice. here's your cars. here are 2 books if you don't want to sleep. i'm going to sleep in my bed. if you need me, call me."

he called me a couple of times, but i'd just say the same thing over and over again.

finally he fell asleep. so the next night, when i put him to bed, i said the same things.

he still asks me to sit beside the bed, but i gently tell him that he's a big boy and mummy needs to feed mui mui.

he goes to sleep all by himself without any fuss at all!

it's FANTASTIC!!! and it gives us all so much more time, it's amazing!

what's really great is that the baby is now sleeping around 8-9pm for between 6-8 hours. so, really, after 7:30-8:00, it's time for hubby, helper and i to relax in peace and quiet...except on american idol night! lol!

 

[carang]

forgot to say that the second night, he woke up around 3am and crieda nd screamed. i just calmly told him that he was too loud and was going to wake up everyone. "i'm going to close the door until you're finished." so, i did. he screamed some more. i left him for about 5 minutes. then i opened the door and asked him if he was done. he stopped crying long enough to say, "Done." and he had. i told him that if he was going to cry and scream i'd have to close the door as i didn't want him to wake up the baby.

from that point on, he didn't scream or cry. he knew that i'd follow through with the action and so stopped immediately that i'd tell him that.

the key is, don't lose your own head. keep calm and cool and just explain in a matter of fact way that this is the way it is and it's going to be. tell the child they have a choice. they can scream and you will close the door. or they can lay down quietly adn you'll keep the door open.

at least it worked for us....now trying to get my son to drink cow's milk.... that's a whole new challenge that i need to tackle soon. i've broken him of formula. he hasn't had any in about 6 weeks. i couldn't get him to make the transition then. i thought i'd not offer him any of it for a while to see if he'd forget the sweet taste of the formula and accept the cow's milk....

i'll let you know in a few weeks if it worked...

good luck all!