Has anyone else experienced this....?

Ok, so Charlotte is still not sleeping through the night (sigh) and up until recently, would only wake once for a bottle at about 3-4am.

Now, she is waking every 4 hours wanting a bottle and is drinking an entire 150mls and would keep going if there was more in there.

Not only this, but she has to go with Daddy to get the bottle ready and then when she gets back to bed, will quite often scream and scream for no apparently reason until I manage to literally shove the bottle against her will into her mouth. I have tried taking the bottle away when she starts screaming saying "oh so you dont want it" but that makes her scream louder because in fact she does!

We have tried different approaches, ie water or juice instead of milk but that doesn't cut the mustard.

Does anyone have any ideas about why this might be occuring and how to break the pattern? Its getting beyond a joke! HELP?!



Edited by GeorgiaB

Our other problem is that she likes to have us around when she goes back to sleep and when she does wake, has to come into our bed otherwise she won't resettle. If I leave her, she just screams and screams like someone is killing her.

I am wondering about a ceremonial throwing away of bottles. But I am not sure if she is old enough to understand why.

yep do it do it.. we did around that age with ayja as she was doing the exact same thing, screaming the house down everynight until the obttle got there then literally we had to get it into her mouth as she wouldn't calm down.

We instigated the water policy, we'd fill a sipper with water and she'd have a drink of it as she was getting into bed, when she woke at night it would be offering water, not getting her out of the cot at first, sometimes we did get her and give her a quick cuddle while she had a few sips, then back to bed.
Beleive me, it took a fair few hairy nights there but we are better for it. perservere, even when the nights get tough, if you give in once she learns how to get around your tactics. the waking should get less and less gradually as her body gets used to not waking for milk.

The more you give large bottles in the night, the more she gets accustomed to waking for them. at her age it's not a matter of nutrition it's just habit, it's just dam hard to break the habit!

Cool, thanks - a couple of really good ideas. Its hard cause I work full time too and have to get up at 5am each morning so the idea of a broken nights sleep is so not appealing! But I think I am going to have to bite the bullet and do it.

Hi this might be too little too late, but have you considered giving her a 200ml bottle at night before she goes to bed, to sort of fill her up that bit more so that she will sleep thru the night. I can remember feeding 150ml to the 6mos baby I was nannying, so for her age I would think that she could easily go up a feed size. It may be that she is waking with a grumbly tummy in the night, and just wants to fill up a bit in order to get back to sleep.

Athe only other advice I would give is that when you go in to give her the bottle/drink/cuddle, dno't say anything to her, you can shush quietly (you know, the comforting Mummy sound) and pat or rub her back. And be sure to put her back in her cot before she falls asleep on you, as this will help enable her to self settle and be less likely to scream and be unsettled until you drag yourself out of bed to calm her.

I hope my butting in has been of some use to you, I know you all must be asking what I would know since I don't yet have achild of my own, but I have been a nanny for the past 5yrs, and have had experience with a very many different children and there foibles.

All the best, and I hope you can get some sleep to make those 5am starts a little easier to bear.

Well, since writing this, things have changed. We have had a couple of nights recently of her sleeping through, in her own bed. And the nights she doesn't she has only woken once for a bottle and then straight back to sleep. There has also been a night or two when she has woken, been offered a bottle but refused and then gone back to sleep too.

I have also started Cuppatea's idea from Super Nanny of staying in the room but not in bed with her and sitting on the floor. It works most of the time which is great.

It could have been a growth spurt, her feet have recently outgrown all her socks and her pants are suddenly short. I think her canines are also coming through, the gums are very lumpy and she has been a bit dribbly which is very unlike her.

So all in all, it might have been a faze cause things certainly have settled down recently.