DD eating and sleeping probs

[Lisawa]

Hi everyone, I am new to the site and thought I would see if anyone had any suggestions,

DD is 14months and has not been very good sleeper since she was 10months old. she also has been a bad eater which is just getting worse and worse.

We went to ngala and things started getting better then before we reached complete perfection she got sick and we started cuddling her to sleep and spending time in her room to make sure she was ok, also dosing her up on panadol etc... so that put it all out now she is getting better she is back to square one and screaming again at night wanting cuddles etc.

Last night she woke at 8:30 I cuddled her to sleep, then again at 11, I also cuddled her to sleep and then at 3:30am and I realised this is starting to get bad again so decided to start the process again of laying her down saying it was bed time and walking out, and I continued to do this as often as I felt she needed, she went for 1.5 hrs and then by 5:00am I gave her a bottle didnt pick her up and she went back to sleep and she slept well till nearly 8am.

I am expecting no.2 very soon, currently 34 weeks but the GP doesn't think I will go full term as I didnt with DD and bub has dropped and he feels it wont be too long.

Could DD be hungry at night due to not eating, should I refuse to give her a bottle or should I do what I did and try the laying her down walking out and use the bottle as a last resort?? I just dont know what to do...

1.5hrs is long enough to cry... I think so anyway... but I dont want to pick her up and give her the impression that if she crys long enough I will give in...

she loves milk (bottles not cups) and custard/yoghurt but is refusing just about all other food, I am trying to not stess as I keep getting told she will eat if she is hungry but she loves her milk, I dont want to replace food with milk but if she is not sleeping cos she is hungry what should I do???

Any suggestions please?

Sorry for the long post, I am getting quite concerned and want some advice and really try improve things before bub arrives.

Thanks
Lisa

[Chickadee]

My DD also became a light eater when she turned about 14 months, though she never ate a lot in my opinion. Because she'd lost weight as an infant & is now on the 10% to 25% curve for weight, I've always been concerned about getting her to eat. And mealtimes had started to be a source of frustration for me, which wasn't encouraging her to eat. Yet her carers thought she ate fine when she was with them for the day. In the last few months I've had to re-adjust my idea of how much food toddlers need to live on & thrive and it has helped tremendously. I've made some changes which don't necessarily get her to eat more, but have helped me accept that she really is eatting enough. The tips on this page about apetite slump in todders (Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto) helped me a lot: http://www.aboutkidshealth.ca/Article.asp?articleID=1702

She still has 3 bottles a day (150 ml each) including a bedtime one but hasn't had a bottle in the night for over a year I think. We sorted out sleep problems when she was 4 or 5 months old, and I tend to agree that if kids over the age of 1 (or even younger sometimes) are hungry they'll eat, and that hunger at night probably isn't the issue with any sleep problems.

Good luck.

[funnyfarm]

Hi Lisa,

I just read this thread to my hubby and it sounded just like this household about 2 months ago. My daughter is now 15 months old and sleeping brilliantly but at about 11-12 months old things went haywire. She was sick just like your little girl and we tended to give in and cuddle her to sleep but once she got better she still wanted to cuddles and bottles (she also loves her milk). One day I had enough and let her cry (broke my heart). The first night she woke about 9pm and cried till about 10.30. Woke again at 12.30 and cried for about 1/2 hour and then woke again about 4am and cried for about 1/2 hour. That next day I limited her bottles to three a day (breakfast, lunchtime and bedtime) and she seemed to be eating a little better. The waking and crying at night lasted about 5-6 days. since getting her back on track she seems to be sleeping better during the day aswell. I am now giving her 4 bottles a day now (breakfast, 11am, 3pm (when she wakes from her sleep) and bedtime.

Goodluck and I hope things improve for you soon. I think when they get to this age, they very quickly learn how to push the right buttons to get what they want.

Janet
Mother of Briana Sage (2.6.04)

[Lisawa]

Thanks ladies,

Janet, just wondering if went you started letting her cry if you went in her room and layed her down at all or just left her? I am going in every few minutes up to 10 depending on how bad she is crying...

Also how many mls of milk do you usually give in a bottle?

I try stick to 3 but if she does get it during the night its then 4 but I do try not to do this.

[funnyfarm]

Lisa,
Briana gets too worked up if i keep going into her room, so i just let her cry. It was hard but if i went into her, it felt like i was starting all over again and her crying would be 10 times louder when i go to walk out.

She is now having 4 bottles of about 200 mls each bottle (sometimes a bit more). When she was waking at night, she was having 3 bottles during the day (about 200ml) and 2 bottles at night (250mls). One bottle at 10.30-11pm next about 4am. It was almost like clockwork when she would wake up which made me start to think that it was habit making her wake not hunger. I have heard that if children wake for hunger they don't wake at regular times. I don't know how true it is.

When i first stopped her night waking, i went back to feeding her a bottle as soon as she woke in the morning and then gave her breakfast about 45 minutes later. She tended to have her bottles before her meals for a couple of weeks, but this soon switched around.

I was told by my Community Nurse to only give her three bottles a day maximum and she is older now and doesn't need it. I was finding that she was getting very irritable around 10.30am but not tired enough for a sleep. She started standing at the microwave whinging until i got her a bottle. I was then worried about her 3pm bottle as i thought it was too close to dinner but she seems to eat better than if i held her out and didn't give her one.

But on saying this, she will probably change what she want's next week and this nice little routine will go out the window.

good luck

Janet
Mother to Briana Sage (2.6.04)