How do I get my 2 year old to stop waing up in the middle of the night asking for milk
Lat night was the first night we tried just saying no and go rubbing her back to fall asleep but ended up waking back up again about 2 hours later. I think tonight I am going to try the water method. Sit her sippy cup beside the bed and tell her we are out of milk.
Milk at bedtime, whenever they lie down, is a BAD BAD idea. Milk causes ear infections, sinus infections and rotten teeth. The sugar sits in their mouth all night and the bacteria in the milk drains into their sinus cavities causing infections. Children/babies should NEVER have milk and then go to sleep. Give him water or as others have said leave a sippy cup of water for him.
Simple answer- stop giving it to him!
He's waking up at night and looking for comfort and interaction. The only way to get him to stop is to have that behavior (waking) no longer serve it's function (accessing mom).
At two there is not metabolic need for night feedings and your little one needs to learn how to soothe himself! This is going to be a tough process on all of you, but this has the potential to ruin your child's teeth (per my pediatrician).
What about starting to offer water? Another idea I have tried is to give less and less milk each night to where it is not worth their effort to wake any longer. There obviously will be a few unhappy nights as your little one is trying to adjust, but remind yourself you are doing it for their benefit. If you think he is just looking for extra comfort, maybe introducing a new stuffed animal to cuddle. Good Luck!
Stop giving it to her. It is a habit right now. Tell her no milk. Rub her back and lay her back down. But don't give her the milk. If she really needs something to drink giver her water. It may be a rough couple of nights. As long as you don't give it to her it should only take two or three nights for her to get out of the habit.
Good luck.
My 23 1/2 month old daughter was breastfed until about 3 weeks ago. She STILL wakes up in the middle of the night and asks for "nummy" which is what she called it. It's getting less and less and the nights go on, but you just have to stop giving it to him. It's as easy as that. He'll cry out for the first few nights, possibly a couple weeks, but it WILL get easier. Try giving him water instead. Most kids that age don't really like flavorless drinks. My daughter happens to love water since she stopped breastfeeding. Just something to think about! Hope this helped! (:
I keep a water glass by my bed some nights, so I started keeping a cup of water for each of my kids in their rooms by or in their beds when they were past needing to nurse in the night. Your 2-year old might wake up and ask, but you can make sure he or she knows there is water and to drink that. It has worked well for us.
I am having a similar problem with my 21 month old. I had my first son off night mile so early and this one is driving me crazy. I let him cry for 20 minutes last night but still gave in. Sorry that I am not offering any advice, but let me know if you find out any great ideas!!
S., I can't offer you any specific advice. It's easy to say stop and let them cry it out but not every child responds well to that tactic. I can tell you this from experience. My older two were easy to get back to sleep with the firm "no" and a pat on the back. I have a little one now who does NOT respond to it well. I've let him cry it out for over an hour with an occasional pat on the back and it does NOT work. He is not quite two and still nursing. I know there's no need for it and it's a comfort thing for him because he can lay down and not need "boo" in order to go sleep. It's the middle of the night that's a killer.
What I do is let him fuss for a bit before I get up. I don't rush to his side in hopes that he will settle down on his own. This rarely happens but once in a great while it does. Normally, he just gets madder and madder until he's hyperventilating (same with a soft touch but no boo). I'm not about to have it out for an hour every night and distract the rest of the family so I give in for the sake of everyone else. Thankfully, he's down to waking up once a night, sometimes not until 5 or 6 a.m. (YAY!)
So if the water or sugar-free drink doesn't work, if filling the cup less and less with milk doesn't work, if patting the back doesn't work, and you're getting mroe stressed, don't fret too much. This is a temporary thing your child will outgrow. I would suggest brushing his or her teeth well in the morning if you still do stick with the milk to help prevent cavities. Perhaps you could get the child to drink a little bit of water at the end to wash out the milk left in the mouth. That would help cut down on the development of cavities, too.
Good question S.! I wish I knew the answer to this as well!! My 2 1/2 daughter and also wakes up almost every night at some point and wants to get up like it's morning. We don't give her milk, but we will leave a sippy cup with only water in the bedroom and offer it to her but she doesn't usually want it. We tell her all she can have is the water and she gets a little upset but then we explain to her that it's nite nite time and she needs to lie back down. We don't pick her up!!
When she lies down, one of us will sit there in her room till she looks tired, (usually 15 min)and then we leave. Then we sit in our bedroom praying to the high heavens that she falls asleep!!! Unfortunately it doesn't always work and one of us will be up with her trying to get her to go back to sleep for an hour sometimes longer!!
We don't know why she wakes up and we don't know why she can't fall back asleep? When I saw this post I was hoping to read some new ideas, cause to be honest my husband and I are exhausted!!
Hi S.,
You make him stop asking for milk by not giving it to him. Let him know that you are not available to serve drinks in the middle of the night, that it's a sleep time, not a time for eating and drinking. If you wish to leave him a sippy cup of water in case he is thirsty, that's fine but let him know that you will not be waking up and bringing drinks during the night.
You might try some litle white lies. I tell my daughter that I will get her some milk but I have to make pee pee first. She often falls asleep while waiting. Or I will say that we are out of milk, how about some water in a cup. One sip and she is out. Also, try keeping a sippy cup in reach. He may call out to you for comfort, you can give him the sippy cup, have him take it and say goodnight.
