Hi, I have a 10 month old daughter and 2 year old son. My daughter used to sleep through the night but since she had a cold 3 months ago, she has taken to waking 3 or 4 times a night. I think its my fault because when she was ill i gave her a bottle to settle her, and i think she is using it now for comfort.
Can you please reassure me that by stopping her bottles that i'm not taking away something that she needs? is she old enough to stop them completely? As i feel thats the only way forward.
To make matters harder, my son wakes between 5 and 5.30 every morning and wont go back to sleep. how can i improve on that? I am getting basically zero sleep and havent done for a very long time, by the time my son wakes i'm so upset and frustrated that i am crying and feel angry and resentful.
I love them dearly but i need to sleep.
What can i do?
I use the controlled crying technique at bedtime and they go off in 10 minutes, its just being able to keep them asleep until a reasonable hour. 6.30 would be heaven!!!!!
Help!!
Thanks

Put them in your bed and you can all enjoy some much needed sleep.

Depends if your happy taking your children to your bed, mine used to end up sleeping on my head so no one really had got any sleep in our house, I would recomend speaking to your health visitor and getting refered to a sleep clinic.

What time does your son go to bed? Is it worth trying putting him down to sleep and hour later than normal?

This sounds familiar! I picked my daughter up and rocked her next to the cot then put her back to bed, I have also given her the put her to bed with a bottle of water, I don't know why this worked but! As for your son, is it dawn that's waking him? Noises, light, darkness? Is the room the same when he goes to bed as when he wakes up, for example if it's light when you put him to bed and then dark when he wakes at 5am this can really freak small children out. You could also try a really intense activity like dancing madly for 30 minutes before wind down time. If he is still having a nap try cutting this out and letting him get the full 12 or 13 hours in one go. My son is now 4 but has a picture book that he looks at to get him to sleep, which he started doing when he was 2. If he wakes up he just looks at it and can drop off again on his own. If you try a range of things and if they work and you know they are not harmful then just go with it. Do what you think is best and try out everything and anything. Hope you get some sleep soon!

Hi my daughter is 18mnths old and is all of you're children rolled into 1, she took waking very early not so long ago and still wakes in the night. She is still taking a bottle through out the day, but i just ensure this is directly after her meals and if she does not eat her meal she does not get a bottle for at least an hour. I dont see the need to get her off the bottle as she is strong willed and enjoys the comfort in it. wheres the harm, she is only a baby after all!!

she falls asleep in my bed with a bottle of water (after having her milk from the bottle whilst up), she mearly cuddles this, i then carry her over to the cot where she sleeps untill the early hours of the morning. when she wakes she comes into my bed and sleeps instantly. She will wake at anytime between 5 and 6. however we have both had a good sleep so no problems getting up.

i dont know if it helps but I found the time to stop breast feeding was when my daughter was gorging during the night and not sleeping because she felt unwell as a result and so then instinctivly looking for a feed. If you're 10mnth is eating well and having milk before bed then she does not need milk in the night. Maybe just switch to water and she will get used to this after a couple of nights. The secret is to stick with it, get her in with you and she will probably fall asleep in no time. that way come 5am when you have a bounding toddler on you're hands everyone is rested and refreshed. I have also tryed delaying bed time for my little girl as she has always been ready for bed at 6pm and at times awake before 4am ready to get up, at around 6pm when I spot she is tired and irritable i sit with her and have a cuddle then engage her in a short activity, leave her occupied whilst i do those little tea time chores untill she becomes grumpy and then get her in the bath, i then leave her to run around naked untill she is ready to fall sleep on her feet. Pjs on then bed, she choses the cuddly toys she is taking, nomally all of them, which I kick out of bed later when she is asleep. I find now she has a more restfull sleep and wakes a little later. This may help for you're toddeler.

With hind sight being such a wonderfull thing and god knows I'v had my share of tearfull nights, One night i looked back and asked why I was so presciouse about sleeping through the night and in her own bed and I couldn't answer that night I chilled out and love waking up to my daughter in my bed every morning!!

You will get through this bad time, just try to be reasonable with everyone including ones self!!

dont beat urself up if u feel ur doin the right thing then keep doin it, my ex fiances sister still gives her 5 yr old n 3 yr old a bottle wen they scream for it, i used to think hmmmm i no im not a mother yet and im only 2 months pregnant but to me a 5 yr old and 3 yr old shud not still be on the bottle, any way we all have our own views, i think ur doin the right thing hunny

Thanks to everyone for your help, its just nice to know that its a common problem.
Since I left that message, I decided to re-structure my day.
My daughter has 3 bottles a day, mid morning nap, afternoon nap, and bed. My son and I do painting or make cakes while she sleeps for an hour in the morning. This has been great!!!!
They both go up at 2.30 for a nap, and I wake them at 4 on the dot. play with Dad when he comes home then Tea.
We have play time, put some disney songs on etc.
at 7.15 i let them have some supper. bath by 8.
My daughter has her bottle, my son has a cup of milk, she is ready to go up at 8.15, and Eddie goes up at 8.30.
Erin only wakes twice now!!! and is quicker to settle with a drink of water.
I have taken Eddie in with me at 5.30 and he did fall asleep until 6.30.
I'll sort that out at some point, i dont want to make a habit of it. I'm hoping if i stick to it strickly it will get better.
Thanks again and i hope these comments help anyone