21month old nightwakings,growth spurt?

[vibha]

hi,
   
my DS now 21 months old has been waking up at 12:35 from the last 4 days and then again at 3 wide awake shouting at the top of his voice practising all words that he knows...as much as i love to hear him babble i don't appreciate it at 3:00 in the morning....he then goes on for 1 hour till 4:00 then shouts and whinges for milk...i usually end up giving milk as i am All wide awake by the time for an hour and need o go to sleep.
then he wakes p at 6:15 for the day.
this has been going on for 3 days now in a row.
i can handle him  waking once  but not so many times.....i don't want a habitual pattern developing here ...is it because he has his dinner so early and hungry as he might be having a growth spurt? ..we have a good routine as follows:
 
wake up: 6:30-7:00
breakfast:8:00- cereals and one orange/banana
snack:10:30-juice or crackers
lunch:12:30-1:00 sometimes eats well sometimes not
nap 1:00-2:30 gets about 1.5 hrs
snack 3:00
dinner 5:00
bath:6:00
book/milk 6:30-7:00
sleep 7:30

this has been going on for  along time and is rock solid. but having said that he goes through phases where he wakes up around 4 or 5 in the morning asking for milk and give him a bottle ,i know some will say not to,but he downs it and clearly hungry.but how can i get him to feed more before bedtime? he is a picky eater and sometimes doesn't eat much at all.
should i give him a snack before bed time what do u all suggest?
cheers,
vibha

[imsmum]

My 23 month old goes through occasional periods like this and I have thought it might be food related sometimes.  A few things--can you move his dinner back to 5:30--it may help him eat more and not quite so long until breakfast then.  You could either stick with the milk before bed then or give him a little something else.  If you are still giving milk at night will he fall asleep at 3 if you give it to him then--at least you'll both get an estra hour's sleep that way.  I would try slowly watering down the mil and increasing the day calories though--I know not easy with a fussy eater.  If dd doesn't have a good dinner we give her yogurt etc. to help fill her tummy before bed.

[vibha]

hi,
       thank you for ur advice. yes maybe moving the dinner to half five is a good idea...yesterday i gave him his dinner at usual time 4:45 and he ate quite well. after that at his bed time i gave him some sausages which he adores and a pot of yogurt which he ate.and plus he had his milk but only 6 ounces...I was happy but my happiness was short lived as he woke up at his usual time 12:25 but was quick to settle .then again he woke up at 3:10 and i went in and gave him a sip of water as its too hot here in UK...and told him no milk till morning....he cried out again around 15 minutes later nd i just told him night time go to sleep in a quiet voice.and he slept till 5:30 and had his milk then.he was awake at  7:00....don't know if it will work the extra snack but he sure needs it ....i can only say at this point i will try...we can only try as parents isn't it?
cheers,
vibha

[vibha]

hi,
   nothing is working but steadily getting worse....we filled DS tummy before he went to bed and all went fine but he woke up crying and had to go WI/WO 3 times....i am really tired...he was munching on his fingers and i asked him if his teeth is paining and he said yes...so we gave him calpol before bed but still he woke up crying..
really ,i am tired and at loss ....cant see where the problem is...please advice
vibha

[Katet]

At 21 months hunger at night will only be because he "learnt" it, infact at that age, he could go probably 36 hours without needing food, just if he gets fed at night his body is used to it & asks for it.
21 months was when my ds#1 got his eye teeth (big ouch) as I was due anyday with ds#2 & not liking being up 3-4 times a night.
I gave pain meds, but seriously it didn't seem enough... he was still upset & not sleeping well.
Add in that it could be a 'wave' of separation anxiety, I'm guessing that it is a time thing & as long as you are consistent things will go back to normal