16 month Sleep becoming more and more erratic

[T]

Hello all, my 16 month has always slept through the night. He has been on a routine since he was 3 months and has up to now been fine.
He eats well breakfast at 8, lunch at 12.30 and dinner at 5/ 5/30. with 2 light snacks in between. He goes to nursery which he enjoys, normally when i drop him off he runs off and doesn't even look round to say goodbye. Now this has changed. One thing i think i have been doing which i should have stopped is i have let him have a bottle for his milk drinks in the evening and in the morning. i did this because he wasn't drinking enough milk from his cup but now i am worried i have made him dependent on his bottle as a comforter. he started to wake at 6 and gradually it got earlier and earlier. i started to take a bottle in to him and he would resettle himself till 7 or 8. But now he has stated waking at 4 and last night from 1 to 3. i gave in in the end and gave him a bottle of milk and he settled down. Also for the last few days he has been really clingy with me. in the morning at nursery he was beside himself crying when i left but the nursery teacher told me when i had gone he was fine and enjoyed his day. He did the same with my brother the other day. He has also started hitting me and my husband and nipping us. We tell him firmly 'no' and show him how to stroke us gently which he will do but then later he will forget and hit again. I can deal with the hitting it is the night time waking that is bothering me the most as it seems to be getting worse. Normally i will offer him 250 ml of milk before bed and 250 in the morning. Sometimes he wont take much milk before bed it ranges between 125 and 200, he will drink all his milk in the morning but then if he has his milk say around 7 when he gets up he doesn't want his cereals. However, he does drink all his milk i give him in the night. last night at at 3 i gave him 125ml and normally if its around 5 or 6am i give him 250ml. i am worried i have started a bad habit that will be hard to stop or is it some other sort of anxiety. My brother things henry is just more aware of his surroundings and is trying to take control of situations. please please help!

[Layla]

Hi T & welcome!

I do think that the bottle/milk has become a prop. I would stop feeding him until your desired wake up time. I would do wi/wo instead of giving the bottle for nightwakings. Here's the link https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=63896.0

He is at an age where it might seem he wants to take control. Also good idea to post on the "discipline" forum on some ideas how to help him get through the hitting, etc....

How is he sleeping during the day? What time is bedtime?

[T]

Hello, thank you for you reply. I think your right about not feeding at night. I will have a look at the discipline link. Re: the sleep he has a nap from 1 to 3. He normally has the full 2 hours.

one other thing it occured to me yesterday that maybe we should change his bedtime routine. at the moment he has his bath then he is offered his milk, he will drink his milk whilst playing in the living room, before being taken for his teeth cleaned then bed. We did try some time ago to read to him but he is so active that he wouldn't sit still he would be shouting and grabbing the book or if he was in bed he would be trying to get up to play and ignore the story. Last night after his bath whilst he was having his milk i sat with him in semi darkness for 15 mins in his room reading to him and cuddling. He slept right though but i don't know if this was because he was so tired from the night before or if he was more settled before bed. 

[Layla]

It will definitely help to keep the last 30mins before bedtime fairly low-key so if there is a need for a change of routine, stick with it & see how you go.

Fingers crossed for a good night again