I have committed a # 1 NO-NO !! (long)

[Khyan & Sahria's mum]

It's ME again !

I am truly lost for ideas, Khyan has been sick again (ear infection, sinus infection & he is just getting over croup  :cry: ) during all this time he wasn't eating properly and was miserable at nights and well I was just too tired so I gave a bottle in the night  :oops: well 1 night has ended up being 6 it was normally around 3am that he would wake and then a quick bottle (180ml) and he was asleep and I wasn't far behind him.

I gathered that he was relying on this bottle and that things were gonna be pretty yuk if we didn't tackle the issue soon. Well on Thursday night my mum babysat at our house apparently he went to sleep (7.30pm) on his bottle at the beginning of the night then woke at 9pm and she let him finish the bottle and then made him more because he was asking for more and then back to sleep and then he woke at 11.30pm and she gave him another bottle  :shock: that is 500ml in 4 hours  :shock:

So when I got home I assured myself that Friday night we would tackle the problem.

So last night he went to bed at 7pm (took him 30 minutes to settle and he doesn't go to sleep independantly ! ) then he woke at 9pm and I didn't give any bottle just tried to calm him down - he FINALLY settled at 11.30pm and then woke at 1am hysterical again ! At this time I gave him more pain meds and a small bottle (I couldn't last another 2.5 hrs) then he slept till 5.30am.

He was extra fussy last night and he has SOOOO much green snot today and is coughing lots, has horrible sore throat breath and shoving those fists right down the back of his throat - I'm guessing 2 yr molars are moving around alittle.

So what do I do ! I desperately want to just stop all bottles and do sleep training but I have been told by all of you and all experts I have called here not to do anything until we can get the illness sorted out.

He has allergy testing on Monday as I just know that something is working against us - we are giving him lots of help to increase his immunity and try to conquer sickness.

We have a ENT appointment in 6 weeks to try and sort the ears.


But what do I do in the mean time ? Do you think that the horrible night  last night was bottle or lack of bottle related or do you think it was illness/teething related and I should wait a couple more days before getting rid of the bottles ?

Oh I don't know... I am just SOOOOO tired and frustrated.

I just can't do this with a new born too  :cry:

[Nikki~Nathan&Danielle]

I'm thinking it was illness related.

I'm guessing if he's sick he's probably waking up thirsty (unless he's actually hungry from not eating properly during the day).  Have you offered a non-spill sippy of water in the night instead?  You could leave it in the cot/bed for him and show him it's there and ask him to pick it up and have a drink if he wants.  Mind you this hasn't solved our overnight problems and Nathan still wants us to hand him the water bottle in the night, but you could do this as a first step in weaning out the milk at night.

HTH, I know it's tough especially when they're sick.  Nathan still often wakes 3-4 times a night at least 3 nights a week (although he did sleep through for a month when Danielle was born).  Is DH helping out?  My DH has taken over Nathan during the night, so I take care Danielle's wakings - although he's actually lucked out with the worse sleeper so far.

[cora n henry's mom]

It's going to be ok!!!!   Be knd to yourself.  Your hormones are going nuts and everything is probably feeling very out of control.  Don't worry about a newborn.  Not YET!

Is he eating well during the day again?  Are night time bottles still necessary?  If not, just go cold turkey back to what you were doing before he was sick.  Pretend that this is always how you've done it.  Give him medicine like ibuprofen or if that makes you nervous, tylenol at bedtime to be sure that he's not waking out of pain.  If you know he's had enough food during the day, then sleep train him-  my preferred method was a paci in place of a bottle when he wakes, but some don't like that.  Pat shush or pick up putdown, or whatever you use that he knows.  Personally, I think that if you wait until he's completely healthy, you may have a lot more work for yourself later.  You need to remain consistent to a certain extent even when they're sick.

[Carmela's Mom]

Wow I didn't realize that Kyan was 18 months too...My daughter is 18 months and I'm 8 weeks pregnant   How funny.

It seems to me that you are only giving Kyan the bottle to soothe him.  At 18 months, there really is no benefits of a bottle, as they don't really need it.  Thus, my suggestion would be once he's all better to start weaning him from the bottle.  It's going to be hard and rocky but it has to be done because as he gets older, he will just wake more and more to get the bottle. 

I feel for you, being pregnant is tiring and then dealing with sleep traning on top of it, you poor thing.

[elfin]

Hi Michaela,

Oh I feel for you!!!  I would first try by replacing the bottles with water, as that he is probably more thirsty than anything.

How is he feeling now?

[Khyan & Sahria's mum]

Thanks to all of you - It's so nice to know that you are all there for us !

Khyan is running a fever today and pulling his ears like crazy. I think that something is not quite right with him AGAIN.

We have an appointment to see a paed and allergy specialist tomorrow so hopefully we will be able to get on top of the illness issues  :roll:  :?

I have decided to just do whatever till I see the specialist tomorrow and then I'll go from there.

Saying that, he settled quite well last night although he point blank refuses water in the night.

Tonight so far, on the other hand is looking pretty horrible. He is SO overtired, he went to a party with his grandparents and has not had enough sleep by any means  :cry:

He just woke hysterical as he is just too tired and can't stay asleep properly

Anyway thank you for all your support - I just don't know where I would be without your help

xx