Getting out of the room????

[lilipickles mum]

Hi
Lili is a great little sleeper really and we have done each step at the right time with sleep and she has adapted well.  The only 2 problems seem to be that she does not consistently go to sleep on her own in her room.  I have to stay in the room (back to her and ignoring her)and she goes to sleep after a bit of oohing and cooing and mucking about (she is 15 months).  If I leave the room (both telling her and just slipping out) she is fine for a while but then starts to call Mum and then starts crying and it goes on from there on the odd occassion though she has just gone off to sleep with no fuss.  I have looked through but cannot find anything so wondered if there were any techniques or tips.  Also she has for some reason started waking up between 1.30 and 3am and keeps saying milk although I am fairly sure she is not hungry she does drink the bottle and then points to her cot and goes back to sleep so I do not know if she really is hungry and perhaps I need to fit a snak or two in the day or if I have encouraged this by giving her milk the first time and now it is a habit?

[GG]

If she drinks her milk and then points to her cot afterwards it sounds as if she really is hungry.  As you mentioned, add a snack during the day (make sure it's not something sugary because this will be burned off quickly and will not satisfy for later).  If she keeps waking up at the same time at night then you know it's out of habit.

As for her not sleeping unless you are in the room, it seems you have become a prop.  Put her down for a nap and leave the room.  Do not go back in unless she is crying (and not just calling your name or whining).  If she gets up or tries to get out, go into the room, put her back down and leave.  You will definitely meet resistence but unless you want to keep being the prop, you need to fix this now.

[lilipickles mum]

Hi
Wel  your advice worked wiht getting out of the room and she is now going to sleep in the room on her own both in the afternoon and at bedtime.  We still have a problem with the waking up for milk at night infact last night she woke at 1.30am for milk and 4.30 am for milk.
Her routine is up at around 7am and then we have breakfast by around 8/8.30 (she will not deal with food until she has been up around an hour) then we have a snack at around 10.30 something like raisins and a cheese straw or a pear and some cheese.
Then she has lunch at about 12ish and then afternoon nap is at 1ish and that is for 2 - 2 and a half hours so at about 3.30 she is back up and we have dinner at 5 pm and milk at 7/7.15 before bed at 7.30 and we have not had to feed her during the night since she was about 9 months old until the last 3 weeks.  It is always 1.30 or 4.30am and as I said for the first time last night she wanted milk both times but straight after points to bed and off she goes to sleep. 
She does seeem to have in a real routine though, we get the milk from the fridge and heat it in the microwave and while it is heating a couple of times I went off to the toilet and so now as soon as I put the milk in the microwave she starts saying wee wee as if to say ' and this is what you do next Mummy'.  She does always finish all the milk though.
If anyone has any suggestions I would appreciate it
Thanks Lisa

[GG]

Maybe she's not getting enough food during the day so she's hungry at night.  However, if she's waking up consistently at the same times every night, it's much more likely that it's out of habit.  You'd have to wake her earlier (do a wake-to-sleep), just before the usual time she wakes up, to get her unused to waking up at that time.

If she gets up at different times, then she's probably still hungry.  Try giving her more food somewhere during her day.