Ask Jill & Jennifer - Modern Mom's Sleep Experts

Question:

Hello!

I have 2 children, a 3 ½ year old son and a 2 year old daughter. We have major sleep issues.

My son is still on a bottle at night time. He uses this as a crutch to fall asleep. He has a history of poor sleeping due to sleep apnea. We had his tonsils and adenoids removed 4 months ago. This surgery did help him sleep somewhat better, however we are stuck with the bottle now as it was the only thing that got him to sleep in the past, he has learned to depend on it. He has his own bed in his own room, but likes for me to lay with him. I tried the Ferber method with my son when he was 11 months old and he ended up crying for 4 hours straight and I had a melt down.

My daughter is just turning two this month. She has a pacifier that she is addicted to, both for sleep and at times during the day. I need advice on how to get my children off of the bottle and pacifier.

I am very sleep-deprived and in desperate need of help.

Thank you, Candace

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Question: I have two sons -- one is 27 months old and the other is 10 months old. My 27 month old slept right through the night at 4 months and now sleeps 10 – 12 hours a night plus a 2-hour nap during the day. My 10 month old is the exact opposite. He wakes up 2 – 3 times during the night. I used to feed him every time thinking that he was hungry but now I only feed him when he wakes up after 6am in the morning. His evening schedule so far is kind of like this; dinner at 6, bath at 7:30, breastfeed at 8, story and bedtime at 8:30, asleep by 9.

At night he wakes up anywhere between 1am and 3am but without picking him up I am able to rub his back and he falls back to sleep within a minute. (Sometimes waking within 20 min but back to sleep with a back rub). Then he wakes up again three hours later roughly between 4am and 6am and this time he is wide awake and standing in his crib. So I usually cave in and feed him to get him back to sleep. Sometimes I breastfeed, sometimes I give him a fruit cup. He then falls asleep anywhere from 10 minutes to 1 hour later and then he is up for the day at 8am. I have tried feeding him some cereal after breastfeeding at the 8pm feeding but it didn’t help. He still follows this pattern even if we had a late night out and he gets to bed at 10pm. Is this now a routine for him? If so how should I attempt to change it?

He does have two naps during the day. They are not consistent either. Some days they are 15 min for one and three hours for the other one. Then some days he will nap for 20 min each nap and want another nap around dinner.

My first son was such an easy baby I am really lost with this son. I am sure I just have to adjust a few things but I don’t know what to adjust. (I know that sleep deprivation is normal but not getting more than 2 hours of sleep at one time after 10 months is really doing a number on my brain).

What is it that I am not doing properly? Should I be feeding him when he wakes at night?

Help!

- Cheryl 

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Question:

My 15 mo. old LOVES her naps. She likes to nap around 9-10 a.m., usually for at least an hour, and I put her down again at around 2 p.m. and she sleeps for 2 hours then. I normally have to wake her from both naps.

She has gone from waking at 6 or 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 or 6 a.m. We've tried to deprive her of her morning nap with the hope that she would sleep later in the morning. That plan has not worked so far. We just want her to sleep later in the morning. Any suggestions?! - Lori A.

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Question:

I have 2 1/2 boy/girl twins. They have just transitioned into "big girl" and "big boy" beds - their cribs convert into toddler beds. The main reason for doing this now was that my son had been basically vaulting out of his crib for the past 2-3 weeks. He never hurt himself, he just wasn't staying in the crib. Since they live in the same room, we decided to move my daughter out of her crib as well.

So the deed is now done. We bought "big" kid bedding, did the song and dance for about a week beforehand on how great this would be. They were all excited. The first night wasn't so bad, there was a lot of getting up and out of bed and such, but since then we've had a hard time keeping them in their beds, especially my son. The good thing is once they are asleep, they stay asleep - no late night visits to mommy and daddy's room (as of yet). We've also had a reluctance to take naps now. Any words of wisdom to help us get them back on a good sleeping routine. They have always been great sleepers and I'd love to keep them that way!

Thanks - Venessa W.

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Question:

I hope you can offer some advice on our little dilemma. My husband and I take turns putting our 2 1/2 year old daughter to bed in the evenings. We both follow the same routine at the same time each night (bath, pajamas, brush teeth, read stories, etc.). She asks us to sit in the chair in her room after we put her in the crib, which we do for about 2 minutes. When my husband gets up to leave, she says "goodnight" and rolls over. If I'm putting her to bed, when I get up to leave, she screams, cries, jumps up and down in her crib, and carries on for sometimes 20 minutes before she settles down to go to sleep. I don't give in and go back in, but she's been doing this for several months now and it's driving me CRAZY! She sleeps wonderfully throughout the night, but I almost dread putting her to bed now because of the drama!

Any suggestions???

Stacey, Virginia Beach, VA

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