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I’m Dana Obleman, creator of The Sleep Sense Program.
This week’s question is from Hailey, who says:
“Charlie George always wants a drink in the night and he goes mad if his pacifier falls out of his mouth. He’s going to be 2 in December. Please help me!”
This is another very common question. A lot of toddlers wake for bottles or pacifiers, in the night. The main thing you need to think about Hailey is when you put Charlie George to bed at night. You want to make sure that while he can have a bottle in his routine, once the bedtime routine is finished you are putting Charlie George in his crib without a bottle and without his pacifier.
I know a lot of sleep specialists have said that a soother is okay in the night but what a lot of babies and toddlers run into is that if the actual act of falling asleep is done with a soother in their mouths and they wake in the night with no soother, they usually need someone to come in and help make the journey back into sleep.
If you’re lucky, your toddler will be able to find his soother on his own in the night and get it back but most children, especially babies, cannot. So, my best advice to you is to teach Charlie George how to sleep without a soother and when you do your bedtime routine, put him in his crib with no soother.
Now, of course you’re going to go through a night or a few nights of protest, from Charlie George but follow the steps in the program where you stay in the room to be supportive, and he will learn a new way to fall asleep. Then, when he wakes in the night, he won’t be looking for his soother any more because he’ll already know what to do to get himself back to sleep! Similar with a bottle. If he’s waking for a bottle in the night, you want to make sure he’s not falling asleep with that bottle at bedtime and that he’s learning the skills for getting himself to sleep, right from the get-go. If he wakes in the night, I wouldn’t be giving him a bottle, especially if he is well over the age of 1. He’s going be 2 soon so I would suggest you just go into his room, tell him it’s still night and not offer a bottle.
I hope that helps, and thanks for your question Hailey! Sleep well.
Baby Not Sleeping Through The Night?
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Cry-it-out? Coddle? Co-sleep? Attachment parenting? Ferberizing? If you’re going to let me help you with
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Dana’s Sleep Blog
Straight talk about sleep, parenting, babies, toddlers, relationships… and just about anything else! My blog is a great place to find opinions, advice, the occasional rant, and some great videos about sleep.
My husband and I have so much time for each other now in the evenings and not worried about waking him up. Once he is sleeping, he rarely wakes up to noises. I even hosted 8 friends last week while he was sleeping. I thought the noise would wake him but not a peep! I can’t express enough gratitude for you writing this book, you have sincerely changed our lives! Thank you so much!
Kim Connor
Jill Guttridge
“I must say the program is nothing short of a miracle…our little baby was 5 1/2 months when we did it… and it’s changed all of our lives. I didn’t have much faith to be honest… but it all unfolded as your book indicated, much to our delight. Ryder sleeps through the night and naps like a baby!
Jill Guttridge
Karianne Wanggaard
“Why didn’t we try this sooner? As we speak he is sound asleep in his crib – and has been since 7:15pm. We are so pleased to get the evenings to ourselves again, and Tinius – who has always been a very happy boy – is even more happy now!”
Karianne Wanggaard
Jennifer Brahsear
“I ordered the sleep sense program and had wonderful results.
Tyler slept through the night without any crying by the second night.Thank you for the information, it really helped!!”
Jennifer Brahsear
Fiona O’Connor
“I would like to say a huge “Thank You” to you. Your system is well explained and well researched and had worked wonders in our house. It is like Hannah is saying “Thank you Mommy – I really needed this”, she is so happy since we began.”
