My daughter is 15 months old, and has been sleeping through the night for as long as I can remember. She is also an excellent sleeper for naps etc. She has recently regressed, and is not waking up between 1-2am. She totally freaks out and cries so hard, that if I don't go in and pick her up, it's painful! I sit with her, rock her and she calms down, but the minute I lay her back in the crib, it's back to screaming. I have resorted to giving her a 4oz. bottle of milk, but I almost feel bad because I'm not sure if she's waking up due to hunger, but I am feeding her anyway. The bottle does the trick, and she goes back to sleep after. Am I over-worrying? This is so hard because you did actually have your daughter into a great sleep pattern. The tough part is that she has now learned that if she fusses enough, she will get soothed with a bottle. Any attempt to change that pattern now will mean she will escalate her behavior to get soothed the same way. You can either keep giving her the bottle and hope she gets over it or soothe her but without giving her the bottle. You will have to stick with it no matter how upset she gets until she understands there will be no bottle. Giving in while she is really upset only means you have reinforced the escalated behavior. You could also try giving her warm water in the bottle which is not as rewarding as milk and may not be worth waking up for. If you feed her enough during the day and I’m sure you do, she should not need a night feeding at that age. It may be that she is getting her first molars or canine teeth and this may be causing her discomfort. Talk to your Doctor or health care provider about ways to sooth the pain for her if you think that could be the cause.
There are several tried and true sleep programs out there, and they all work differently depending on your child. What works with one may not work on another. The Ferber method can work very well for some kids. It is a bit hard on parents, but when it works, it works. It worked with my first child like a charm but didn’t work at all with my middle child. We settled on the sleep sharing with her and brought her into our bed. She would sleep with us until she slept through the night without waking. I often went to get her as well, even when she was sound asleep so she would wake up with us. That gave her brain a signal that she was always safe. Eventually she had so many experiences where she was safe, that she did not need to wake up or cry to let us know that and with that knowledge she slept through the night on her own. That worked for us and we didn't mind. It may not work for everyone.
The "Baby Whisperer" also has an interesting graduated sleep method that is a little gentler than the Ferber method and can work very well.
It is important to remember not to worry too much. The vast majority of children get over their sleep issues no matter what you do or don't do, and poor sleeping will become a distant memory. These years are temporary and it helps to remember that, chances are, you will not have your teenager sleeping in your bed.
