Everyone in my family and my friend circles would be aware how little my daughter sleeps. It's because I keep complaining about it. You would too, if you had a child who hasn't slept for few hours in a row in the last 2 years and 4 months. There have been many days when the sleep deprivation gets the better of the husband and I.
When I got back from UAE, I realized that the problem has actually worsened, a lot owing to her consumption of large quantities of milk at night. She was going through four whole bottles of milk vs. her usual 1 or maximum 2, which was disrupting everyone's sleep including her own. So much so that the little one who used to wake up on her own everyday at 7:30 - 8am, was now struggling to wake up at 9am. She was clearly sleep deprived.
So I decided enough was enough. Night time bottle feeding was ruining sleep and also probably ruining her teeth. A couple of months ago, her pediatric dentist had asked me to stop it to avoid tooth decay, but we had continued it nevertheless because she seemed to so want it. We just introduced some compensatory behaviours like frequent brushing and cleaning of teeth, but truth be told, that was never in the middle of night, so wouldn't have helped much with the harm caused by night time bottles.
So long story short, I steeled my heart, gathered all the bottles and put them away and told the hubby as well as the helper to not touch them ever again. The hubby went on a business trip during the same time, which was great, because his heart usually isn't as steely when it comes to his daughter. He likes to indulge her once her decibels strike a certain level. So it was all up to me to manage her through the night and I asked the helper - who is the other person with not so steely a heart - to stay put in her own room no matter how much the little one cries during the night.
I braced myself for a few days of major tantrums during afternoon naps and the nights. She is so used to falling asleep with a bottle in her mouth and getting refills throughout the night, so she was expected to put up a fight.
Sure enough, on the first day there was some resistance while falling asleep. She asked for her bottle, I distracted her with stories and rhymes, until at some point in time she fell asleep on her own. And then the magic happened! She slept straight for 7 hours! Not once did she wake up and ask for the milk!!!! She slept through the night right from day one of my mission!
I am grinning from ear to ear as I am writing this because OH-MY-DEAR-GOD I CAN FINALLY SLEEP!!! (Also kicking myself for not having done this any earlier!)
Two days of the mission has now passed with really good results and I can now safely say Mission Accomplished!
When I got back from UAE, I realized that the problem has actually worsened, a lot owing to her consumption of large quantities of milk at night. She was going through four whole bottles of milk vs. her usual 1 or maximum 2, which was disrupting everyone's sleep including her own. So much so that the little one who used to wake up on her own everyday at 7:30 - 8am, was now struggling to wake up at 9am. She was clearly sleep deprived.
So I decided enough was enough. Night time bottle feeding was ruining sleep and also probably ruining her teeth. A couple of months ago, her pediatric dentist had asked me to stop it to avoid tooth decay, but we had continued it nevertheless because she seemed to so want it. We just introduced some compensatory behaviours like frequent brushing and cleaning of teeth, but truth be told, that was never in the middle of night, so wouldn't have helped much with the harm caused by night time bottles.
So long story short, I steeled my heart, gathered all the bottles and put them away and told the hubby as well as the helper to not touch them ever again. The hubby went on a business trip during the same time, which was great, because his heart usually isn't as steely when it comes to his daughter. He likes to indulge her once her decibels strike a certain level. So it was all up to me to manage her through the night and I asked the helper - who is the other person with not so steely a heart - to stay put in her own room no matter how much the little one cries during the night.
I braced myself for a few days of major tantrums during afternoon naps and the nights. She is so used to falling asleep with a bottle in her mouth and getting refills throughout the night, so she was expected to put up a fight.
Sure enough, on the first day there was some resistance while falling asleep. She asked for her bottle, I distracted her with stories and rhymes, until at some point in time she fell asleep on her own. And then the magic happened! She slept straight for 7 hours! Not once did she wake up and ask for the milk!!!! She slept through the night right from day one of my mission!
I am grinning from ear to ear as I am writing this because OH-MY-DEAR-GOD I CAN FINALLY SLEEP!!! (Also kicking myself for not having done this any earlier!)
Two days of the mission has now passed with really good results and I can now safely say Mission Accomplished!
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