what's wrong with him?

Ever since last Sunday, DS will NOT sleep! At daycare yes, at home at night... not a chance. At first we thought it was Daylight Savings Time, but a week later??? He's 16 months old.

I did stop giving him formula (was only getting it as part of his bedtime routine) and instead replaced it with a bottle of half water, half milk. He hasn't increased the quantity of his food at dinner time, would there be a possibility he still needs that formula? I tried putting rice cereal in his bottle last night (we're out of formula anyways) just to add calories and that didn't help, he still woke up screaming... I should also mention that since I've stopped the formula, he'll go through at least 3 bottles at night now of water. The first one will be the milk/water (and rice cereal)mix, the last 2 are just straight water. Before that he'd have 1 bottle of formula nad be good for the night.

We've tried drugging him up on Oral-gel thinking his incoming incisors could be bothering him. doesn't seem to be the case there either, as he will still wake up screaming, even after we put the gel on him...


Once we get him home at night from daycare, he does seem quite a bit clingy. He seems a lot more tired (well duh he stays up all night) and THAT makes him super clingy and super emotional. If DH or I are not immediately holding him, he will scream bloody murder. He doesn't get a toy/snack/object, he starts screaming, etc... you know how they get when they're tired.


What could be causing this? Could he really just still be reeling from DST??? Do I need to re-introduce formula to keep him full all night??

Sorry if this sounds a little rambly, I'm pretty sleep deprived, and just looking for some suggestions that I may not have thought of yet to help my little dude (and me!) sleep..

 

:hug: It could be anything. Do you only use Oragel for teething? I have found using Motrin and teething tablets before bedtime helps ease teething issues through the night. My twosome are not huge fans of Oragel for some odd reason. Could you try giving him a bottle of milk before you start your bedtime routine with him? Has he had problems adjusting to the time change before? I would think if it was the time change, he'd be waking earlier in the morning but all kids handle that different. I hope he will start sleeping better for you soon!

 

I'm having the same issue. DS's BMs have been a bit off though. He doesn't have any issues going to sleep, but has been waking a good 1.5 hours before normal. (getting up at 7 vs 9) This morning was the first time he slept in, so I'm hoping it continues. :hug: He is 18.5 months.

 

Can I ask why you are mixing water and milk? If he is getting hungry at night, I would think that a bottle of milk would give him the calories he needs to stay full.

 

Yes, I forgot, I was going to ask the same thing! Could he be reacting to the milk though? I'm hoping that Evan's issue isn't whole milk.

 

My thought was to try to break his dependancy on the bottle. He doesn't take a paci, so his 'drug of choice' is to take the bottle to help him fall asleep for both naps and night time. If we fill it full of straight milk, he'd go through a 1/2 gallon of milk in 2 days by himself.

He hates plain water (at least in his bottle) so I figured I could wean him of the bottle by doing 1/2 milk, 1/2 water for now, then in a week changing it to 1/4 milk, 3/4 water, etc... The same way we went about weaning him from formula to milk. He's been on milk for awhile so I don't think that is his problem.

That and I don't want him to still be getting to much nutrition from a bottle. I want him to be trying to get most of his nutrition from food.

and the 3rd (and final, I promise!! LOL ) reason is becuase he has to have lactaid milk, and quite frankly, that stuff is EXPENSIVE! a 1/2 gallon (and I can NOT find it in a gallon that is calcium fortified) is more than twice as expensive as a whole gallon of cows milk. And all 3 of my kids have to be on it, so we try to limit them to 1 cup/day.

 

I'm certainly no expert, but one cup of Lactaid doesn't sound like a lot. Have you discussed this with his pedi for suggestions? I'm sorry it's so expensive and all of your kids need it. That's a complete bummer.

Personally, I would try and experiment of giving him as much as he needs for a few days and see if it gets better. My DS is a pretty big milk drinker. If he only had one cup a day, he would be super crabby. Maybe yours are better eaters, but mine are not efficient enough right now to get most all of their calories from food (they are 14 months and a lot of the food ends up on the floor, in their hair, etc).
Do you have a costco or something similar in your area? Can you get Lactaid for a better price?
I really hope it works out for you soon!

 

Well the issue was definetly with the lack of calories at night. Last night I gave him a bottle of milk mixed with more rice cereal (before going to buy more formula) and he slept for a good 5 hours straight after that..

Actually, I'm not sure, cuz I gave him the bottle, goobed him up with Oral-gel, AND gave him some motrin! He is cutting his two incisors so I wasn't really sure WHAT the problem was, but one of the 3 worked! So I went and bought some more formula.

I guess I was used to the twins, who were off formula alltogether by 15 months and only had a sippy cup of water at nighttime and were able to sleep all night. But each child is different..


I should clarify too - the 1 cup of milk/day is at home only. They also get milk at school for lunch. So they will generally get milk for breakfast, lunch and dinner (sometimes we give them juice/water for dinner) and juice with their snacks. On the weekends, yes, I do limit them to 1 cup of milk/day, but this is in addition to them getting milk in their cereal/oatmeal in the moring.

I'll probably (and that's being used very loosely as I'd rather not) keep him using the formula for a while longer. It actually works out to be cheaper than the lactaid.