bad habit- bottle in crib

I have created the bad habit of when one of my girls wakes in the night (they are still in the same room/different cribs) I go to them and give them a small bottle of water to get them back to sleep. they don't take binky's and i am alone most nights b/c my husband works midnight shift so i do what is easier to get them to sleep. i think they like the security of their bottle. i wish i could let them cio but i am not tough enough to do it when i am alone at night and just exhausted. i want to separate them but i also fear that will start a whole new set of issues.

question is: did anyone else's twins wake for water in their bottles or grow attached to their bottles in the crib and what did you do to remedy the situation? I WON'T give them milk in their bottles UNLESS it's almost morning when they are waking (5am or later). They have been horrible eaters so I fear that they are hungry sometimes and give in by morning when their are repeated wakings. I am exhausted and SICK of night wakings at almost a year and a half.

Thanks,

Kate

 

You have got to CIO, and then you will be able to sleep! I would start to gradually reduce the amount of water that you give them over a 1 or 2 week period, and then you give them just the empty bottles. If they are still really wanting the bottles they can keep them, but without water. They will just keep crying for more if you keep allowing it. It's to hard to stop cold turkey, so I would recommend just gradually wheening them, and then maybe offering them a new stuffed animal or blanket that will replace it. Good luck!

 

I give sippy's in their cribs when they go to bed. I realize I'll be paying for this later with potty training, but I'm starting to reduce the amt. they get. They wake up in the a.m. and are thirsty so that solves it for me!

I would try to transition to sippy's maybe for their learning, but I do it

 

My kids never took binkies either, so I did allow bottles in bed. It was my way of sanity.
Anyway, I let them have them until they were 18 months & then traded them for sippies. They didn't protest nearly as much as I expected, and then after only a couple of months with the sippies in bed, they gave that up as well.
You have to decide what works for your family & what you can live with

 

quote:
I give sippy's in their cribs when they go to bed. I realize I'll be paying for this later with potty training, but I'm starting to reduce the amt. they get. They wake up in the a.m. and are thirsty so that solves it for me!


We did the same thing. I think it was more a security thing. Most of the time the water was still in the cup in the morning but just knowing it was there calmed them. They gave them up once they trained.

 

thanks-glad to know i am not the only one! well i gave them sippy's last night to see how that would go and it worked for the first wake up. they didn't seem to notice. the second wake up they protested so i gave them the bottle but less water than usual. hopefully this phases out on it's own...i can't let them scream it's just not in me!\
thanks

 

I also give sippies in bed. Have done this for a while, with no ill effects. Our dentist said it's fine as long as it is a hard top & no milk or juice in it. Usually they are still full when we get up. As logn as you & they are ok with it, who cares???

 

Were in the bad habit club. Not the same habit as yours, but still . Its funny when ours were under a year we always gave them there bottles before bed and then put them to bed. Then for some reason, (I think they were sick) we started putting them down with there milk bottles. They still go down with bottles at nap and bedtime. They have sippies during the day. They drink them before they go to sleep and throw them on the floor lol! So I know they dont' suck on them all night but still I know we have to stop eventually. Your doing what works for you now and you'll stop it when your ready too. I felt reassured when I knew 2 other twin mommies in my old neighborhood that did the same thing and their twins are a year older than mine.