Hi everyone -

I need advice.

My 20 months old daughter have been having sleeping regression (maybe not the right term), as she keeps waking up every 1 hour or 2 hours in the middle of the night. And she needs milk to go back to sleep. This has been going on for almost 2 months.

We consulted pediatricians, and tried their suggested method such as:

1. Give more milk/food before she sleeps
2. Give less milk/food before she sleeps and less milk during the napping hour (as Dr said that it could be that they just thirsty)
3. Ignoring the cry - this is the worst as she will cry louder and even go to hit both my wife and I to wake us up.

All above doesn't really help.

Can someone please advise if you have any similar experience?

We've not been having good rest at night. My daughter also need sleep for her development. And I don't want to give milk every time she wakes up as the same pediatrician informs me that it is bad for my daughter's teeth.

well, the trick is 1 hour before bed feed baby cereal. we also had this issue until we discovered this method. Then their sleeping pattern will slowly change from 1-2 hours to 3-4 then move up slowly.

have you tried other methods without milk?
like maybe pacifier (i know this is not recommended as many parents want to avoid this) but just to understand is she really that hungry or finding comfort? toddler usually drink milk when they are hungry or finding comfort like an addiction to smoking etc..
if she's hungry, try to address the hungry part before she sleeps.. if she's no hungry, understand why she cant sleep comfortably.. like maybe too cold/hot? bed too hard/soft?

dont let her sleep during the day. keep her active.
keep the room dark, total darkness. tape off the led of your aircond

Yes we put cerelac in her milk before she goes to bed. Right before she sleeps - about 6 oz. She stills wakes up.

But she is a very active girl right now. So maybe 6oz is not enough?

Yes. Pacifier as well. At first it work, but after 1 week or so, it started happening again. Guess only manage to "trick" her for a week.

Hmmmm..never tried adjusting the air cond as we always assume she is hot (she don't like blankets and dont want to wear long sleeves). Maybe I should give it a try tonight.

Does bed has effects? Dont think her bed is too hard/soft.

is she overweight ? is she super active type ?

if No to 1st question and Yes to following question, just feed them, don't worry, habit will change over the time, my son has the same pattern last time, every 2 hrs definitely need milk but he's active and still slightly underweight, lolz

as long as they can drink and not puke out then it's fine, susah a few more months then pattern might change

Funny thing is, I think she sleeps better during the day in the middle of our living room, with no aircond. Just normal fan.

I would like to wake her up, but considering she has not been sleeping well at night, I choose not to disturb her as much. But we just watch TV etc like normal even though she is sleeping.

then you have your root cause.

dont let her sleep during day. keep playing, eating. keep her stimulated

at night sure sleep like a baby.

i'm just giving bed examples .. the bed could have different factors like maybe the fragrance, pillow too high/low, too hard/soft..
is she sleeping upwards or downwards? maybe have her sleeping downwards she will feel more secured and comfort.

Yes. This is similar. very active. Hopefully will change soon.

But she sleeps most probably 2 hours at noon. By night she has not slept for more than 8 hours. She should have been tired right?

I'll try to increase the room temperature tonight and see if that works. Will try to put downward too. Thank you so much for your advice.

Post your 24hr routine here so we can advice better.