KateW

What a stressful time for you all. I'm so sorry that you're having to deal with all this. How long a nap is he having during the day? I agree that he needs some sleep during the day, but I'm wondering if he is having too much sleep during the day and that is contributing to his night waking?

Buggie, I think that the issue with the HV's advice is that the baby is 4 WEEKS OLD. If the baby was 20 weeks old, then yes, maybe a suggestion to the parent to start trying to help the baby to nap in a cot, would have been appropriate. I would still have questioned the use of the phrase 'bad habits' even then. I would have expected a professional health care worker to understand more the needs of a 4 week old and have more sensitivity to the anxieties of a new Mum. I'm speaking as a very routine-led Mum of a toddler, who worked very hard to get my daughter into good napping 'habits'. I am currently pregnant with our second baby and have ordered a sling so that I can carry my baby for the first few months and will not worry in the slightest about creating 'bad habits' because, like many previous posters have written, nothing can't be fixed from those very early months.

Do you use black out blinds?

Aaaaah, incisors! Our daughter suffered terribly with her canines - her last molars were a walk in the park after those! Take heart in the fact that, if he is eating well, it is most likely his teeth that are causing him to wake early. My daughter would cry out in pain at 3/4am when cutting her canines: I would give her Nurofen, a quick cuddle, then back in her cot and she would sleep til 6/7am. When I knew she was teething, I would often just curl up on a mattress in her room and dose until she went back to sleep. I

We have a little girl who is 2.5 and I'm pregnant with a little boy, due in October (there will be a 3 year age gap). I feel so lucky that we are going to have one of each; I think it will be really interesting to experience being a parent to both a boy and a girl. I grew up with a younger sister (18 months age gap) and we certainly aren't close; at times we've had a very turbulent relationship (she has often suffered raging jealousy towards me in the past - regarding marriage, children etc - no idea why as she is happily married with a 7 month old baby girl!) so I have never been under the illusion that having a sister guaranteed a life-long friend. Like Jollybaby, I have more girlfriends who have positive relationships with their brothers than do with their sisters. That said, I was convinced that we were having another girl (just a feeling) so it took a little while to sink in that I was having a boy. Couldn't be more chuffed now. Hope you start to feel less anxious soon x

At 16 months, he will be getting/should be getting all the nourishment he needs from his daily intake of food; in other words, milk at bedtime is more of a comfort/enjoyment thing rather than a necessity. If you are worried he is waking hungry, I would up his calorie intake during the day. Also, sorry, but I disagree with Minder about the earlier nap: if little ones wake early and then have their first nap early, this reinforces the early waking because their body clock knows they will be able to catch up on the sleep in a few hours after waking. The theory behind pushing through to a later morning nap (yes, lots of 16 month olds still have a quick morning cat nap) is to break the waking early habit, so they have a quick cat nap, before a big nap after lunch. By the time he is managing on just a 10 minute nap, you can drop this out altogether and push on through until after lunch. Just a thought.

Our daughter, who was a brilliant sleeper both for naps and through the night at that age, did like to wake up early (5.30am ish) until we dropped her morning nap at 14 months. Once we stopped giving her that 15 minute catnap, she had one long nap after lunch and that cracked the early waking (never woke before 6.15am after that and only early if teething). I would: 1) Agree an acceptable get-up time for you (say 6am) and don't get him up before then. 2) Stop giving him the BF when he wakes. We gave our daughter her breakfast first, then milk, to stop the association of getting milk on waking up. 3) Tell him it's still night time and tell him to go back to sleep. Reassure him, but don't get him out of the cot and tell him that you are going back to sleep. 4) Ignore his shouts. he will soon learn to lie quietly (and hopefully go back to sleep) 5) Be consistent. Agree a plan and see it through. It can take a week or 2 to combat early waking. 6) Our daughter always woke early when teething and we found Nurofen eased her pain much better than calpol. 7) She adapted better than I thought she would at pushing through until lunch for her nap. Very quickly she was on 1-3pm nap. 8) Get to bed early yourselves and accept that, for the time being, you have an early riser. I found accepting the situation was a big help to me. 9) good luck. Early mornings are a killer!

Alphablocks on Cbeebies followed up by the Alphablocks books. We do little 5 minute bursts of the programme followed by the book and my daughter loves it. At 2 and a half, she can phonetically spell her name and can certainly recognise most of the letters by their phonetic sounds.

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We do a lot like Fuschia, plus: Toasted bagel with cream cheese Wraps with cheese and ham Fish cakes Cheese and crackers Beans and toast Cheese and tomato flatbreads (from Sainsburys)

My daughter (now 29 months) has always been a pretty good sleeper and I did a 10.30pm feed (woke her, not a dream feed) religiously til she was about 5 months old. (She was BF til 3 months then formula). I stopped because, despite having a late feed, she never slept later than 5.30am, when she would wake, have a feed then I'd try and get her back to sleep til 7am. So, at 5 months, I just stopped giving her the feed and she slept from 7pm til 5.30am, quick feed then get her back to sleep til 7am. meant I could go to bed at 9pm and have a better sleep. Have you tried just not giving it to him?

My daughter didn't walk until 17/18 months; don't worry, they all get there at their own pace! She was a really early talker though and has been chatting away in sentences from a young age. My HV said they often focus on developing a certain skill at one time, so in my daughter's case, it was verbal communication early, walking later.

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We bought the Little Tikes Wooden Kitchen for our 26 month old daughter a few months ago. It wasn't cheap, but we figured it was probably something she would play with for years. It's fantastic and she plays with it every single day. It has lots of cupboards to open and keep things in, which she loves.

At 6 months, my daughter just started to be able to resettle herself after one sleep cycle and so she started sleeping a good 2 hours at lunchtime (following a shorter 30-40 min nap in the morning, which I woke her from). She was never able to sleep longer than one sleep cycle in the pram or car, she just seemed quite sensitive to noise and light. So, from about 6 months I made sure we did her big sleep at home, in a blacked out room and she would sleep 2 hours easily. I used to love the time to myself and often just slept or read or watched tv. Bliss.

I tried offering DD milk from a cup every month or so from when she turned one. Point blank refused it. Then, a week before she turned 2, I gave her breakfast milk in a cup and she drank it without batting an eyelid. I switched her bedtime milk a few days later and, again, no issue. Just keep offering it to her and try not to worry. DD speech is excellent and no issues of tooth decay. She's a good little tooth brusher.

No other tips, I'm afraid, just delighted that someone else's daughter also has a 'foo foo'!

How long has he been waking in the night for? Growth spurts (in my LO) seemed to last about a week or so, then she would settle back down to normal eating/sleeping, so I wouldn't worry if it has only been a week or so; I'd keep offering milk in that case. For us (at nearly 2 years) she always wakes in the night (for a brief cry) when the tooth is actually cutting through the gum. If you're worried that you're creating a habit, offer less and less milk each time, or just go cold turkey and don't offer milk. You might have to prepare yourself for a few tears, but only do that if you're sure he's not waking through hunger or teeth/illness.

Part of me thinks that if she is sleeping 12 hours at night, I wouldn't change anything! BUT, I know when my daughter was that age (she's nearly 2 now), I relished those lovely 2 hour+ naps after lunch. At 10 months old, my DD was on one short nap in the morning and a big nap after lunch. The logic being that a quick cat nap kept her going in the morning and a long nap after lunch meant she was nice and refreshed and ready for an afternoon of fun, plus she ate well at tea as she wasn't tired and cracky. Also meant she went to bed easily as not overtired. BUT, it meant waking her from her morning nap, and not everyone is prepared to do that. (Why, I don't know!) Anyways, I would put her down in her cot around 9.30am, she'd nod off after about 15 mons and I let her sleep 15 mins then woke her. This meant we were out of the house just after 10am and had the morning to do stuff. Home by 12pm, lunch then in bed about 12.30pm, took about 10 mins to nod off, then woke her after 2 hours (she sometimes stirred, but I would leave her to resettle, which she did 9/10). If I had let her sleep for longer in the morning (so half hour or more), she would have only slept for one sleep cycle (35-45 mins) after lunch as she would not have been tired enough to go back to sleep. She would then have been cranky all afternoon. At 14 months, we dropped her morning nap and brough her lunchtime nap forward slightly, until she got used to it, then it was about 1-3/3.15pm for ages, now at 2 years, she has an hour from 1.30-2.30pm. I still miss her lovely long naps! (We cut it shorter when she started waking earlier in the morning). Hope that helps! (BTW, you may find that if she does the above, she might reduce her night time sleep, as she'd go from 1.5 hrs to 2hr 15 mins naps, which might reduce her night sleep).

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My daughter is nearly 2 and still has her milk in a bottle in the morning and after her bath. Like the other posters, she happily drinks water from a normal cup and a straw cup but no way will she have her milk from one. We clean her teeth after her bedtime bottle so I'm not worried in the slightest. Her speech is excellent so I've no worries there either. I decided long ago this was one battle I wasn't going to fight; like all things, I've realised, she'll do it when she's ready. Good to read the other posts and realise that she's not the only one!

Yes, totally agree that it is really tricky if you're all sharing a room. Nothing to suggest I'm afraid, just sending hugs xx

I'd second Cornelia's suggestion. We did spaced soothing at 9 months when DD was waking up earlier and earlier (4.30am) but not needing a feed. I went in to her (but didn't pick her up, just stroked her face and reassured her with my voice) first after one minute, then 2,3,4, 5 then 10 minute intervals until she stopped crying and went to sleep. First night was awful and it took 1hr 45mins, but second night she slept through, third night took 10 minutes then she never woke again. My husband was fully supportive and gave me hugs and reassurance as I was doing it. She woke happy and smiley the next day! I wouldn't hesitate to do it with number 2 if needed, as it worked so well. I'm also glad we did it whilst she was young and couldn't stand up in her cot crying 'Mummy', as I would have found that heart breaking. Just a small warning; my friend still does gives her son a breast feed when he wakes in the night and then he demands to go in their bed. He's 2 and a half. She also thought he would have naturally grown out of it by now but he shows no sign of wanting to stop. Best of luck with it x

We just used Eva's travel cot downstairs instead of a playpen and it worked just fine. I had fully intended getting a playpen with bars but we never needed it in the end. Upstairs, I'd put her in her cot with toys and books while I showered (still do at 21 months). We still put her in the travel cot for short spells (hanging washing out etc like you said) til she was about 14/15 months. She was a late walker though, didn't walk til 17 months. As for the unplugging things, just keep consistently telling him no and move him away, even if you have to do it 20 times. It's a bummer at the time and you feel like all you're doing is moving him away from things but he will get it in the end. Eva soon learnt what were her toys and what were 'Mummy or Pappa's things'.