Sleep training question

[Anonymous]

I can't believe I'm asking a question about sleep training when my son is 19 months old, but here goes...
I've been nursing him at around 4 a.m. every morning, after which he goes back to sleep until 6:30 or 7. It wasn't my favorite thing in the world, but it worked, so I didn't mess with it. But with a recent illness he basically weaned himself from all nursing (I was also doing it at bedtime and when he woke up for the day). HOWEVER, now that he's not wanting to nurse, this doesn't mean he's not waking up at 4 a.m. He's STILL waking up then and wanting me to hold him, and he won't let me put him down. If I let him cry, I'm pretty sure he's going to scream his head off for a couple of hours 'til it's time to wake up - he's just always been incredibly bad at going back to sleep at that hour. What do we do?!? I'm absolutely at my wits end. How do I deal with this early morning nonsense??? Thanks so much in advance.

[Anonymous]

It might just take a few days of crying for him to learn. I know it's hard, but it will make things better in the long run.

[Anonymous]

At this age letting him cry might be harmful. I think he might see it as a betrayal and not understand why mommy won't give him love in the night. I'd ride it out while his body adjusts to not having milk when he wakes up. He is also adjusting to weaning and needs a little reassurance. Meet his need and the need will go away. Good luck - I went through this with my son (at a later age) and it did resolve.

[Anonymous]

Maybe try comfort without picking him up and then slowly comforting from further away. Maybe at first rub his back and/ or sing him a song. Next comfort him with your voice from a distance. Tell him it's still dark out and he needs to go back to sleep, things like that. I haven't tried this-- they are just ideas from the many sleep books I've read but not yet implemented for my 10 month old!

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Here goes my story: my son also woke up in the morning. if it was before 5 am, he fell asleep on his own after we reassured him. after 5 am, it was difficult to get back to sleep, so we started to give him his morning bottle and he fell quickly back to sleep for another 1-2 hours. Now, he is 19 months old, we recently decided to quit the bottle in the morning. The morning we didn't give him the bottle, he cried and screamed from 4:00 am to 5:00 am and then fell asleep. He hasn't woken up since at this time. Although he's wake-up time is now at 6am, only sometimes he sleeps another hour ..... I couldn't have let him cried when he was younger but now it's protest cry what I can handle for the sake of changing this habit. Depending on the temper of your child, you may have to think on how best to change his behaviour because at this age they get very assertive and then it may get more difficult.

[Anonymous]

I think it may be more of a habit for DC versus need - which makes it a little difficult. I'm not a fan of cry it out, so I second pp who suggests trying to soothe and wean from waking up at this hour. Eventually should be able to break the habit if there is no need for the feeding/wake up. Good luck!