Our night went like this:

[MommatoAandA]

I am now sitting in bed and ready to literally jump off a bridge.

at 6:30, Anna seemed tired, so we gave her her bottle with 2 oz of prewatered juice and 7 oz of more water. She fell asleep, at 7:15 she woke up after I BEGGED my 3 year old to be something that resembled quiet. I tried to put Anna back down, to no avail. I put her down and walked out of my house (DF was there). I took a 30 minute drive, cried and screamed. I came home, Anna was asleep. Or so I thought. She "slept" long enough for me to get out my things to study for my final, my TEAS test, My 3 chapter exam, and write my lab report. She started to fuss again. So I shared my peanut butter sundae with her. Played with her for about 30 minutes and put her to bed again. NOPE, up again. So we got her up and played for about 15 minutes and tried again. NOPE. A jar of cinnamon raisin granola, a cup of milk, cheerios, and her poo bear, a dose of tylenol, and back in bed.

she is fianlly asleep and OMG, my nerves are fried. No studying or paperwriting for me tonight.. UGH

[Maluhia]

If I gave my DD juice before bed (even watered down) and items with natural or other sugars in it she'd be up a lot too - could you work on something less stimulating? Maybe she is getting to an age where she reacts to this even if she did not before?

[Chamomile Girl]

Agree with the above. Sugar at night is a bad path to sleepyness. At least for my kid.

[Carley]

I'm sure you thought of this, but is there anyone who can watch her for you?

[Artichokie]

I'm unclear why your 1 yr old is getting juice at bedtime. Juice is not only full of sugar but can promote caries in her teeth. And then you gave her ice cream? These seem like poor choices for any baby but especially one that you want to have sleeping. I'm not trying to make you defensive - I'm genuinely confused about all the sugar so close to bed.

[MommatoAandA]

Thanks for the advice, I should have really said I was just venting.

She is teething, has a bad diaper rash, and just had some vaxes last week. Most likely just reacting to that, honestly. She is having a growth spurt too, so the rice and beans, chicken and sweet potatoes for dinner at 545 just didn't cut it.

Really it was like 1 oz of apple juice to 8 oz of water. She is milk intolerant (I can only get about 6 ounces in her per day and it has to be 3 oz servings with 6 oz of water at opposite ends of the day, still carries sugars. We have tried all dairy/milk subsitutes, even vanilla flavored and she refuses them. Water, is a joke unless there is a splash of juice in there to flavor it and trick her. I will not go back to formula either, 6 months was enough, she will drink all her meals which is absurd since she is now accepting real food and eating a varied diet of real food, not canned pwdered fatty junk stuff (I am not a fan of formula). She will not take any expressed breastmilk, donor or mine, hence why when I went back to work we stopped nursing. So if anyone has some other suggestions, please feel free, I am willing to try anything. I do brush her teeth in the AM, afternoon, and night. Its either a little juice or she cries, she has never liked to be rocked or held, she will scream if you try to rock or hold her (she was always that way).

As for the ice cream, meh, she wanted some and had 3 bites of just the plain vanilla out of my sundae. We are really trying to explore texture and new foods. It calmed her down and honestly I was at the end of my rope. I don't think ice cream is a poor choice. We are really not that uptight about food in my house.

Ice cream seemed like the lesser of possible evils.

Like mentioned above it was honestly just a vent.

[MommatoAandA]

Originally Posted by Carley

I'm sure you thought of this, but is there anyone who can watch her for you?

That was mostly the annoyance that there happened to be the other party in teh house who made her, ie: dad, who had working out and tv on his agenda, so I got stuck with baby duty while he went out worked out, cleaned his truck then was watching his fave shows while I needed to study and at least try to stretch out my back injury so I can try and return to work next week... I was pretty frustrated between all I had going on and his complete ignorance to my situation.

[D_McG]

I wouldn't stress about the juice but I'd change things up. That's a lot of fluid before bed. She probably had to pee.

A hearty dinner and a small snack, little liquid. Cuddle to sleep. It might work better.

[MommatoAandA]

see thats the thing, I got one of those weird babies who like to fall asleep alone and cannot cuddle to sleep. She just doesn't do it... She coslept until I went back to work and then I put her in her pack and play which she really loves. She needs to suck to sleep still though and will not take a paci and I have tried nursing but she won't do that either. one of the kids that will take the bottle OR the breast never both.

Last night she had:

Home made rice and beans
1.5 jars of pureed chicken and sweet potatotes with her milk and then the water/juice for bed. SHe did have a bowel movement and that caused one of the wakeups.

I then proceeded to feed her the jar and a half of pureed granola/apples/raisins. that is a lot of food! I wish she would eat more regular table food rather than the baby food stuff. But she is still learning to chew with her 4 front teeth (she just got them).

And yeah it is tons of fluid. I still have to get up and change her diaper once or twice a night because she leaks out if not. But I feel bad taking the bottle away, we tried that and things got awful, some nights made me literally want to throw up from the stress of her crying.

[Serenyd]

And demand more help from DH. Seriously, he should be helping you out more. You deserve better.

[D_McG]

My little girl has trouble falling asleep with me, too lately.

She's just a baby. I think you're doing fine. If you can control the liquids around bedtime it might help (helps here) but otherwise it'll all settle down in time!

[EdnaMarie]

I was going to post along the lines of, ice cream makes my children hyper bouncy monsters, but I see it was more of a vent for you. I still think that sugars were not helping your situation. It's not that we don't do any sugar, but if we do... it is not before bedtime.

Is she lactose intolerant or cannot have dairy? If it's lactose, can you blend some yoghurt for her? Bananas also have sleep-inducing qualities. Better yet, yoghurt and banana blended together? That goes through a sippy if you take out the stopper.

[MommatoAandA]

DF- ugh yeah, we aren't going to talk about how I feel about him these days.

Edna- I love the yogurt/sippy idea! she loooves bananas. I wonder if she would take that!

As for her sensitivity to milk I am uncertain. She was always sort of loose on formula. when we switched to milk it got worse. She had a day where she had 17 bms in 24 hours. it was not good. If I limit hr milk intake it is less loose and not as frequent. Yogurt and ice cream seem to be fine.

I will try to limit the fluids. I just wish she nursed and co-slept and we were in a better kind of place to be doing the SAHM thing. UGH. I just do not have that kind of stability to be doing that. Thats a long story though. Anyway, thanks everyone.

[EdnaMarie]

I'm a SAHM and I can't co-sleep, either. So I can totally understand. Good luck finding out the source of the intolerance.

[sweetkid]

If my lactose intolerant had ANY dairy at all in her first 2 years of life she was up for hours at night! Now she is almost 4 and can have cheddar cheese and yogurt and sleeps just fine. Maybe thats it.

You sound Ubber busy too!! Hang in there Momma!!

[Strong Mama]

Long shot here but my ds between the ages of 9-18 months just couldnt sleep well if he had protein at the last meal. I guess it was hard for him to digest at night. So I gave him his protein at lunch and supper was usually cereal/fruit/grahmn cracker and yougurt and he slept fine. A nutritionist actually pointed this out to me. I would have never guessed it to be the culprit. I thought it was teething.

[MommatoAandA]

Ohhh all good suggestions...

Protein is harder to digest and its more easily worked off when you are actively using it during the day. HMMM She did settle after I gave her the granola.

We TRY to keep dairy products for earlier afternoon/morning.

Poor kid. I am probably overloading her with food that bugs her little tummy...

[Minxie]

Originally Posted by MommatoAandA

Last night she had:

Home made rice and beans
1.5 jars of pureed chicken and sweet potatotes with her milk and then the water/juice for bed. SHe did have a bowel movement and that caused one of the wakeups.

Is it possible she also had some gas? If my tummy hurt, I'd be awake all night, too.

[Carley]

Originally Posted by MommatoAandA

That was mostly the annoyance that there happened to be the other party in teh house who made her, ie: dad, who had working out and tv on his agenda, so I got stuck with baby duty while he went out worked out, cleaned his truck then was watching his fave shows while I needed to study and at least try to stretch out my back injury so I can try and return to work next week... I was pretty frustrated between all I had going on and his complete ignorance to my situation.

Grr! That totally sucks! I TOTALLY understand a vent (or a bagillion!)

[Mama Lo]

Originally Posted by MommatoAandA

That was mostly the annoyance that there happened to be the other party in teh house who made her, ie: dad, who had working out and tv on his agenda, so I got stuck with baby duty while he went out worked out, cleaned his truck then was watching his fave shows while I needed to study and at least try to stretch out my back injury so I can try and return to work next week... I was pretty frustrated between all I had going on and his complete ignorance to my situation.

Men can be very oblivious to our struggles sometimes. But before "demanding" his help, have you tried talking to him. When I get frustrated with my hubby and wait until I'm hot to say something, he always gently reminds me that he can't read my mind and no he really doesn't see my frustration or struggle. He NEEDS me to ask him for help or tell him that I need his help. I have x,y, and z that I really need to do, could he wait and clean his truck another time. You really need his help