Two year old non-nurser with a need to suck

[becca_howell]

My DS is 2. He pretty much self weaned at 18 months, about the same time I found out I was pregnant. I'm now almost 36 weeks. He is not sleeping well and DH and I are at our wit's end. He drinks 2-3 bottles of water at night. The problem is, he'll super soak down to his sheets and wake screaming. We have to get up, change his diaper, change his sheets, get him calmed down, and hope he doesn't wake DD (3.5). We've tried making sure he has a good protein-rich bedtime snack, but he still typically wants so many refills. It does get worse when he's about to cut a tooth (working on 3 canines). We're not sure what to do. We'd like to avoid the bottles completely, and we really, REALLY don't want to deal with pacifiers. Any suggestions?

[anjsmama]

My DS ( 2 yrs 8 mos) also did this beginning around 34 weeks of my pregnancy. He stopped waking up to drink/suck after he adjusted to DD (now 10 weeks) being at home. The wet diaper/PJs/sheets routine came almost every night for us, but he literally NEEDED that water to calm down and get some sleep. We recently got him a pretty cool little lovey - it's a stuffed elephant, and the nose is a teether (he is getting his molars) and he can also turn it to play music. It really helps him soothe back to sleep when he needs to bite/suck and we haven't had any problem with him trying to take it out of the room, he just uses it for sleep. DH was losing it a little, and being extremely pregnant and waking with my son 3 or 4 times a night was pretty rough. But I think it was mostly emotional, he got through it, and even though he is still working on one of his molars he no longer wakes at night. Hope you can get some better rest soon!

[happysmileylady]

Are you opposed to him sucking his thumb? 

I know you said you are opposed to pacifiers, but what about introducing one as a special bed time only thing?

[D_McG]

I would just wean him off the water at night. Maybe 2 smaller bottles to start. Or one big bottle and then 'all done'. It sounds like a bad cycle of drinking/peeing/waking. Both of my nighttime nursers got in that rut. It all settled down once I cut it out.