[susanrj]

My son is 15 months old. I am facing two problems 1) he is still on breastfeed and he won't take any other liquid food like water or juices from past two months my breast milk is not getting enough for him in night he gets up in every 30min for feed the starting 6months it was in 2hours but 6-1year it came to in an every hour which was quite will frustrating for me so I started keeping him with me on the bed in night and now like its almost full night he is hanging on me. It’s almost a year now that I have not slept for continues 2hours. I have tried giving bottle, Sippy cups putting honey on it sweets, sugar he is not even ready to take and put in his mouth, he eat very much OK, just issue is with feed. For me it’s OK to feed him 2-3 times in a day but at least I need him to sleep a good sleep which helps me to be more active and to reduce stress. My husband is a very busy person mostly he comes very late so I don’t have any family or friends support for taking care of baby or house. My 2nd issue is my son has dry skin problem I have shown to many doc but all says it will go but just to moist him, but every week the same thing happen mostly on hand and leg it gets so dry that the skin is cracked and he started scratching and he is really restless. I use Momentasone Furoate ointment 0.1%which his doc has given when he was born and had few rashes but now doc says its not to use continually but I feel I don’t have a option here I use that when its cracked skin and it gets better in 2days … at least he is better for a week but again something happens can you please help me. :confused:

[DoulaLC]

Breastfeeding: He is old enough to understand when you tell him something is OK to do or not... he may not like it, but he can understand your words. If you want to have just set times for breastfeeding, a few things you could try: have one location where you breastfeed him... for example, one chair you sit in so that he learns that you will only be available for breastfeeds when you sit in that chair, other times it is a sippy cup. At meal times, offer a sippy cup... he may just play with it at first, but he will figure it out.
Have a routine of what feedings will be breastfeeds... maybe mornings, before a nap, and before bedtime for example, so that he comes to know that this is the routine. Try to find another comfort for him during the night. If you want him to stay with you, that is fine, but you might want to let him know that your breasts "are sleeping now", give him a cuddly toy or blanket instead... one that you have slept with as well so it will have your smell on it may be comforting to him. He will likely fuss at first with the changes, but he will start to become used to it if you stay consistent.

Skin... sounds like he possibly has eczema, but of course your doctor would have to determine exactly what it is. The Mometasone is a steroid cream and usually it not recommended for children so young and certainly not for long term use. You may want to ask your doctor for a different cream... will depend on what is available where you are located. You may also want to check your diet as well... too much dairy can sometimes cause eczema, as can too much cow's milk or an early introduction to it. If you take in a good deal of dairy products, maybe try cutting way back on them and see if it helps his skin.

[Holistic Doctor]

I agree with DoulaLC who has given you excellent advice about how to restrain or curtail you son from asking to be fed on demand, which is almost the whole night and most of the day as well!
Certainly your health will be adversely affected if you were to continue to give into his demands.

As I understand it, you feel he isn't get enough fluids rather than enough food, because he refuses to drink water or fruit juice.
If this is correct, I'd like to remind you that nature has an inbuilt system that determines how much liquid each person needs and this varies a lot from person to person and from one child to another.

So perhaps he doesn't need that much extra fluid as he is probably getting enough through his food? Food, after all, contains some amount of liquids too.

His dry skin is probably in no way related to the intake (adequate or otherwise) of liquids he is taking.
As mentioned by DoulaLC, it could be infantile eczema, which is not all that uncommon and a non-steroidal cream would definitely help.

As for his being awake at night, if he is eating enough food and is not going hungry, there often are other causes like teething for instance, that keep babies awake and irritable at night.
Or he might just be uncomfortable (try changing the clothes he wears at night, in view of his skin problem) so you would need to find out what other cause there could be, for his poor sleeping.
All said and done, if no reason can be found by both you and your doctor, you might resort to a mild herbal sedative to help him sleep?