Nighttime milk

Eliza has been waking up at night for milk at least twice at night for the past 3-4weeks or so. It was ok when she's sick cos she wasn't eating much in the day and i thought she might be hungry by then. Until i started to sense that she's asking for milk so that she can get out of the room. She still drinks the milk, though not much.

I was concerned about the wanting to get out of the room when nighttime is supposed to be sleep time + that the milk drinking at night is one of the highest cause of tooth decay in toddlers under 4.

Seeing that she's better, and getting so frustrated with the night disturbances by her we decided not to give in on these demands by her as it wasn't beneficial to anyone of us.

Day 1:
She had a struggle going to sleep cos she was overtired and was getting second wind. She woke at 12mn wanting to get out of the room but i didn't allow her, plus seeing that the lights were on outside, i was more reluctant to go out of the room to an exciting lighted environment. So i carried her while she trashed and cried and whined and called ah-ma for help and struggled. Had to keep telling her nighttime is for sleeping and not going outside to play. Eventually she was probably tired and was satisfied enough drinking her water to calm down. She fell asleep in my arms and i managed to put her in her bed and i slept a good 6hrs.

Day 2:
She had a better time going to bed without trying to pull ah-ma into the picture and trying to run away from me. All in all, it was quite a happy & peaceful bedtime. I reminded her that there'll be no milk at night till the next morning. She woke at 230am and asked for milk. And there we go again...the crying and struggling and trashing and wailing till she was calmed down drinking her water. It didn't take tooo long though..about 15mins? Eventually she woke at 6+am for milk which i felt was ok, plus daddy and ah-ma was up by then. The good thing was she finished all her milk...only to fall back to sleep till 9am!

Day 3:
I reminded her that there won't be any milk at night till morning many times. Especially since she refused to drink her milk before bedtime. I reminded her that if she doesn't drink her milk, there won't be anymore till morning. Somehow halfway trying to go to sleep, she did take her milk bottle and finished it all (though i only made half of the normal amount she usually drinks cos she always doesn't finish it!).
Pray i'll stay firm and not give in to her demands for milk at night and have the patience to ride through this with her. Wonder how long it'll take before she gets out of this habit.

I'm learning about being firm. Learning that toddlers are really testing their limits and if you stick to your guns, they'll eventually get the point, though not without some crying involved. Learning that as a parent, we need to have the wisdom & discretion to teach and guide our kids. I feel like the territority of discipline is in sight already and that's more challenging than providing the physical needs.

We're learning....searching for God's guidance in His Word (Proverbs is really helpful), searching for examples in the examples of His people, seeking God for things we have no direction about or ideas about doing some things. What a journey!