Stopping Night Feedings

Hi is what worked with my kids was I started only putting water in their bottle and I just would leave it in the crib with them and then when they woke up they get it have a couple swallows and go back to sleep. It also helped with the weaning process because I started only putting water in the bottles and giving them their milk and juice in cups pretty soon they didn't want the bottle any more. Good luck

I've had a lot of luck with introducing the sippy cup at this age at night. By the time both of my kids were 1 they were completely off the bottle. I would suggest give her a sippy cup, your choice on the milk or water depending on what she likes. I never put it in their bed when they went to bed, I would just give it to them when they would wake up at night. It doesnt have to be much, maybe 1/4 full. Good Luck!

Children 'need' to suck for comfort and note I said 'need' not just 'want'. Lots of kids will suck on something for a long, long time. They nurse, they have a bottle, they suck on a pacifier, they suck their thumb or they smoke cigarettes as soon as they can. We are so focused on getting them off the bottle and independent and away from us in America that we will do anything to make them leave us alone. Who decided they needed to sleep all night by a certain age anyway??? Are you tired? Well let me just say it is only beginning. When she gets a little bigger you will get up to make sure she goes potty and doesn't wet the bed. By the time she is in junior high you will be laying awake wondering why she isn't home yet. Then you send her away to college and worry about what she is doing now. Does it ever end? Not any time soon, I'm afraid. Maybe she's lonely. Maybe wanting a bottle is just her way of getting you close, I don't know, but I do that sucking on something is their way of comforting themselves. And sucking on somthing for a long time yet will be part of her life. Give her the bottle and hope she doesn't smoke any time soon.

well I never did the bottle but at 11 months my daughter was still waking up to nurse. and I was ready for her to stop so I just cut her off cold turkey. She still nursed during the day but no more night feedings. It was really hard she was up every night for a good 4 hours crying for about 2 weeks. It was really hard and I was so tired but just when I thought I couldn't stand it any longer she stopped waking up and started sleeping all night. So i know you already tried the cry it out but for how long? it really took 2 full weeks but in the end it was so worth it. Good luck.

It sounds like she is mostly waking up for this comforting time of bottle and snuggle with mom out of habit. You are right, by this age she should definitely have phased out that night feeding! You must be one tired mama! I have a friend who had a similar problem, and she started doing water in her bottles if her child woke up at night. At first that might be frustrating to your daughter, but if you are consistent, she will realize if she wakes up, water is what she is going to get. This worked great for my friend and her child gave up the middle of the night feedings. Not only does it make her tired the next day, and you tired the next day, it can also cause dental problems!!! I worked in the dental field for 8 years, and there is nothing worse than having a little one with a mouth full of cavities - If you have to continue the middle of the night feedings a little while longer, make sure you brush her little teeth before putting her back down to sleep. Good luck to you - you sound like a dedicated mom!

We started a firm bedtime routine (no matter what time it was) and part of that was a offering a soft sippy (he uses a hard one during the day). It was placed on a shelf by the crib and we told him if he needed it it was there. For the first two weeks we would go in and give him the sippy when he woke up and stay with him until he fell asleep (laying on the floor, etc). Then we started offering him the sippy and after he had a drink we kissed him and headed back to bed ourselves. He did cry when we left for a bit. Once he started rejecting the sippy when we went in there (somewhere around a week and a half of step two). That is when we realized that he was just waking up so we would come in. So, we stopped coming in. After two nights of crying he started sleeping through the night. Now I know when he wakes up something is wrong like teething and there are other solutions for that. Of course there will be the occasional restless night and I have come in and laid on the floor and I have let him cry too. Trust yourself as the parent to do what your child really needs. Good luck!

It's miserable when you're ready for a good night's sleep and your little sweetie just has other plans for you! Here are some things you can try.
1) Try giving her 1 ounce less in her bottle each night. The theory is to slowly get her to replace the nighttime calories with daytime calories. By the time she's down to an ounce, you know you can go cold turkey & it definitely won't be about hunger anymore - just habit.
2) Have you tried a partial cry it out? What I mean by that is to let her cry for a few minutes, then go back in & soothe her without picking her up (that way she knows that when you put her in her crib - it really means sleep time). Then leave again for a longer time period (a few minutes longer than the first time) and go back in. Then leave again for a longer time & repeat until she gives up. Try it at bedtime & make sure there are no sounds, rocking, bottles, etc. that are not available to her in the middle of the night. The theory with this is that if they learn to go to sleep by themselves in their crib, they will be able to put themselves back to sleep when they wake in the middle of the night without needing your help. Also, for some weird reason, the letting them cry for longer increments lets them know you are still always there for them, but they finally decide it's not worth it for them to cry long enough to make you come back. It actually worked really well for me. Each day they cry for a shorter & shorter period of time and within a week all 3 of my kids were going right to sleep by themselves in their crib and staying asleep all night. Good luck!

Hi S.,
we went through this a few months ago when our daughter between 14-16 mths old. As we continued to get up and feed her once, she started waking up twice so we had to do something before multiple wakings became the habit. She insisted on a bottle or she would be up for hours - she would not go back to sleep without it. We ended the night/bottle wakings by waking her up at 11pm for 3-4 nights, then backed it to 10:45pm for a few nights, then 10:30pm for a few nights; one night we fell asleep and forgot to get her up, she slept until 6am, we knew we didn't have to wake her up any longer -- and there's been no more night waking since. Each time we backed up the time, we reduced the bottle amount a little (we started with a diluted 6oz bottle - 4oz milk, 2oz water). The whole process was over maybe 10 or 11 nights. Her usual bedtime during this process was and still is between 6:30 and 7pm...if you try this method, try giving her a full 8oz bottle at bedtime rather than just 6oz. My pediatrician recommended this process to us and it worked better than we expected. It's easier to do than it may appear all written out here. Good luck and sweet dreams!

M.

S., I have an almost 1 year old as well. I am sorry that you are going through that. It can be a very hard thing to deal with. My question for you is - how much is your daughter getting to eat during the day? Maybe you need to increase the amount through out the day. Unfortunately, the only other suggestion I would give is to let her cry it out. I know it is really difficult but if you know she is getting enough to eat through out the day then there shouldn't be any reason she can't sleep through the night. The hardest part is that it has become a routine for her so it means breaking the cycle. If you would like to share notes on amount of food - please email me. I would be happy to chat.

Try increasing the amount of food she is getting during the day. If this is a new thing she could be going through a growth spurt-giving her more to eat during the day should cut out the nighttime feedings.
Don't worry about giving up the bottles especially if she is not drinking milk or juice in them at night since it can pool in her mouth. Personally I see no reason why a bottle feed baby must give up the bottle at 12 months while a breastfed baby can still nurse over a year according to WHO recommendations (nursing only till 6 months, nursing to 1 year than as long as it is mutual agreeable to mother and baby-self weaning). My first gave up bottles for day use between 13 and 15 months and at night by 18 months, my second was 15 months when we started weaning (held back because we knew we would be moving and didn't want too many changes at once) by 18 months off daytime bottles. Is now 20 months old and still takes a bottle of water to bed at night.
Your daughter might be one of those kids like my youngest that needs tactile soothing to go to sleep-some kids are this way others require visual soothing such as a a light design on the ceeling and other require auditory soothing such as a white noise machine, sound machine, radio or soft lullaby. If this is the case she might be waking up just enough during light sleep and not able to go back to sleep-try giving her a special blanket or two that she can finger as well as sucking on the bottle.
Another thing to check is if she is wet during the night if that is the case you might need a different diapering system for at night. That is what finally worked for me to get my now 20 mo old to STTN at 19 mo old. We ended up using a nighttime fleece diaper with two inserts and a doubler and a cover over the top and are finally sleeping 12-13 hours a night.
HTH
T.