Our son is going to be 1 in a week and still wakes up for a bottle in the middle of the night. I thought for awhile it was because he was still hungry-he's in the 95% for size-but I think it might be just a habit because it is generally alway between 1-3am, and he takes the bottle and goes right back to sleep. I really don't want to make him cry it out, we have had to do that very little. Part of me doesn't mind it and thinks he will outgrow it...?
I gave my kids a spill proof sippy cup at that age with some milk in it. With all the energy it took to get that milk out of the sippy cup they quit trying and fell asleep. It only went on for a couple nights til they stopped and didn't want it anymore
yes mom he will outgrow it! :D way to go for trusting yourself enough to not use the cry it out method! have you heard of dr william sears? www.askdrsears.com has lots of info on crying it out, and its not a good thing (most of the time)
anyway, my son nursed at night until he was between 15-17 months old... we did some cosleeping because of it, but a bottle is different... :(
i just encourage you to try to do your best to be accomodating to your child! :D it sounds like you are willing. it wont be too long and you will actually miss that alone quiet time in the middle of the night, trust me ! :D anyway, just keep going .
if you want to, you can start watering down the bottle a bit so that its just water. most babies arent interested in water that much, so that might help discourage him.
babies do a lot of growing on such a small tummy, so i wouldnt withhold it if hes hungry! :D
great job moM! :D :D :D
put water in the bottle and he will probably stop wanting it. it worked for us with one of our kids.
Get the book Good Night, Sleep Tight by Kim West. She has a great approach that will help you and you won't have to let him cry it out. It is definitely a habit. Our 8 month old sleeps from 7-7 every night and has since he was 4 months old. The book will help you out. With our first it only took us three nights to break that habit and then we were more prepared with our second.
I think he will outgrow it. My son needed to nurse once a night around 3 am until he was closer to 15 months. For me, it was much easier to just get up and nurse him because both of us were up for about 5 minutes. A couple of times I tried to see if he could go without it since, like your son, he was big and my doctor said he didn't "need" it. I have no tolerance for letting kiddos cry, though, and, I'll tell you - he sure thought he needed to nurse. :-) I was worried it was going to go on forever, but he gave it up when he was ready. If it isn't making you exhausted, I'd say just keep giving him the bottle for awhile longer. There is no "right" answer - its just what will work best for your family.
Good luck,
B.
Mom to a baby and a preschooler
My daughter breastfed every night at 1:00 a.m. until 11 months and then a bottle at 1:00 a.m. until she was 13 months, and then she suddenly stopped waking up. If you don't mind it, would give it a little more time and he might stop on his own. I personally loved the quiet time alone with my daughter at night, and that time was over so fast!
We had that same problem. Our son had a bottle at night until he was 15mths old. We tried many things: watering down his milk to make it less appealing, giving a pacifier instead, giving only water in his bottle. We ended up having to make him stop cold turkey. My husband and I do not like the idea of letting him cry it out, but we felt we didn't have another option. It ended up being a great thing. He cried for only about an hour the first night, then 1/2 hour the second (and he tends to be stubborn). After that, we had no more bottles and he sleeps through the night. It really wasn't as bad or as hard on him as we first assumed. I would try the other things though first and see, as it took us seeing those things didn't work for our son to be ok with attempting to cry it out (and they might work with your son!).
I think maybe it's a comfort thing or yeah your right a habit. This is a foster son so this is new to me because my own children were breastfed. My mom told me to try something in his bottle he didn't like so I tried a certain baby juice he didn't like, then he got use to it and now he likes it (that's a plus). At first he only drank about 1/2 ounce and slowly he acquired the taste and once he drank the whole 4 ozs. up two nights in a row I switched to water and it seems to be working for me. When he eats meals he drinks water from a sippy but he seems to not like just water in his bottle. This went on for about a week and 1/2 when I finally switched to water. He cried for maybe the first three nights for his milk but I didn't give in and kept telling him "you drank your milk bottle up no more milk" and I would show him his empty milk bottle so when he figured out that's all he was getting in his bottle he had no choice but to drink it. My routine with him every night is after his bath I sit with him on my couch and he has his 6 oz. milk bottle but I don't let him fall asleep even though he tries I sit with him however long it takes him to drink his bottle up. Lately, he has been really tired and would get mad and try and lay down so I would take his milk bottle from him and if he doesn't cry I would take him to bed but if he cries when I take it away then I'll sit and let him finish his bottle but I don't let him fall asleep. When he finally finishes his bottle I tell him "no more milk you drank it up" and put him down in his bed. So before I got to bed I put the water bottle in the corner of his crib but I make sure he is asleep I never put it in there if he is awake. I started again with 4 ozs. and he would only drink 1/2 of his bottle now I just put 2 ozs. and it's a give or take. At first, he would drink it up and cry or hollar to get my attention because his crib is in my room and if he knows he has my attention he would cry to be held. I'm a light sleep so I hear when he gets up but I just lay still and ignore him and eventually he would fall back asleep and I've been doing this for about a month now. I leave his bottle standing in the corner of his crib and now he knows where his bottle is. Couple nights his eyes were still closed and he would be reaching for his bottle take a couple of drinks and throw it aside. The only down side of this is I had to buy the slow flow nipples because water easily leaks from bottles and I just use them for his nightly water bottles. It's a give or take sometimes he drinks it sometimes he don't but he still grabs for it each night because his bottle is never in the corner. Lately he has been just holding it by his side and when I check the 2 ozs. is still there or sometimes it's still in the corner. When he can go for about a week not touching his bottle then I'll try and remove it but for now I think it is just a comfort thing for him. Atleast I don't have to get up at nights anymore. Sorry for a lengthy answer I hope this helps.
I was looking on here for the same thing! I didn't mind it too much for a while but as my son nears his 1st birthday at the end of this month, I am feeling like I would love for him to give up the 2am bottle! I think I heard that putting water in it makes it less appealing or something, and since their boy no longer relies on that feeding, they make up for it later in the day and quit waking up in the night. I haven't tried it yet. My son is so thin and doesn't eat well so I guess I am just happy that he is having that feeding. I should probably at least try and move it forward, like to 11pm right before I got to bed. Good luck and happy birthday to your little one!
C.,
Healthy, full term babies can go 12 hour stretches at night by the time they are 2-3 months old. This is definately a habit. He may be feeling hungry, but if you got up and had a meal every night at 11:00, after a month or so you would wake up hungry at 11, too.
If you can't bear to let him cry it out, I would put less and less milk in the bottle each night to wean his appetite. Then move to just holding him for 5 minutes, then just coming in and comforting him while he is in the crib, then not coming in at all.
Good luck,
S.
Had the same issue with my son and we just started offering only water at night and within 3 nights he quit waking up for it.
HI C.,
my oldest was a really hard one to get off the middle of the nite bottle. I took some advice from my mother in law, which was first you change the bottle to just water then start making it less and less in the bottle untill you had them an empty bottle, they will just not want it anymore. at least that is what happened for us, it took about 2 weeks and she was sleeping through the night!!!! good luck!
Give him the exact amount of water as you did milk. As an adult, you know that your body becomes accustomed to things. Have you ever tried skipping a meal? Notice how your body tells you that you are hungry at almost the exact time that you normally eat lunch. His little body is accustomed to being replenished at that time of the night. He probably needs something to fill the void. My son did this as well and I just slowly reduced the amount of water he was getting until he was done. Although this does result in REALLY wet diapers in the morning, it was very effective for us.
