Needs Help Getting My 1 Year Old to Sleep Through the Night...

I give my son a cup of water. I noticed at around 8 months that when he was waking up at 3 acting hungry, what he was really wanting was just the bottle for comfort. There was one time he woke up, looked around for a bottle and sucked on an empty bottle for two minutes and went back to sleep. Maybe try replacing the bottle with a pacifier? Some babies are attaching the bottles to comfort and we interpret it as hunger because they go back to sleep once they get it. Just a thought. As a note though, I still haven't gotten rid of the cup of water. I leave an empty cup in the crib with him so when he wakes up, he just finds it and re-sucks on the sippy cup part until he goes to sleep. That is the next step and I haven't decided when I'm going to try to get rid of it.

After 6 mos, night time feeding is a habit.
If you woke up at 3am every day and ate a sandwich, your body would be used to it and would think that it's hungry at that time every day.
You need to break the habit.
Offer a paci, soothing, CIO, whatever. But it's time to train your little one's tummy back into the body's normal schedule. Stop offering the bottle. He will fuss and be cranky for a few days until he adjusts.

If he's eating enough during the day he doesn't need to eat at night. Just like you.

We gave both our kids a bed time bottle until they were about 14-15 months. It wasn't a bottle, we put it in a sippy cup and it was just plain old whole milk, but I do think they need a little snack and a little wind-down time. My kids were sleeping through the night very early and it was awesome! I honestly would have gone insane had they not been sleeping that long at 1!! I say keep up with the bedtime milk for a little while longer. It was pretty obvious when both my kids sort of moved past it and didn't need it anymore. There were no tears or anything, they didn't even really notice it stopped happening.

He's hungry. They have little tummies, burn through a lot of calories AND could be going through a growth spurt.

Your ped probably doesn't have his last meal, snack and/or drink at 6 or 8pm to last until 8am the next morning.

My son had a bottle of milk before bed at that age. Until he was at least 1 1/2 yrs of age. He also had several growth spurts where he woke up hungry.
I gave him a bottle of milk at that age.
He stopped doing that at 1 1/2 or 2 yrs of age.

Slept like a champ after that as he got older.
So how did I transition to from tight time feeding to going to bed? Not until later when he didn't need that last bottle. When he was old enough to have a routine: bath, bottle, book etc.

I think I had it easier then some, but here is what I do. We nursed when I was at home and used a bottle with BM in it while I was at work. Once she turn one we transitioned with the bottle to whole milk. She still gets a bottle of BM at morning nap and a bottle of whole milk at late afternoon nap and nurses before bed and she is almost 15months. She gets water in between meals at at snack time.
Just because a ped says he doesn't need anything before bed doesn't mean that will work for you. If you want to do a bedtime routine of bath, bottle, brush teeth and then bed why not. It is up to you and what works for your family.
My dd refuses water in her bottle but drinks at least a sippy a day and will drink more if given it. But she WILL NOT drink milk in a sippy. We have tried different sippys and different cups with no lid but nope. She just isn't ready for that yet.
To the sleep through the night thing. Well I figured something out at about 13 months. It was me waking up to her just trying to get herself back to sleep. I used to wake up at her making a sound and just automatically go in and nurse her. Every morning between 1am to 3am she would wake at some point and so would I and just go in. When I decided no more it was really about me staying in bed long enough to let her try to get back to sleep. After about 3 nights of maybe 5-10mins of fussing(not crying) she was able to just get comfy again and would be asleep until I woke her to nurse and change her diaper before I left for work.
So just remember, this is your family and what works for you is what is important. Just because someone says this is what you should be doing doesn't mean it is the right thing for you or your child.
Good luck. Also here is a sleep sight I referenced before I decided on how to sleep through the night. http://www.babysleepsite.com/

We resolve our sleep issues and then something happens like transition to crib and we have to work on sleep training all over again.....I feed our little one dinner around 6:30 and then he gets a bottle at 7:30/8:00 - 8 oz and we do our bedtime routine - changing, massage etc...and then up to our room at 8:30 - listen to some nursery rhymes, read a book and hopefully fast asleep by 9:00...now if he had the entire 8 oz then I will not feed him unless he wakes up more than 8 hours later - at which time I expect him to be a bit hungry and unable to go back to sleep on an empty stomach......if he wakes up before 8 hours....we wait to see if he can soothe himslef back to sleep within 10 minutes or so if the crying persists or starts sounding more desperate then I go up to his room and offer a little bottle of water and that usually does the trick!

Your doc must not be a parent because the information he gave you is not very accurate. All babies and toddlers wake up when they are hungry or having a growth spurt. It is not irregular for toddlers to still be waking up every few hours for food. They are growing and nearly doubling their size in the first few years.

In child care unless a child is sleeping we are required to offer food (include bottles for babies) at least every 3-4 hours.

A typical food schedule in child care

Breakfast: (If breakfast is served they do not offer a morning snack)
7-8am

Lunch:
11am-noon

Nap time, after noon snack:
2:45-3:30

Dinner: 5:30-6:15

Evening snack 8-8:30

And if that child waked up during the night they are always offered food if they do not fall right back to sleep. If it's a baby they are automatically given a bottle any time they act hungry.

I just want to let you know you are not alone. My 11 month old son (23 lbs) goes to sleep at 7:30pm and typically wakes up at 12 midnight and around 3 to nurse....then usually wakes up again around 5 (to be held) and then up for the day at 6. So, obviously I have no good advice for you since I am in a terrible situation myself! :) Just letting you know there are other 1 year olds (almost 1 anyway) still getting up. I know for my son, it is just habit as he is a good eater during the day. I just can't bring myself to let him cry and as yet nothing else I've done is helping...so the nursing continues. I wish you luck, it is so hard getting up and getting through the day. i will be reading all your replies to hopefully get some good ideas as well. good luck to you and your little guy..

Our son was still on the bottle past 1 yr but he started sleeping through the night at 6 months for 6 hrs, and about 8 mos for 8+ hours with 2 naps a day. When he started sleeping longer hours at night, we'd feed him at least 30 mins before we put him down, only because everyone said to not put babies down right after a bottle to avoid ear infections. I think our routine at the time was bottle, burp, rock and sing songs, lay down in the crib, wind up the mobile, lights out, leave the door cracked open.

He was giving advice not ordering you..

Do what works for your child.. But do keep in mind, if he has teeth a bottle before bed without water afterwards.. could lead to cavities in a young child.