12 month old still waking for night feed

icelime

My boy is just turned a year and still waking for a bottle every night. Not the same time every night, could be anywhere between 3 and 7. Hes a great sleeper apart from this, For his naps during the day and bedtime he lies down and puts himself to sleep no proble., but when he wakes in the night, he climbs around the cot, fully awake and nothing will settle him but the bottle. He eats plenty during the day, he couldnt eat any more. Id like to think he will drop this bottle when hes ready, and i dont mind giving it to him, but ive been getting alot of negative comments about it. Is this going to be harder to take away from him as he gets older? I just cant see him going back to sleep without this bottle!

shesty

It will, yes! You might get another couple of months grace and then you have a toddler and trouble!!!
I doubt he's actually waking from hunger, he's just in the habit of waking at that time and expecting a bottle.
It's up to yourself what you want to do.You can keep going as is and expect it to continue indefinitely, most likely.You can switch it for a beaker or bottle of water, reducing the amount each time til he breaks the habit of expecting milk in that time period.Or you can go cold turkey and have a couple of weeks of bad nights where you don't give him the bottle and the habit eventually breaks. (But there will be a lot of sleep deprivation involved!).In that case, you could replace it with a special teddy or blanket or something instead, one that you incorporate into bedtime and any other night wakings, so he understands that's his sleep "comforter" and not the bottle.

At his age, brutal though it is, the third option would probably be over quickest -trying to do that in a year's time would be an absolute battle.But really it's up to yourself. If you are happy to continue as is, work away but be aware that in a very short period, if you decide to remove the bottle, the battle will be bigger :-)

icelime

Thanks. I think i know you're right, im just anxious about makimg the change, but will have to give it a go. We have grandparents and other kids in the house too, who he often wakes as it is when he cries for a bottle, so i would be leaning towards the gradual option i think in the hope that it is less traumatic for him and us!
Thanks for your help, fingers crossed!

shesty

No problem, worse when there are other people around commenting on what you are doing as a parent.I don't know if he would take a soother but it could be something to try either but incorporate it into his bedtime routine too.
Start on a friday night so you have no work for a couple of days and can deal a bit better with the lack of sleep.

iamwhoiam

Try putting water in it instead of milk .It will do for now and he might get bored of it and decide not to bother

catrionanic

I also have a 12 month old, who usually wakes for a feed once a night. Considering they are up in the cot for up to 12 hours, I’m not surprised he is hungry - I would be too! This is probably why nothing but the bottle will settle him, as he is hungry.

My boy is breastfeed so maybe it’s a little different, but isn’t it normal enough for them to still wake once or twice a night at 12 months?

shesty

It is, but not looking for food generally.

His bottle is most likely his way of getting back to sleep. Which is fine.But they can easily wake several times a night, and need the bottle each time. Which isn't ideal. If the parents are happy to do it, then fine, but generally you want to gently teach them to be able to drop back off by themselves.

I wouldn't expect miracles or anything at 12 months, but you can wean them off the bottle as a tool for re-settling, and generally the earlier you manage that the better - like I said it's a 100 times harder to do it when the are heading for toddler-dom.

Neither of mine got nighttime feeds after about 6 months - we did a dream feed round 11pm or so from 12 weeks on, and dropped it around 6 months-ish and they "slept through". Of course they woke a lot at night but not for food, usually teeth, developmental or whatever. The odd night they would be awake over an hour or so, I'd feed because they probably were hungry by then, but I could count those nights on one hand. Generally they dropped back off to sleep again after maybe 30mins or so.They did take soothers and had special teddies though, so we just went in repeatedly to resettle them with those.

brookers

Dont worry about it and give it to him, as somebody said to me they wont go down the aisle wanting their bottle, they are so young now, how good it is to be able to give some little comfort, my lot all had bottles swinging from their mouths till they were 3 and 4, you should see them now, great children no trouble. Life is short enjoy it and dont get caught up with the let them cry it out brigade, completely cruel and totally awful thing to do to your own child. Just water it down....

maxsmum

It depends if you can handle them settling themselves back to sleep or not. PHN told us to get rid of night feed at about 8 or 9 months. I just woke when he wanted his usual midnight feed, 5 min cuddle in chair and put him back in cot. When I just started leaving him back down he would cry in a protest kind of way - not distraught or hungry cry. I had a week or so of guilt and then he just started settling himself to sleep no bother. He sleeps through the night since that period. I know mums though who would never leave the child cry so each to their own. I actually have a pal who hasn't had a full night's sleep in 2 years now but she is self-described very much attachment parenting and still cosleeps and breastfeeds child during the night etc. Anyway our 'abandoned' child is certainly not any less attached to us or traumatised in any way!

I should add this ability to get himself back to sleep came when he started creche and apparently once they go down for naps there he is out like a light so maybe that helped.

maxsmum

brookers wrote: »

Dont worry about it and give it to him, as somebody said to me they wont go down the aisle wanting their bottle, they are so young now, how good it is to be able to give some little comfort, my lot all had bottles swinging from their mouths till they were 3 and 4, you should see them now, great children no trouble. Life is short enjoy it and dont get caught up with the let them cry it out brigade, completely cruel and totally awful thing to do to your own child. Just water it down....

That's all very well but if you need to work 5 days a week you have got to sleep. I don't agree with saying 'cry it out' or 'cry yourself to sleep'. It's training them to get back to sleep and doesn't take long in my experience. If the child wakes crying now, it's rare and of course we go in and settle him.

shesty

Exactly....nobody said anything about crying it out!!!Going in and out to them every few mins to resettle them and hearing them have a whinge for two mins is not the same as 'crying it out' indefinitely.Plus it's nearly harder on the parents having to get out of bed evry 5/10mins at 2am.I couldn't lie there listening to them cry indefinitely.

Asides from anything else, the child needs the sleep.Especially as they get a bit older, I can see a marked difference between my child who sleeps a full night with a regular bedtime and a friend's child whose sleeping habits are irregular and very disturbed-they struggle throuh the day a lot more.It must be awful to be a small child who constantly doesn't get enough sleep and to spend your days in a haze of tiredness(although I know they don't know any different)

corks finest

shesty wrote: »

Exactly....nobody said anything about crying it out!!!Going in and out to them every few mins to resettle them and hearing them have a whinge for two mins is not the same as 'crying it out' indefinitely.Plus it's nearly harder on the parents having to get out of bed evry 5/10mins at 2am.I couldn't lie there listening to them cry indefinitely.

Asides from anything else, the child needs the sleep.Especially as they get a bit older, I can see a marked difference between my child who sleeps a full night with a regular bedtime and a friend's child whose sleeping habits are irregular and very disturbed-they struggle throuh the day a lot more.It must be awful to be a small child who constantly doesn't get enough sleep and to spend your days in a haze of tiredness(although I know they don't know any different)

big feed of spuds knock him out, followed by a lash if sausages and rashers when he finally rises👌

maxsmum

corks finest wrote: »

big feed of spuds knock him out, followed by a lash if sausages and rashers when he finally rises��

PHN also advised big dinner of carbs and that does the trick with us.

shesty

Yep, well fed in the evenings.I think at that age they are still on two 'dinners' a day aren't they?As in they have 'dinner" at tea and lunch

jlm29

I found with my eldest that replacing a bottle of milk with a bottle of water did the trick quite quickly- once I was certain that he couldn’t be hungry.
It’s tough when you have other people passing comment on how you do things, but I would be inclined to nip night time bottles in the bud before toddlerhood- if nothing else, from the perspective of dental hygiene.