15 Month Old Waking up for Bottle

My son is 14 months old and he drinks 2 percent cow milk. I took him off of the formula at 12 months and he really adjusted well to it. I give him a bottle at night around 9:30 or 10pm and he sleep to about 7am in the morning. I warm the milk in the microwave and put cereal for baby in his milk, about 3 scoops. This have worked out great for us. Good luck!!

well, my son is 2 1/2 and sleeps well through the nights, only wakes once if he does. He usually wakes if he is wet or he wants a sippy cup of milk. I have tried not giving it to him, I think like you and he is well fed and gets a cup before bed, but when I don't give it to him he stays awake for like 2 hours. When I DO give it to him, he gulps it down like he is starving and then immediately goes back to sleep for several hours. I have also tried giving him just a few sips of water (as was suggested to me) but doesn't work.

So, mine still wants milk at 2 1/2 and it helps him to sleep! Good luck, don't know what else to suggest. I know sometimes even I wake up wanting a small snack or cup of milk, so maybe they're just like us adults.

You might try switching the bottle to water. If he's not really hungry and needs the comfort it might still work, or it might convince him that he really doesn't want it after all.

On another note, I had to switch to cups cold turkey and listen to a few days of whining, but it got my daughter into a much better eating and sleeping pattern. Make certain he gets enough protein, fat and carbs in his last meal so he doesn't have any reason to be hungry and go from there.

M.

Jennifer, some babies are hungrier than others. He may be hungry and his night bottle isn't sustaining him. I would start puttin rice cereal in his nighttime bottle. We started this with our son as a tiny baby. (when he stopped sleeping thru the night). Each time he would wake in the night, a few times in a row, we would up the cereal content of the night bottle. This made it more satisfying. By the time he was your son's age it was so thick, the top of the nipple of the bottle was practically gone. I would give it a try. Just put some in his night bottle and then shake it up really well. They make cereal nipples. We also would just open the slit on a regular nipple, a little larger, with a razor blade.
GOod luck, You know your baby best. We where not CIO fans either. I don't believe in denying your child security and comfort. I don't believe in running in and grabing them up either. I hope this helps. D.

i am a mother of three grown childern and have 5 grandchildern and what has usally worked for me is fill the bottle with water only and i think he might not want it anymore. thats what has worked for me. and if you feel he is eating good then don't worry

What is he eating for solids? Make sure he's getting enough protein. Beans right out of the can are great (well - rinse and drain them first; they're full of sodium, otherwise). They're so cheap, and they're so easy. Kids especially like kidney beans. Take the usual precautions against choking.

As for weaning that middle-of-the-night bottle: for all I know, there might be a reason not to wean him off of it just yet, so I won't assume that that is the goal (check with the Dr. Sears Nighttime Parenting book; you can probably get it for $5 for a used copy on amazon.com). But if the time is right, and he really is ready, definitely don't make him cry it out. Cold turkey is not the way to go, unless you somehow secure his participation (I don't recommend bribes or pressuring him to be a big boy). Like a rite of passage ritual. Make sure hunger isn't the issue first, of course!

My two pennies. Hope they help.

L.

He has a paci and a bear I don't see this as a comfort issue. My guess is he has hit a growth spurt and truly is hungry. I would suggest giving him his bottle in a sippy cup like others have suggested. Maybe a snack like yogurt before bed.
good luck

my son's doctor told me before he was one (I can't remember how old he was exactly) that he shouldn't be fed in the middle of the night anymore. That if he's waking up, it's just out of habit, and he shouldn't be hungry. It was hard at first, but he eventually got the idea that I wasn't going to feed him if he woke up in the middle of the night. And it didn't take long. Like two nights max.

He's probably NOT hungry. It's just comforting and a habit.

try just giving him water...it worked for mine ..if he thirsty he will drink it if not he may just want the bottle ..going to bed with a bottle especially with a child with teeth can cause problems...i worked for a dentist for a long time and saw the results...if he is really hungry feed him then give him water ..

I don't have too much more to add really. I know when I was ready to go bottle free we did a bedtime snack and sippy cup instead. If he woke up at night (mine was usually early morning) I'd just put him his highchair and give him solid food and sippy cup again. Always do a solid food if he is hungry with the milk.

Our little boy was in the top percentile too and didn't sleep the entire night without a bottle until nearly 2 years old. He was just hungry it seemed. Do you add cereal to the bed-time bottle ... I bet you do, as most of us moms realize they need something to help fill their tummies up more than just the milk. He's just growing a lot and needs that extra bottle. By the time he was three his growing leveled out and it became more 50/50 percentile. Sounds like you're doing all you can at this point and it is definitely hard not getting a continuous night of sleep. This too shall pass and from one mom to another - you'll be tired, but you'll survive it and love him more every day regardless.

I don't have any credintials to speak of other than being a mother of a 26 month old little girl. She never did sleep through the night until she was 18 months old, but you have the advantage of consistency. I have a crazy situation, my husband passed away and I was with his grandmother who would give her bottles while I was at work, it was a hard habit to break, but we did it. I started substituting with water in the night. And then tried a sippy. A sippy that wouldn't leak-I recommend the Gerber with the softer spouts-with water or milk. We brushed her teeth in the mornings. She was fine, still is. She has had a lot of changes and that's her comfort, so I spoke with a doctor who told me that the biggest worry was simply that they would get milk leaking into their mouths while they were sleeping and that it would rot their little teeth. If you brush at night, in the morning, and use a cup that won't leak if it's just a comfort thing, which it often is-they are going through changes learning to walk and getting different toys and sippy cups and such-I personally don't see a problem.