Need Advice on Weening 9 Month Old off Late Night Feeding

I haven't read the other responses but I'm not really sure I understand what the problem is. Your ds sleeps 8-10 hours at a stretch and wakes up hungry? When I sleep 8-10 hours (yeah right with 2 kiddies!lol) I wake up hungry. Why should we expect our little ones who's tummies are much smaller than ours to be any different. It's not like he's waking you up every 2 hours at night to eat. He's getting his rest, obviously needs to be changed and is hungry. You are completely being a good mom and doing what your ds is telling you he needs when he wakes up-to be clean, dry and fed! Keep up the good work mom!

Two words: Cold Turkey
Go to his room and get him back down to sleep with whatever method you use to get him to fall asleep in the first place. If he falls asleep with a bottle, that's a whole other ball of wax you need to deal with, so hopefully that's not the case. For my son, I would lay him back down and speak gently to him and let him know it was time for night night. Yes, he screamed, yes he cried, yes he was miserable. But I knew it was best for everyone and that he wasn't starving. I'd leave the room, let him scream/cry for just a couple of minutes, then go back in and lay him down again-- and keep doing that over and over (and over) until he was exhausted and fell asleep. It only took a few nights and he stopped waking up. Make sure you change his diaper right before bed, and as long as he isn't falling asleep with a bottle he really should be able to survive all night in the same diaper

How does your pediatrician know he doesn't need to eat at night? 9 months is a really busy age and if he's not getting enough calories during the day because he's too distracted to eat or something, he could be legitimately hungry. There is also a growth spurt around 9 months as well.

Do you think the wet diaper wakes him up and a bottle is what he needs to go back to sleep? Maybe you could use Huggies overnights at night and gradually offer him a little less in his bottles during the night.

My pediatrician never asks me how my kids sleep. Really, getting an 8-10 hour stretch is awesome at his age. Not all kids sleep 12 hours at night either. My daughter never did. Her sleep has always been on the low side of average. What time does he go to bed? Unless he goes to bed at like 6 pm, if he's sleeping up to 10 hours, that's pretty much through the night IMO. Lots of kids don't sleep through the night until over a year, so I think your son's schedule is normal and really good.

C.,

As a 35 y/o SAHM of 3 boys myself the question here is what are his eating habits like during the day and what are his sleeping habits like during the day. Maybe it is a matter of changing up the routine a little bit. I had to do that with my 2 youngest boys. What I had to do with them right around the same age was make sure that they had good naps during the day and then we had a later supper, and right before bedtime which for the baby was right around 8 / 8:30 he got a full bottle and they slept through the night a full 11 1/2 to 12 hours at a time. Now with my youngest son we had some issues, from the time he was 3 months old until he came off the bottle even when he started eating solid foods he had to have rice cereal in his bottles. This I think really helped him alot. I know what some people think about cereal in bottle, they don't think you should do it. However, I did it on doctors orders and believe me it worked for us and for my son. He is a happy, healthy and thriving 3 year old.

Good luck.

S.
35 y/o SAHM of 3 boys
13, 6 and 3

Yes, your ped. is right - it is a habit. Mine suggested the same thing when my son was six months. It is an easy habit to get into, but better to break it sooner than later. Cold turkey on the bottle, and buy Huggies overnights or diaper doublers so you do not have to change him until morning.

You may need to do some sleep training to get him sleeping again after he wakes and discovers he's not getting a bottle. Ask your ped, or look up info on the Ferber method, or see my response to this question: http://www.mamasource.com/request/14911502446768422913

Yes. At this age he should be able to sleep beyond 4 or 5 a.m. without waking for a feeding. If he wakes and is soaking wet, change him. But don't give him a bottle/nurse. If you absolutely must, then fill the bottle with water only. Over time, he will stop waking up for just water. But prepare yourself. He will protest because it is only water and not what he wants/has become accustomed to. But do not give in. It takes repetition and consistency for him to learn that THAT is what he will get when he wakes up crying. He will quit complaining about it and quit waking for it, if you stay consistent and don't give in and give him the milk. If you don't want to try the water, then just don't give him anything.
When he wakes, change him and rock him a few moments then put him back in bed.

You did not give information about how he goes to sleep at bedtime (falls asleep while being rocked with a bottle or goes into bed slightly awake, or whatever) so it may be necessary to do some sleep training on "the front end" before you can do the "night-time" part. If he is already self-soothing himself to sleep at bedtime, it shouldn't be TOO much of a transition to do the same during the night.
Good luck.