How do I wean my baby off her bottles during the night?

Question

My 14 month old has 3 bottles (250mL) of formula each night. I give her one to go to bed with and then she wakes and cries for another at 1am and again at 5 am. I think it is more of a comforter as she's never taken to a dummy. If I don't change her nappy at 1 am she saturates her clothes and sheet. I'm tired of still waking up to a crying baby. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

just flat out take them all away. if she is taking a sippy cup, bin all the bottles.

the first few nights will be hard, but she'll soon get used to her routine. this is what i done:

at 10mos, i withdrew night feeds, in the night when she'd wake up, id take her out the cot and into bed with us, give her a dummy and cuddle her back to sleep, she stayed with us till the morning. the first few nights it took a while to doze her back off, but after 4-5 days she got the hang of it and went right back over to sleep with us with a dummy. i was still giving her a bedtime bottle though.

this was her routine till 2 nights ago, she is 12 mos, when i started her new routine to withdraw bottle to bed. at 6pm she has dinner. at 6.15pm she has a bath, PJs at 6.30pm. she plays till 6.45pm and then she starts yawning and rubbing her eyes. i say its bedtime baby, mummy loves you, kisses and cuddles then into bed and put her lullaby light on. she whines a little, i go in and tell her its ok, mummy is here, its just bedtime. i do this 2-3 times, then it all goes quiet and she is sleeping. the first night i done it, it took 15min from the time i put her into bed till she fell asleep, lastnight, it took 10min. where she used to wake up in the night before, she now sleeps 12hrs straight, self soothing when she wakes.

its s gradual process, but you'll get there!

Answer 2

Start slowing reducing the amount you give her and altering her feeding times a little (say 15 minutes later). By reducing the amount of her feed, she'll slowly adapt to having less and less, then you can stop.

Answer 3

She is eating way too much at night for sure ~ increase her daily bottles and then at night for her very last one give her a warm bath (use a calming soap) then after she gets her warm jammies on then feed her the last bottle but fill this one w/ some baby cereal like a couple spoonfuls (you may have to increase the hole in the nipple but just do this carefully w/ a steak knife tip)

She will most likely sleep through the night once you do this but at 14 months your baby should be leaning towards more jar foods, finger foods, and sippy cups leaving all bottles behind in the next couple of months

Answer 4

you may need to speak to your maternal health nurse bout that one, my first born stopped feeding during the night and 3 weeks old and my second was 9 days old..

Answer 5

we had the same issue with our son if he even wakes up once during the night for a bottle he is wet through so have to change him which wakes him up.... what we have done is taken the milk away fro night feeds and give him heavily diluted juice and only half a bottle,,, were still in the works as he still wakes sometimes but we are finding he sleeps through the night a lot more than when he gets up, now in a week im lucky if he wakes up one night for a feed at all. When we do go into him we dont turn the lights on, we dont talk to him we just hand him his bottle and walk away... seems to be doing the trick perfectly.... dont just take everything off her, i know at their age they can be expected to go through the night but they dont know they are being naughty and know no different so why put her through the discomfort of taking everything away instantly.  It is working well with my son the way we do it and he barely ever wakes now and when he does he still gets his juice but only half a bottle and it is hevily diluted so doesnt taste all that great giving him no real reason to keep waking.. it has taken a couple of weeks to get to this but well worth it all way round.