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Bedtime bottle

Hiya. I was just wondereing what time you all gave you LO's their bedtime bottle? I do it in his bedroom right before he goes to bed. He generally falls asleep drinking it then wakes up when he goes in his cot! The problem is during the night he generally doesnt settle unless i give him a bottle. This is only once or twice a night but given he is 7 months old next week i want to try and get him out of this habit. Ive read that if you give bottle too close to bedtime they become reliant on having bottle to get back to sleep. Just wondering what others do. Im shattered this morning! Ive had enough of been woke up twice a night now!! Ta xx

Replies

  • Hi I give my lo his bottle at about 6.30pm, he drinks about half of it then I'll give him the rest when I take him upto bed at about 7pm. Sometimes if he is really tired he'll fall asleep but I wake him up so that he doesn't get reliant on being fed to sleep. He does sleep through till about 7am unless he's poorly or something, but he is 11 months.

    When my lo was about the same age as yours he was waking in the night still for a feed and this is what I did to get him sleeping through. I'd put him to bed as normal, then sometime between 10pm and 11pm I would wake him up, change his nappy, feed him then put him back to bed. Pretty much from when I started doing this he started to sleep through till 7am. Then I just gradually started to reduce the amount he took at this feed and when it come to the point where he didn't drink much of it I stopped it and he slept through. The odd time he wakes in the night now I give him some water in a bottle and that usually settles him. I think he likes sucking it for comfort but he won't have a dummy. x
  • Hi, thanks for reply. I was worried about waking him for a feed just in case he decided to start sleeping through at some point and I woke him when i didnt need to! Although your way you weened him off his milk so that sounds okay! How did you reduce the amount at his feeds? Did you dilute his milk or do less oz's? I go back to work in May. I cant have him waking up then!! xx
  • I didn't like waking him at first but I did try dream feeding (something you could try first if you haven't already?) and this didn't work because he didn't take enough, and I think the stimulation of having his nappy changed and being properly awake helped him to sleep sounder for some reason.

    I just made up less oz's. So he gradually started taking more in the morning instead of in the middle of the night. If he takes a good amount when you wake and he still wakes in the night at first I'd probably try giving him water in the night as he's still having the amount of milk he'd normally have so you need to get him out of the habit of waking. x
  • With my LO I give him a bottle at 6.30pm and let him drink as much as he wants (sometimes he might only 3-4oz) then I put him to bed awake at 7pm. I give him a dreamfeed at 11pm before I go to bed (he drinks between 7-9oz) and then he sleeps through til about 6.30am. I started to give him a dummy when he was waking up at 4am because he wasnt really taking anything when I offered him a bottle (maybe 2oz max) - the dummy thing took about 4 days for him to break the habit. Now we're weaning he is starting to take less at his dream feed so will hopefully phase this out in the next month (my LO is 6 months) x
  • Hi my lo has a feed after bath at 7pm then a dreamfeed at 11pm he is 27 weeks and I have just weaned him but I am keeping the dreamfeed in for a few more months to keep his milk intake up he doesn't haven't a bottle in a morn now he just isn't interested xx
  • my little one is only 7 weeks this week so don't know if i should really say anything, but i feed her a 5oz bottle at 8pm after her bath and then put her to bed, we then dreamfeed her at 10.30/11pm before we go to bed (anywhere from 1oz - 5oz depending what she's willing to take lol) but she sleeps through til 7am with this.

    i introduced the dreamfedd with her at 4.5 weeks and by 5.5 weeks she was sleeping til 7am without waking up which i'm convinced is due to the dreamfeed.

    hope you find something that works for you soon and you get back to getting your sleep again xx
  • Lizzie is 8 weeks and i have found that with routine with her bottles in the day has made nights so much easier. Lizzie feeds at certain times every day.
    7am,10am,1pm,4pm,7pm and 10pm. She takes between 4 and 5oz at each feed.With her 10pm feed, she sometimes only takes 2 oz but she is fully awake after winding her, so I pout her down in the crib,and turn the lights out in the bedroom, as soon as light are out she drifts off to sleep x
  • I do much the same as the others...half the feed downstairs at 6.30ish then 2nd half up in bedroom. I don't let him fall asleep and keep him sat quite upright and not too cuddled in! I was doing a dreamfeed at 10.30pm until 3 nights ago when he just started to take 1-2 oz of milk so we left it and then he slept through. He does sometimes wake in the night (we've just had a nightmare period of 6 weeks or so of nightwaking!) but a cuddle usually sorts him. Sometimes I put him back down asleep, naughty i know but when i'm tired it's easier! Since encouraging to self settle he has slept through the night since refusing the dreamfeed. Good luck with it x
  • just wanted to add that lo is 7.5 months! x
  • Hi, thanks for your replies. Im gonna try the dreamfeed tonight and see how i get on. Since weaning him he doesnt drink loads of milk during the day so dont mind doing that. Will see how I get on. Mind you hes teething at mo so im sure he will wake a few times!! xx
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