Not taking evening bottle - time to switch?

[The Vern]

DD is 11 months.  For quite a while now, the evening bottle has been a bit of a struggle. She's taken maybe 2-3 oz, but only if she can drink it herself and in bed, never if we're holding her. (she never falls asleep with a bottle).  The last couple of nights though, she's taken even less, 0-1 oz. Morning bottle is about 5 oz and afternoon bottle about 6 oz.  I was under the impression that interest in the mid-day bottle was the first to wane, so I wasn't expecting this.  Does this mean I should be dropping the mid-day bottle and her interest in the evening bottle should return?  She gets lots of dairy throughout the day, so I'm not too concerned about the calcium intake. I am thinking alot about the weaning process coming up shortly though.  I've started to put some formula in the sippy cup at dinner time - she doesn't like it, though last night she did take 1 oz.  Do I just keep doing that until she's used to it?   

I guess I'm cramming lots of questions into this one post - sorry if it's confusing!  Basically, I think I'm supposed to drop down to 2 bottles at this time, just don't know which one.

Thanks,

Maria

[KathrynK]

Hi Maria
I read somewhere on here before that if they start to refuse the bedtime bottle then that's the sign that the middle of the day one needs to go. My lo is the same age and we dropped her afternoon bottle about 3 weeks ago as she was only having about 2oz at bedtime. I can't say it was a complete success, as since then we have had teething, tummy bug and a stinking cold to contend with so she's not really having much milk at all... I am hoping once her cold clears up she will up her intake from her bottles again
hth
kathryn x

[The Vern]

That's what I thought!

Stacy, dinner is likely too late, but I have no choice, as I pick her up from daycare around 5 p.m. most days, so dinner is as soon as I can get it on the table, usually around 5:30. If it's later, what I've sometimes done is give her the bottle before dinner to make sure she at least takes some. She might take 3-4 oz that way then dinner, bath, and sometimes I try to get her to take a bit more milk, but usually this is unsuccessful obviously because she's full!

What do I do if I drop the mid-day bottle and she still doesn't take the evening bottle? Or is that unlikely? I'm just worried that intake will really drop off.

Thanks again.

[LŠuren]

What do I do if I drop the mid-day bottle and she still doesn't take the evening bottle? Or is that unlikely? I'm just worried that intake will really drop off.

Hi Maria

DS was fussy for his evening bottle and I was advised then that the afternoon bottle was interferring with it. 

I decided to drop the middle bottle coldturkey and to be honest he started taking his full bedtime bottle again within days.

If you are not sure about going cold turkey, you also have the option to gradually decrease the lunch time bottle and add it to the bedtime bottle.   You can offer the lunch time milk in a sippy instead, until you stop it all together.


Hope that made sense. 

GOOD LUCK

[The Vern]

Lauren - thanks for the advise. I just need the push to do it. We've had some really rough weeks here with an ear infection, a never ending cold, a stomach bug, fever, dehydration, teething and whatever else you can think of, so it hasn't really been the time to switch things around on her.    She's starting to turn the corner on her illnesses, so her appetite is slowly returning to normal.  For the past few days, she's taken 6 oz in the morning, 5 oz in the afternoon, still nothing before bed.  I've tried formula and cow's milk in the sippy cup - she refuses it! Only takes water or juice that way. 

I take from your post that I can expect it to take a few days for her to adjust and that her milk intake will be low for those days.  She eats lots of yogurt and cheese so calcium wise she should be covered anyway I guess.  I would like to get the bedtime bottle back because she is waking a bit early from hunger, before 5.  Also, it is hard because dinner is a bit late due to us both working and not picking her up until 5:15, so I'm sure she's not all that hungry for the bottle.  That's also why I'm concerned about dropping the mid-day bottle, what if she still refuses the bedtime bottle even after several days...but I guess that's a post for another day!

In terms of getting her to take milk from the sippy cup, should I maybe dilute the milk with water for a while until she gets used to it? 

Thanks again,  maria

[LŠuren]

maria

I would expect her to start to take her evening bottle after a few days.

You could also just put milk in a bottle at lunch time and gradually reduce, it doesn't have to be a sippy.

[The Vern]

Lauren,

We went cold turkey on the mid-day bottle on Friday.  She took 4 oz at night on Friday.  Her night was not very good with a gazzillion wake ups.  The next morning she took 6 as usual.  Last night, again she took 4 oz before bed. Woke up at 3:30 and was starving. Could not settle and she downed 6 oz, went back to sleep and had another 5 oz upon awakening this morning.  How many days until I know if this is working?  She needs more than 4 oz before bed obviously, but how do I get her to take more???  I want my perfect little sleeper back!  Does it ever happen that the two bottles are a.m. and mid-day? Do all lo have to have one before bed? Maybe because she took more from the mid-day bottle, she got more calories overall and slept better.  I know it's only been two nights and I'm being very impatient!  What do you think?

Thanks, Maria

[KathrynK]

Hi Maria
You might have seen my post from last weekend on this thread already....we went cold turkey on the afternoon bottle a few weeks ago and after a week or so I too was starting to doubt whether I'd done the right thing as her intake hadn't picked up on her bedtime bottle and was still only 3oz. Anyway then she got a cold, which meant she was having hardly any milk at all as she couldn't breathe and so couldn't suck her bottles. The cold was gone in about a week and- hey presto! We are now having 8oz first thing and 7oz at bedtime! I know it sucks when your usually great sleeper starts waking in the night but I would hang on in there if you can, it might take a week or more.
Also I saw you were wondering about whether dinner means she is not hungry enough for her milk- I messed about with dinner times during this period as I wondered if dinner was impacting on her bottle. Basically it didn't make any difference whatsoever, I could do dinner at 4pm and she still wouldn't have more than 3oz at 7pm! Since she has been having a good bedtime bottle again some nights I have been late with dinner for whatever reason, maybe a couple of times as late as 5.45pm, anyway she has still gulped down her bottle at bedtime!
We also had early wakings, around 5am during this period. After weeks of deliberating, I cut back her naps so she is having less daytime sleep and after 3 days of this the early wakings stopped and she went back to her normal wake up time of 6.30! I did wonder at the time if it was food/ bottle related but it became apparent it wasn't when one morning I gave her a bottle as a night feed at 5am, laid her back down and left, and she never went back to sleep, just lay there and sang to herself. Does your lo go straight back to sleep after you feed her? I think early wakings are very typical at this age and tend to be developmental or related to the daytime sleep.
ps. I notice our lo's were born 1 day apart so am thinking it can't be coincidence that we are going through the same things a couple of weeks apart!
xxxx

[The Vern]

Kathryn

Thank you so much for your reply. It is always nice to know others have gone through the same issues and to learn how it all worked out.  That's great that your daughter is taking 7 oz before bed!  We will certainly hang in there after reading your post.  Luckily, she's pretty much over her cold and doesn't have any problem sucking the bottles any longer. I'm hoping her intake will slowly increase over the next few days.  I'll think about the daytime napping too, but as she's in daycare during the week it makes it hard to monitor obviously. And yes, she does go right back to sleep after I give her the bottle when she wakes up, so she's definitely waking from hunger.  By the way - do you have the b-day party planned yet?

[KathrynK]

No- haven't even given it a thought...baaaaad mummy 
am trying to get sorted for Christmas at the moment!

[The Vern]

Well, update...it's been pretty much a whole month now, and dd is still at about 3 oz before bed. And for the past week or so she's been waking up in the middle of the night starving - taking 8-9 oz.  I'm just at a loss as to how to increase her intake.  Lately, she's been fidgety too with her solid intake - things she used to like don't go at all.  Could it possibly be that I should put the mid-day bottle back in, so she'll at least get her milk oz in during the day (and calories) and then not worry so much about the evening bottle.  Thoughts anyone?? Need my good sleeper back!!!

[LŠuren]

Maria
Can you post your routine with solids amounts and formula amounts?

Lauren

[The Vern]

Lauren, you're quick!

6-7 am: wake up, 5-6 oz (usually, except now that she is waking 3-5 am and taking 8-9 oz)
7 - breakfast, cheerios with milk, a couple spoonfuls of fruit (she's been picky lately), and sometimes pieces of toast
7:30-5 - at daycare Monday-Thursday
9:30 or 10 - snack (cheese or yogurt or fruit) and then nap for 90 minutes
12 - lunch  (pasta, veg, chicken, fruit, cheese, toast - whatever she'll eat that day - it's been lots of toast with cream cheese lately)
1:30 or 2 - nap for 90-120 minutes (light snack either before or after the nap, depending on when she goes down)
5 or 5:30  - dinner (same as lunch)
6:30  - bath
7 - pjs and bottle
7:30 - bed

She takes water during the day in a sippy cup. She refuses milk in the sippy.  To get her take the most milk before bed I've laid her down in her crib so she can give herself the bottle and then I get her up to brush her teeth and then back to bed.  She is a pretty good sleeper, except as I said, she's been waking up early morning now really hungry. 

Hope my routine might give you some clues as to what is going on.

m.

[LŠuren]

Maria 

Is there some days where all she is having is toast with cheese? 

Is she refusing other solids when you feed her or is she the stage she won't eat until she gets to put it in her mouth herself?  Have you tried giving her another spoon when you go to spoon  feed her and she what she does with her spoon. I seem to remember at Calums 1st birthday party she was having loads of finger food - he was having an independent phase 

[The Vern]

She does well with fingerfoods, for example today, watermelon, pineapple, pita pocket pieces, broccoli, cheddar, gold fish (can't complain today on her solids intake). I give her a spoon but usually she just throws it on the floor.  What I mostly do is put a piece of food on the spoon and give the spoon to her or place it on the table and she grabs it and does really well putting it in her mouth (unless it's yogurt or soup or something that spills easily in which case I feed her).  She is certainly showing her preferences, will shake her head no if she doesn't want something, but if she wants it she doesn't seem to have a problem being fed by us.  This afternoon I thought I'd try to see if she would take some milk (she did sign 'milk') but she had maybe 2 oz and preferred her other snacks.  For dinner tonight she had about 1/4 cup butternutsquash soup, a few pieces of avocado, a whole slice of multigrain toast with cream cheese, 1 oz cheddar cheese, 1/4 cup yogurt and a couple of bites left over birthday cake, so I'd say she's stuffed!  Maybe it's just too much to expect her to take a bottle then before bed.  Dinner was at 5 by the way, so later on after she goes to bed I'll post and let you know how she did with her bottle.

Anyway, I don't know if all of this tells you anything......