Dropping Night Feed

[Bobby brown]

Hi,

My DS is 7 months old. I was wondering when will he stop wanting bottles through the night OR is it down to me to stop him?

If I should be weaning him off at what age should I do this? And can anyone give me some good tips on doing it?

For the last 3 months he has been waking at 5.00am and wont go back to sleep, so I am wondering if he is still hungry, but I cant se why cause he refuses to have a bottle when he wakes up in the morning, but will eat breakfast, then has his lunch then his first bottle of the day is in the afternoon - I have tried so hard to get him to take bottle in the day but to no avail.

This is his routine

Breakfast (Solid) at 7.00am - Refuses bottle
Nap at 9.00am - last anywhere between 35 Min's to 50Min's
10.30 - 11am tried with bottle but never wants, but if I offer him a yogurt or small piece of toast he will eat that.
11.30 Nap - Last for about 1 to 1.5 hrs
12.30pm - 1pm Lunch (Solid)
2.30pm - 3.00pm Nap - lasts around 35min to 1 hr
4.00pm Bottle (6oz)
5.00pm Tea (Solids)
6.30pm Bath
7.00pm Bottle (7oz) then Bed

10.30 - 11.30pm Bottle - (Only give 5oz)
2.00 - 3.00am Bottle (5oz)

Wakes around 5.00am and refuses to go back to sleep, but we don't get him out of his cot till 6.30am as on the odd occasion he has fallen back to sleep for 20min more.

My DS has never been a good sleeper through the night, or during the day as it is only recently that his second sleep of the day has become longer.
Most nights he wakes every 2.5hrs BUT NOT FOR BOTTLE.  To get him back off he normally just wants to be rolled on his side and that is enough to put him back to sleep.

I have learnt to live with the fact that he has never slept well for me, but one day I would like to hope that this will happen for me as I feel like I have been deprived of sleep for ever.

ANY TIPS on all of the above problems.

[Colin Macs Mom]

Hi Bobby,

Check out this link  https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=46907.0
That should give you a good place to start. I think that at 7 mo you would be fine to consider ending the night feed. We did when DS was about 6 mo, maybe a little younger. It only took 4 days with the water down method, and it really made a difference with the night wakings. Mine is not a good sleeper either so I understand your exhaustion and frustration.

I am wondering if maybe he's not hungry in the morning because he ate at night and is still full (or full enough). Once you start dropping the night feed try offering the bottle in the morning and see if he wants it then rather than solids first. It looks like the first bottle he gets isn't until 4:00pm is that right??    I think that your routine needs some tweaking to round out the eating and maybe help with the night wakings. When my DS was 7 mo this is what we were doing -

8:00am wake and bottle 8oz.
9:00am breakfast (cereal and fruit)
10:00am nap
12:00pm wake, bottle 8 oz.
1:00pm lunch plain veggies and/or fruit
3:00pm nap
5/5:30pm wake, bottle 8 oz. or less sometimes
6:30pm dinner meat and veggies with cereal
7:00pm bath every other day
7:30pm bottle 8oz
8:00pm at the latest, bed

Your routine looks like the lengths of time between naps and meals is quite varied - I think it would help you to balance that a bit more. Also it might help to move him to two naps of longer duration rather than thee with two being short. You certainly are on the right track, but a bit of adjusting could really help you out.

[*Natasha*]

Hi Bobby,

Ok i agree with Colin Mac's Mom i think your routine just needs a bit of tweaking to even out naps, bottles and solids. At this age i think you could try and eliminate the night feed by either watering it down or just start offering less and less each time. The reason he won't have the bottle during the day is because he is filling up at the night feed. So once you eliminate the night bottle you will find that he will start eating better during the day. Also i can see that his morning nap is very short probably as he is only having an awake time of 2hrs before his nap and isn't tired enough for a long nap. At this age i would try and aim for 2 naps one in the morning and one in the afternoon of 1.5-2hrs each. At this age babies can handle an awake time of 2.5-3hrs. I think you will find when he is napping better during the day the night waking will start to stop.
So try and aim for this:

7.00am - Bottle
8am - Breakfast
9.30am - Nap 1.5-2hrs.
11/11.30am - Bottle
12/12.30pm Lunch (Solid)
2/2.30pm -  Nap - 1.5-2hrs
4.00pm Bottle (6oz)
5.00pm Tea (Solids)
6.30pm Bath
7.00pm Bottle (7oz) then Bed
10.30 - 11.30pm Bottle  I would keep doing this until you have everything else sorted then you can slowly drop this as well.
I hope this all makes sense and is helpful feel free to ask if you have any more questions.
Good luck