How do I wean him off bottle before sleep?

[Megan Johntz]

Our 11-month-old (next week) was off the chart height and weight at first, but then dropped to the 20th percentile in weight at around 6 months. Doc said just getting long and lean, but if weight cont. to drop, need to worry. So I started feeding him a bottle before naps and bedtime. Knew I was creating a prop, but was worried about his weight.
Any tips to break this habit I created? (I can't find it now, but I thought Tracy wrote to gradually decrease the volume of liquid, and/or gradually water it down - or did I just dream that? )
BTW, I'm continually amazed at sites like this - the community and strength of moms is truly astonishing!
Thanks!
-Megan

[Lªuren]

(I can't find it now, but I thought Tracy wrote to gradually decrease the volume of liquid, and/or gradually water it down - or did I just dream that? )

Megan
This sounds suspisiously like Tracys plan to remove the dreamfeed, I will have to have a look in my own books to see if there is anything.

Let me know in the meantime if you manage to find it. 

Lauren

[Leah's Mom]

I don't have my book on hand either (borrowed it to my sister who is having a baby next month ) But I do recall the watering down thing for eliminating a bottle as a prop. Does your LO fall asleep on the bottle or just use it to relax before sleep?

[Megan Johntz]

SO SORRY! I hit the wrong button mid-sentence! I need to go to bed myself!
Any ideas of what an 11-month old could use to signal him that he's going to sleep? I can't very well swaddle and shhhh.
BTW, he never wakes at night - doesn't even make little baby sounds. He sleeps 12-13 hours at night and has just moved from two naps to one - it's about 1 1/2  to 2 hours long.
May I ask you why you inquired if he just uses the bottle to relax before bed? Is that OK? Maybe I don't need to be concerned, because he falls asleep on his own, so maybe the bottle is just part of his wind-down routine? He is hitting separation anxiety right now, but before that he'd watch me leave, and have no problem going to sleep by himself. I'm rambling ...
Any thoughts would help.
Thanks!

[Megan Johntz]

Leah's Mom:
I really DO need to go to bed: this is actually the first part of my response, but the wrong button I hit didn't end it, iterasedit. Arrrgghh.
When I put him in his crib, he's usually in that "zoned out, but not quite asleep" stage. Most of the time. Sometimes, he's dead asleep. He's actually a great sleeper - always has been, so I'm wondering if a bottle before sleep is that much of a problem. I remember Tracy saying if it works ...

[Leah's Mom]

You are right - if it works, why change it!  If your LO is not waking in the night, I wouldn't worry too much. It is good that he does not fall asleep, just relaxes with the bottle. My LO had a bottle as part of her wind down routine. I wanted to get rid of the bottle at 12 months. To phase it out this is what I did:

Our nap routine was - diaper change, bottle and music then nap. I changed the routine to bottle and music, diaper change then nap for a few days. Then I did bottle and music, diaper change, book and nap. Then I started to offer milk in a sippy during the book. So our routine turned into – diaper change, book and sippy of milk, then nap.

Our bedtime routine was – bath, music, diaper change and jammies, bottle and bed. I changed to bath, music, diaper change and jammies, bottle, then book and bed, Eventually I offered the sippy instead of the bottle. I waited until we first weaned the nap bottle.

I hope this helps! Like I said, I don’t think you have caused a big problem. He sleeps straight through, so that’s great! 

Christine

[Megan Johntz]

Thank you, Christine-
That really helped. Beautiful shot of your daughter by the way.
Thanks again,
-Megan