drinking a lot of milk at the end of the night.

[legend_018]

I have a problem. It doesn't happen ever night, but it has been happening quite frequently.
My LO is a very picky eater. I try very hard. She only gets 4 oz of milk after each meal and has to at least try to eat something before she gets her sippy. Some days are better than others. Lately, breakfast seems to be good and it gets poorer as the day goes on. Typical schedule might be

eat breakfast some where between 6:30am and 7:00am
midmorning snacks, actually eats more at this meal than breakfast around 9:30am.
naps noon to 2 or 11:30 to 1:30 ect.
try to give lunch usually by 2:30pm
Supper is usually around 5:00/5:30pm. Note* today for the first time in awhile, she wad mad after she didn't get more than 4 oz of milk. She barely ate her dinner. We did have fathers day company most of the day and there was a lot of comotion going on. I did try to feed her again after people left and she did pick a little.

Believe me I try to get her to eat and she does eat, just NOT a lot and very picky.

So than what happens? Well after supper about an hour later, it's almost time to go to bed. I'll give her a nice BIG sippy. If I give her a small one, she'll want more later. The sippy will be between 7 and 9oz.  Than on top of all that.....she won't go to sleep until she gets another 3-5 oz of sippy milk. She'll stay in her crib playing and stuff from like 7/7:30pm until 9:00pm and than CRY!!!. I go in, give her another 3-5 oz of sippy, change her diaper, say good night and she's down within 10 minutes.  I try to hold out and at one time she wasn't crying and I was going up there. but lately, it's crying crying crying after almost 2 hours playing and making noises and probably 'trying' to go to sleep.

Should I stop giving her the last 3-5 oz she is asking for even if she keeps on crying and extends her sleep time until 10pm or later?

She didn't do this last night, and slept until a decent 6:30am AND had a GREAT nap today. Just night time problems with drinking a LOT of milk, which starts after supper around 6pm and ends close to 9pm. It's like she has a total of 15 oz sometimes. 4oz after supper, big 7-9oz sippy and than another 4 oz around 9pm.

She doesn't do this during nap time. She falls right asleep within the hour for nap. She doesn't even do this every night, but most nights these days.

It's like she's holding out all day and than drinking a lot of milk at night. She really drinks it like she wants it.

[binxyboo]

So, how much milk is she getting in a 24 hour period?

You know, if she is holding out all day, and then you give her all that milk in the nighttime, then it just perpetuates the cycle. She fills up at nighttime, is not so hungry during the day, and then at nighttime she wants all the milk again.

Is she actually hungry when she wakes in the morning time? I give Riley about an hour to wake up, then he has breakfast, then an early lunch at about 11:30, down for nap, snack in the afternoon, supper then bed.

This is an ongoing issue right? Are you the same lady who posted about all the bottles a while back? If not, excuse me!

[legend_018]

She's having between 23 and 27 oz I believe. 4 oz after "4 meals" and than the last BIG sippy and than sometimes I have to give her even more, which results in a LOT of milk from supper time to bed time.

She is pretty hungry sometimes when she wakes up. Eats a 6 oz jar of oatmeal with pears and a 4oz sippy around 6:30am. Than between 9 and 10am, does pretty good at least some days. She'll have some scrambled eggs and pick on some fruit. Some days are better than others. At times, it appears her breakfast and midmorning meal she eats better than lunch and dinner. She picks a lot so it's hard to add it all up. Like for supper last night...she did real stinky. Had a few bites of a noodles, a couple bites of some cheese, had a couple bites of a graham cracker.

She's close to 15 months old by the way

[taygensmom]

How old is she? Is she underweight or losing weight at all?

As long as there are no serious weight issues, then I agree with the PP that the milk in the evening is likely contributing to the picky eating. She has simply changed the times when she "eats". She eats in the evening in the form of milk instead of during the day with food. So really to address this you would need to decrease the evening bottle. If she is between 1 and 2 (I am assuming this is her age??) then she really only needs 16 to 18 oz.. per day, 20 at the very most!!! Any more than that and she will eats less because she is getting the calories she needs from the milk. I would also recommend dropping that last 3-5 oz. bottle completely. She does not need it at her age, she is simply used to having it and getting her calories at night instead of during the day. So I would continue the 4 oz after each meal and then you culd decrease to 6 oz. in the evening. She probably will cry and protest some; this is when she is used to eating! But if you persist she should adjust her internal system so she is eating more food during the day and less milk at might! It may take a week or two, but if youa re completely consistent it should happen. HTH

[legend_018]

I'm just afraid of what will happen. She wasn't doing this before and over the course of the last 2 weeks...she just started doing the 9pm cry out. I actually recently cut her down to only 4 oz after each meal based on a suggestion in here. That seems to be working out ok. I give a bigger bottle close to bed time so she sleeps through the night and is satisfied. It's this 2 hours in bed and than cry out for another 3-5 oz before finally falling asleep that I think is wrong.

As I mentioned she'll stay in her crib from as early as 7:00pm until almost 9pm playing or doing what ever. Than it's whining and crying and some kind of frustration in regards to not falling asleep. I go in there and give her that "LAST" 3-5 oz and she's off in la la land. I have tried water and that worked a few times. One time, water didn't cut it.

What if 9pm turns into 10pm ect?

I don't know how we got into this habit.

She's almost 15 months old

[Wiki]

What happens if you give her that extra milk straight away at bedtime, instead of waiting an hour or so? Will she then go to sleep? That way at least all the milk is at the earlier part of the night (so more time to digest before breakfast)...

My son was never a good eater, but at 18 months he is improving.

We cut him back to morning (4oz) and evening milk (8oz) at around 15 months, and he eats way more since then. He does tend to really drink loads at night though (even if he has a big dinner), often 10-12oz at bedtime. I am finding that if I give him water or watered down juice an hour before his dinner and then some more offered after, then he gets more liquid (but less calories) in that way. Its been really hot here at night recently and he really did seem to be thirsty, this way I feel he's getting more water in.

Would you consider cutting back the milk in the day?

[legend_018]

She eats between 5pm and 6pm and than she has her after dinner 4oz bottle. Sometimes at that particular time, she would drink MORE or she just says I don't want anymore. I put her to bed at 7/7:30pm and maybe between 6:30pm and 7:15pm...she drinks down her BIG SIPPY before bed. So it's pretty close to bed time. Than she doesn't fall asleep and it seems like 2 hours later, the only way I can get her to go down is to give her another 3-5 oz. Sometimes it's an hour later. 

I just recently started cutting back to only "4oz" after each meal. I would think she should get used to this a tad bit longer and than perhaps cutting back more. 

From 6:30am until 6:00pm she has 16 oz - which isn't so bad. It's the last Sippy of the day and "not all the time" this extra 3-5 oz on top of that I'm giving into at almost 9pm at night.

[legend_018]

by the way...she did this last night and this morning she had 6 oz jar of oatmeal and pears at around 6:30/6:45am. Than at around 9:45am, she had some pancake and cantaloup. I mean I think she ate 1/2 of a small pancake if that and picked on a couple pieces of cantaloup. She had "4oz" sippys after each meal. Mornings appears to be better than afternoons.

[Wiki]

Do you give her milk on waking? Maybe try that, and push breakfast later?

We do this:

6-7am (no set waking time) 4oz cows milk
8am Breakfast
11.30-12 Lunch
4.30-5.30 Dinner
7-8pm 9oz formula and Bed

You know what, with the day time milk, what would happen if you just dropped one of those 4oz, just one meal? I seriously thought I could never drop the 2pm bottle, that he wouldn't go for it, but one day we did and he didn't even notice. Just make sure you have something to do, or go out, to distract her. She will not be keen on trying more food if she will get milk instead, Caspar is the same way.

Just my opinion but I wouldn't give her that 4oz after dinner, there's not much of a gap to fill between dinner and bed, do you have a bathtime routine then? You might find after a while, that she eats more at dinner once she doesn't get that 4oz milk, and then the bedtime milk would be enough on top of the bigger dinner?

When does she nap, is she tired at bedtime, seems a long time to stay awake playing?

I appreciate its tough, I have this "demanding extra milk" thing too sometimes, I am only glad his nappies can hold up to 15-17oz milk digested over night, otherwise I'd have a nightmare!
I also work a few days a week, so Caspar's bedtime is between 7-8 depending on the day, and food depends on what he's had at day care at 4.30pm tea...sometimes he won't eat and screams for milk at 6.30pm...

Hang in there...

[binxyboo]

I am kind of confused, because I think this seems to be the same issue as when you posted with bottles, except now she is drinking from sippies. Although she seems to be eating more solids now than a few months ago, which is great!

What exactly is the problem, as you see it? What exactly do you want to change?

I would think I agree with Stacy on this one.

[legend_018]

If you hold her, she's starting to hold the sippy on her own. In her booster seat, she sometimes holds it up but I have to help her a lot. She won't just hold it up like while standing.

I guess the problem is, she doesn't do so bad with sippy milk during the day and food intake is off and on. Meaning some days are good and she at least to me, seems like she is eating fairly decent enough and other days she doesn't do so good. but after her dinner sippy, she wants her last sippy which is BIG enough 7-9 oz and now for some reason she's staying up until almost 9pm at night and wanting even more milk before finally settling down.
The problem is between 6pm and 9pm, she's having something like 15 oz total of milk.

She's been sort of napping from noon to 2pm. I have been putting her in the crib for night night time between 6:45pm and 7:30pm.  There are some nights where she falls asleep quicker and doesn't stay up for almost 2 hours with me giving in to a last small sippy cup of milk.

I'm trying to digest everything that is being suggested at this point. thanks

[legend_018]

I try to have patience, but the straw cups are very difficult. She will drink from them, but likes to chew on the straw and play spit the water out for some reason. I understand babies make a mess, and believe me, I clean up a lot of messes on a giving day "lol". It just ends up being more aggravation. I can still try the straw cups though. I do here and there. Mostly with water. by the way, I have different cups for water and milk. Advent for milk and I'm not so sure what the water cups are. One of them, the middle piece got lost and she still does fine with it as far as drinking the water.

[legend_018]

Just my opinion but I wouldn't give her that 4oz after dinner, there's not much of a gap to fill between dinner and bed, do you have a bathtime routine then? You might find after a while, that she eats more at dinner once she doesn't get that 4oz milk, and then the bedtime milk would be enough on top of the bigger dinner?

This I might try. It might be difficult because knowing her if she's in the mood to hold out for milk and not really eat much dinner - she'll be cranky and mad that she isnt' getting her 4 oz sippy milk after dinner. but than again...I give her the big LAST sippy before bed like an hour later anyways. So this I might try.

[binxyboo]

I think I remember reading about someone's lo who took a huge amount of milk before bed, I think the child's name was Calum, but I am drawing a blank on the Mom's name. But from what I remember, he was a great eater as well.

Have you ever tried giving her the amount she wants straight away at bedtime, so that she doesn't have to hold out until 9pm for the milk? Is it really a food issue or a prop issue, do you think? If you gave her all 15 oz at bedtime (say 7pm), would she drink it all and go straight to sleep, or would she still be in there needing more 2 hours later just to go to sleep?

[legend_018]

I could try giving her more milk at bed time. Sometimes she actually pushes it away and doesn't anymore. I can't blame her because after having 4oz at 6pm and than another 7-9 oz at bed time, that seems to be enough for me. I'm not sure about the answer to your last question. I also don't know if it's a food issue or a prop issue. I guess I need to know some definitions of what a prop is again in this case? I think the VERY final 3-5 oz that i'm giving into at like 9pm at night could be some kind of a soothing thing or prop. But why is she drinking it like she really wants it? When other times, if she doesn't want more milk...she pushes it away.