How can i stop the 2 am bottle?

Question

my baby is 8 months and still waking up two times to eat,
one at 2 am and 2nd at 6am

i don't know what i'm going to do when i have to stop giving her the bottle about 1 year old).
what am i going to do at nights.?can you tell me your experiences?

thank you :)

Answer 1

the next 4 months will include a lot of growth for your baby. You shouldn't try to stop the 2 am feedings, if the baby is hungry she needs to eat. My oldest didn't stop the middle of the night feedings until 13 months old. I then broke him of the bottle at about 14-15 months. You don't have to break them at 12 months, just don't let them have the bottle until they are 2 years old. My second slept through the night at about 10 months old and my third slept through the night at 4 months old. Every baby is different, but that is not a "habit" to "break". Good luck and she will sleep I promise.

Answer 2

At 8 months old a child doesn't need to eat in the night. They are doing it out of habit and because they find it comforting. My oldest daughter wanted to eat all the time and the only way to break her from the habit was to let her cry. I'd go into her room and explain that she wasn't getting fed in the middle of the night anymore. I would leave a bottle of water in her crib which she could have if she wanted. I would give her a big hug and kiss and let her know that mommy loved her. For awhile, I had tried rocking her and soothing her, but then she started to rely on that and I could tell that would become the next habit. Therefore, I stopped that and left a bottle of water in her crib. Within a few days she realized crying wasn't going to get her anywhere and started sleeping through the night. I understand why some parents think they should gradually stop this. I'm not mean because I didn't stay in the room for 1/2 an hour and rock them to sleep for several weeks or dilute their bottle, etc. Doing all of this only prolongs the process of weaning the child from the feeding. I am a very attentive parent who has spent lots of time loving and comforting her children. I know many parents that have done what I did, and even the doctor suggested it. I did the same thing with my other two children, but at a much younger age. Good luck!

Answer 3

If the baby is actually taking a full bottle, you may be stuck - check with your doctor. I'm not sure I'd stop a feeding if it's a full feeding.

My son would start on the bottle, but barely take anything. He just wanted us to come pick him up. Our doctor finally told us to give him the tough love treatment (@ 12 months). I think it's actually called the Ferber method.

Wait 10 minutes after she starts to cry. Go in and talk to your child when she cries. Rub her back, or whatever you do to reassure her normally. But do NOT pick her up. Tell her she's OK. Give her about 1 minute. Then leave. Wait 20 minutes, then 30... keep increasing the time. She'll eventually go back to sleep. Over the course of the next few nights, the time it takes will go down.

It's absolute torture for you the first night. But my son took to this really well. It only took 3 nights, and he was sleeping through the night.

Answer 4

Both of our kids slept through the night by the age of 4 months, but basically we just kept them on a consistent schedule of bottles then solid foods/bottles during the day. For example, a bottle at the same time every day, then when they went to solid foods, one of those bottles was replaced by jar food or something we cooked and ground in a blender. We gave ours the same amount every day (they usually just stopped if they were full), and if we kept to the schedule, and gave an 8 ounce bottle right before bed they eventually just slept through the night. No sugar or soda ever for babies. We never let ours drink pop or have ANY crap foods like candy or chips, and they are now in the 90th percentile on all their measurements. It also helps if you kept the baby in a seperate room (during the night) than mommy and daddy from day one.

Answer 5

I would recommend a multi-faceted approach.

If your baby is taking a full bottle in the middle of the night, this is likelly affecting her daytime appetite as well - stopping cold-turkey will be hard on her. It's also probably habit by now.

1) offer more food during the day
2) delay the bottle - when she wakes up, pat-pat-pat her back for 10 or fifteen minutes, increasing every night (this worked for my son!)
3) Start watering down the bottle. Slowly start decreasing the amount of formula in there, working your way down to just water. Then start decreasing the quantity you offer.

Answer 6

We broke my son off the hard way, because nothing else worked. you just make sure that the child eats until she is full, and then let her cry it out at night. odds are she isn't really hungry, she just wants the comfort of you sitting there with her. We put my son in his crib at night, and when he woke up crying we just sat by him and didn't feed him. he would cry maybe 15 minutes, then go back to sleep. After a week or so we moved to sitting by the door, and after that, we didn't go in his room, just left a monitor to make sure he was just fussing, not hurt or anything. it took a few weeks, but he was sleeping through the night after that, and still does to this day. As for stopping the bottle all together, we just had him get his bottles and put them in a bag. we told him they were going to a new baby who needed them and he got a cup like a big boy now. it worked great. of course that doesn't work on all kids, but it's worth a shot

Answer 7

Have you been doing this since birth? Your just going to have to slowly start breaking the habit. Maybe give her 2 ounces more before bed, then if she wakes up crying give her a pacifier...when I was a baby my mom just started giving me a pacifier instead of a bottle, and she said after a week or so of that I stopped waking up at 3...

Answer 8

She will probably stop getting up once her tummy is retrained to not eat in the middle of the night. It took my daughter 2 nights of not getting fed in the middle of the night to stop night waking. We would just hold her and rock her and she cried because she was used to being fed, but then that was it. Good luck.

* There is no need for a baby to have nightime feedings after 6 months old, unless there is a medical reason. All of their nutrition should be given to them during the day.

Answer 9

You'll have to train baby not to get up at 2:00 - go to baby but don't give a bottle no matter what baby does. It will probably take a while, but baby will start sleeping through the night.

Answer 10

With my 2 children, they were sleeping through the night at 3 months of age. Make sure your child has a full bottle before you put him/her down for the night. It will take a couple of nights to a couple of weeks for them to realize they are not going to get a bottle anymore in the middle of the night. Once they do, both of you will sleep through the night.

Good Luck!!