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Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Infant feeding

12 month old exbf to cows milk in bottle - HELP LEASE!

14 replies

Emmy600 · 27/05/2007 15:46

my ds is almost 12 months old. For the last couple of months he has been waking at least once every night at anytime, so I can't go out as he wont go back to sleep unless he has a bf. I want to get him on to a bottle so that I can go out but need advice please on best way to handle this. Obviously he wont take to a bottle with cows milk in straight away so wonder if anyone else has done this with their 1 year old. He will take a few sips of cows milk from cup during the day but doesn't want a cup during the night. He wants comfort! He's not interested in a dummy either. Don't know where to start. Was going to try bottle again this evening with bit of breast milk in it. Any suggestions please.

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VeniVidiVickiQV · 27/05/2007 15:48

bottle with breastmilk is a good place to start.

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Emmy600 · 27/05/2007 16:09

Thanks. Just a pain expressing enough as stopped day feeds few weeks ago! Just ordered Tommee Tippee Nuby teats to try as well as read they can work wonders sometimes.

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Twiglett · 27/05/2007 16:12

I found with both of mine that when I stopped breastfeeding they wouldn't drink cow's milk for a good 6 months

I would suggest rather than giving him milk in the night you give a bottle with just water in it as he won't be needing milk in the night and if its just a comfort thing then water won't make any difference (and you can keep it by your bed and just hand it over)

although part of me is torn at the thought of introducing a bottle at this late stage .. not sure, in retrospect and with the benefit of no emotional involvement, I would advise doing that .. far better to stick to the cups .. but as I say that's easily said from afar

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bionicley · 27/05/2007 20:40

Replacing with ebm or formula is unlikely to stop him waking and wanting you - this is just normal baby and toddler behaviour.

Babies are young for such a very short time. When you look at the short span they have this need for you in the night it is nothing compared to all the nights out in your lifetime.

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mears · 27/05/2007 20:43

I would not give milk in a bottle at night at this age. Either continue to B/F him or give him water in a cup. If you want to stop night wakings then don't feed him milk at all. He may well pass out this phase shortly though so don't panic just now.

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Emmy600 · 28/05/2007 09:38

Thanks all for the advice. I don't really want to give him a bottle at this late stage as it seems like taking a backwards step to me. But if ds wants comfort I can't think of anything else. Once he gets used to a bottle I will definately put water in one for during the night. He won't drink from a cup at night as he can't get comfort from that.

Yes it is right that hopefully this will be a short span so maybe I should just sit tight for another year and continue bf! I just can't see the light at the end of the tunnel at the moment. I can still see him waking for bf when he is 3 if I carry on as I am. I still don't know what to do. DS woke at 1am and 4am last night.

mears - not sure what you mean by not giving him milk feed at all to stop night wakings??

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mears · 28/05/2007 19:10

I think at this age babies wake more out of habit than necessity. He can get enough calories during the day without needing fed during the night. If he only gets water or nothing, he is less likely to wake looking for it. The theory is that if you don't give in, he will stop waking. The question is whether you have the stamina to do that. If you are going to stop breastfeeding at night then I would try increased feeds for comfort during the day. Repalcing the breast with the bottle will not help stop him waking for feeds during the night IYSWIM?

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bionicley · 28/05/2007 23:04

Hi Emmy
babies wake in the night whether or not they are breastfed. In fact, breastfeeding is really a very handy tool for putting a baby back to sleep with your milk working like knockout drops. How many mothers wean to find they spend half the night pacing the floor with an inconsolable infant? I have known a few. Breastfeeding is so often the scapegoat when parents are tired.

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Emmy600 · 29/05/2007 11:36

Last night I tried not to bf ds when he woke during the night. He gets in such a state though that he starts coughing and spluttering and makes himself sick! I will try again though but did have to give in last night

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MissGolightly · 29/05/2007 11:41

Can you send your partner down? My DS will NOT go down for me without a feed, but will (sometimes) go down for my partner.

I think sometimes if they can see the boobs they know the milk is there if they scream hard enough, iyswim.

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Tommy · 29/05/2007 11:45

agree with Twiglett - my DS2 did this and I gave hinm a beaker of water (with non spill spout thingy). He still has it in bed and he's nearly 4 now but never had milk at bed time or in night after I stopped b/feeding

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Emmy600 · 30/05/2007 09:21

Thanks again for advice. It was 1 and 3.30 last night but hurray I didn't feed ds. I just went through and rubbed his back and he eventually settled. Thinks it was just a one-off though as he wasn't crying so much. I went through at 3.30 and did the same thing. Was half an hour over cot rubbing his back but didn't feed him so that was good.

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dcb · 30/05/2007 09:32

we went through this recently when dd was 10 mths. she was eating ok during the day and having 4 good bf. we decided that she associated me with milk so dh decided to go in at night to just give comfort minus the milk. i thought it was a fab idea after doing all the night wakings for 10 mths. after about a week she stopped waking so often and then after another 1-2 weeks stopped waking altogether (touch wood - obviously will now revert to previous behaviour after writing this...). she now goes 7.30ish 'til 5 ish mostly.

although dh was tired when he did it, he was determined not to ruin his efforts by letting me go in overnight at all! . i think he seems to have bonded with her even more so as well, since he started this. perhaps get your dp to read this???

might be worth a try.

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Emmy600 · 31/05/2007 09:12

Think I might have solved the problem as ds went through last night - yippee! I thought he was getting enough food during the day as he told me when he'd had enough (which looked enough to me). But be distracting him I've managed to get some more food in him at mealtimes and also gave him a rusk before his bedtime feed (but he didn't eat much of it). So thanks to all for the brilliant advice and it is nice to hear that others have had similar problems.

Keeping fingers crossed for the future,

Emma.