9 month old how do we stop him waking?

[appleandplum]

My 9 month old dc4 is breast fed with now 2 bottles of formula a day.he has a bottle 7pm and goes to sleep sometimes with a breast feed top up, he then wakes again sometimes an hour later then at 10/11pm when i breast feed him. He will then wake at 3am. I am so deperate to stop this middle of the night feed i have started giving him formula to test whether he just wants the comfort or is actually hungry. He drinks about 4/5oz so must be hungry,i think.
Last night i was awake for almost 2 hours trying to get him back to sleep and the night before an hour, when if i just bf him he would have gone off alot quicker.
My question is this the right approach to wean him off bf in the middle of the night and hopefully sleep through?
My other children are only 4.5 and 2.5 yr twins so there is absolutely no down time in the day for me to rest and its killing me!
Any ideas gratefully received.

[susiegrapevine]

Well if he is not hungry and it is comfort. He really should not be hungry at his age. Then what we did is got dh to go and see him and put him back down and offer water as it could be that he's thirsty. Main reason being if lo sees you he will want boob as they can smell the milk etc. My ds at 10 months did a 12am feed and a 4am feed. So we did the 12am feed 1st dh got up instead of me, and I still got up for the 4am. He offered water and then laid him back down to go to sleep. Took about a week then he stopped waking at 12am. Then repeated this process for the 4am feed about 2 or three weeks later to make sure fully weaned off 12 am feed. After about another week vola ds weaned of night feeds. Has slept through ever since (barring illness or teething etc) is now 2.4. The key is that if you don't go he will not expect the milk. Hope this helps. Sounds like you have your hands full!

[appleandplum]

Thank you, how did your dh manage this without lots of crying, when my dh goes in ds just ends up really crying until i go in?
Yes i have got my hands full which is why i need ds to sleep!

[appleandplum]

Thank you, how did your dh manage this without lots of crying, when my dh goes in ds just ends up really crying until i go in?
Yes i have got my hands full which is why i need ds to sleep!

[susiegrapevine]

Well he would pick him up to comfort him and calm him down but its kinda a battle of wills I guess cos the crying increases to make you come just don't give in once lo is a bit calmer put them back in bed and leave the room. We did a bit of controlled crying but I know that's not for everyone. If he ramps up again just get your dh to back. You just really need to show him its not gonna be you going. We started at a weekend when dh was not working so he would be able to get some sleep as its harder at the begining. Hope you get some sleep soon. I have a 7 week old now so know how you feel tho obviously not as frazzeled as only have one other lo. Good luck.