When baby drinks the whole bottle- it was hunger, right?

[mommyfingerwhereareyou]

10 month old baby son is torturing me at night.

He goes to sleep at 7 ish and is usually crying again at 11 or so. I try to settle him with a dummy, but usually, he won't settle until I give him a bottle.

He's then usually up again at 3 am or so and again, trying to settle him without milk, is really hard.

Last night was ridiculous where he woke at 11 pm, then again at 1 am and then again at 4 am. I tried to settle him without bottle, but each time it was not possible and he ended up chugging the entire bottle.

I've tried leaving him to cry a bit, but he just keeps crying.

I get that it's a habit maybe that he can't sleep without drinking his milk, but surely, the fact he's having the entire bottle means he's hungry ??

Can someone help me, I don't know what to do !

Bumping

It could well be both.

Can you consciously up the milk he has during the day and give him more calorific food?

Has he got more physically active recently or it could simply be a growth spurt.

I take he doesn't fall asleep whilst finishing it off?

Have you tried maybe giving him some kind of supper before bed?
Mine are teenagers now but I remember when they did this and if they had eaten enough during the day I would only give water in a bottle during the night, they soon stopped waking up for only water. Sometimes its just habit and he should be able to get enough calories through the day at 10 months?
Could it be teething and he likes the comfort of having a bottle with a cuddle?

What does he eat in the day time and how much milk is he on during the day?
Whats his day routine?

As far as I'm aware when you give a baby a bottle the nib on their pallette triggers the sucking response so they'll feed (why it's easier to overfeed a formula fed baby than a baby on the boob because they will look hungry and go harder at the bottle). You could then have a windy tummy or a really full tummy keeping them awake. Are you feeding pumped or formula milk? I'd check how much of whichever type of milk baby is having is the right amount for their age over a 24 hr period and then track what you've been feeding to give you an idea if you're on the right lines or if it's maybe a bit much? It's hard to know if it's enough as I'm not sure if you're giving other weaning meals during the day etc.

Give him food

What is he eating during the day?

Offer water overnight. He's got used to waking for a night time snack now so you need to undo that with a few nights of offering water, a bigger breakfast to make up for it and a before bed snack of half a banana or similar.

His routine is as follows :

Wakes at around 6-6:30 am and doesn't seem immediately hungry

7-7:30 am breakfast or bottle ( depending on the day ) usually more breakfast

9 am bottle and nap

11:30-12 pm lunch

2 pm or so bottle and then nap

3-4 pm snack

6 pm dinner

7 pm bottle and sleep

11-12 pm bottle

3 am bottle

Usually has around 4-5 bottles a day, so around 1000 ml of formula ( which does seem a bit much ). I'm probably not giving him enough solids yet perhaps ?

He's hungry, increase solids, decrease milk and offer water overnight

His solids need to be calorific and he's not hungry for breakfast as he's snacked over night. He also could be about to have a growth spurt too though.

We had this with my 9 month old and found that upping her food intake during the day (including some more spoon feeding so there was more food in her tummy than on the floor!) really helped.

Dd woke up at similar times until she was about 10 months and then that 3/4am wake didn't go until 18 months. She was always hungry and had a proper feed. My fiends babies were sleeping through.
They're all different and there is nothing inherently wrong, just exhausting!

I found getting up as soon as I heard the first little noise from her and quickly feeding her before she woke up properly, made a difference as she was only them up for 15 mins max. I know that's more tricky if bottle feeding.

What are you feeding him at meals? What are his portions like? That said at 10 months a night feed is still reasonable even for FF babies but a litre of formula seems a lot. Formula or breastmilk should still be main food until a year old but I'd be consciously upping the solids gradually I think. Assuming you've moved onto proper solid food and not stuck on purees or anything?

I was just about to type pretty much what @Forgooodnesssakenow said!

A night feed isn't necessarily a problem but it seems like a lot of bottles and not much solids? I was also wondering what you're actually giving him as solids and how much he's eating?

i work with lots of families on sleep and the first thing I look at is feeding and daily routine.

Definitely fill him up in the day with solids, think carbohydrates, calcium rich foods. I love the weaning book by Charlotte Stirling reed.

He is having far too much formals (sorry to be blunt) but I’m guessing you know this.

Questions I would ask.
What size bottles is he offered during the day.

what size bottles do you offer at night? If for example you offer 8oz everytime at each feed regardless of time then you need to cut the night feed down first to say 4oz, then gradually 3oz.

Another suggestion is.
Does he wake the same time each night? If yes then go in 20 mins prior, gently stir him and see if he resettles. If he doesn’t then offer a very small bottle.
but try letting him resettle without.

Meant to add what solids is he on?

So happy to see this thread I have an almost 7month old who is the same wakes up at about 11 then 1 then 6 and its hard. My lo does have porridge for breakfast, 2 lunches (main and pudding) and same for his tea. Think tonight I'm going to try the water as I know hrs getting more then he should, as with the meals he also has on average 6-7 7oz bottles a day ATM. Just remember your not alone in this, its hard.

More milk and food during the day, offer only water at night.

I use to give DS a bowl of porridge before bed at this age which helped a lot.

he was still waking for one feed until 14 months though.

will he snack on cubes of cheese?

2-3 wakes at night for a ten month old baby sounds really really normal! That doesn’t make it ‘easier’ I know, but at least know you’re not doing anything wrong if baby wakes up like that.

He eats a lot of porridge, toast, pasta with meatballs, cottage pies, baby biscuits, lots of potato and chicken soup type stuff, fruit like apple and banana.

I probably just don't give him enough. He's definitely having too much formula at the moment. Some day are better than other, but yeah 3 bottles in the night really ups the amount of formula he has in 24 hours ! He only has a couple of bottles in the day.. I will try to up the food game and see if it makes a difference. I'm a fan of giving him dinner, then porridge about an hour later and then a bottle after that.. still doesn't seem enough!

My first was down to 1 night waking at this point.. she'd usually wake up at 4-5 am, from around 7-8 pm. I do think she was having a lot less milk in total during 24 hours.

I Hope soon i can start giving him cheese. He's a CMPA baby and I'm just doing the milk ladder. It's going well so far. It's been quite restrictive not being able to give him dairy.