1yo milk help/routine needed

[MaverickSnoopy]

DD is 1 next week and we'll be moving her to cows milk. She's never been a big eater mainly preferring to have small regular quantities. I'm finding that at the moment she is doing this more so and is now up in the night quite a bit for milk too. I think this could be habit as she went a good three month stretch with no night feeds. It seems to be if she's hungry she just wants a bit to take the edge off and then some more later iyswim, as opposed to filling up and waiting until later. I offer her lots of food at meal times and she does eat a fair amount but obviously not enough to keep her going. At the moment this is her routine:

6:30 wake / 4oz
8:00 breakfast
09:30 nap for 30 mins
10:30 3 - 4oz
12:00 lunch
1:00 nap for 1 - 1.5hr
14:30 3 - 4oz
17:00 dinner
18:00 4 - 5oz
18:30 bed
23:00 4oz
03:00 4oz

I want to drop the night feeds because I know she hasn't needed them in the past, but she is genuinely hungry...I can hear and feel her tummy rumbling! My first would always have say 8oz before bed and it would keep her going all night but DD2 just can't seem to manage large quantities. Not a problem, they're all different but I feel like I'm missing a trick? I feel like she's having too much milk now (having never had enough in the past). I have even tried skipping a milk feed to see if she would have more at the next one to compensate, but she doesn't, she still has the same small amount.

I'd be grateful for some perspective as I really don't know how to move forwards....

No expert but I've just taken the decision to stop the night feeds. We had 50mins of crying and wimpering at 10.30pm and another 10mins at 3.30am. The next night was about 30mins and a quick dummy insert later. Night 3 he slept all night! Last night he was a bit upset for about 50mins.

What I've found is his water intake has gone up loads. He's eating really well too whereas before it would be small amounts at a time.

It's been hard going but I'm glad I've tried.

Very interesting and of course it all makes sense, it's just that when you're in the thick of it, it all seems so impossible, like you're stuck in a rut with no way out. And that's what I feel it is, a rut. I know she hungry in the night, fact. But I also know she's not eating enough each time she eats, she's a definite grazer.

I tried going cold turkey with her last week and she ended up waking every 30 mins all night and wouldn't early settle for ages either. I ended up so exhausted that I gave in. It's frustrating when I know she's done it before and reliably so.

I'm starting a new job in 4 weeks and so I need to crack it before then ideally. However the next two weeks we're out nearly every day and then we're away on holiday for a week (where routine goes to pot) so I sort of feel like this is a really bad time to try something new, but I'm going to give it a go anyway.

The more I think about it, the more I think that milk is replacing the food she needs. So I'm going to try and increase what she has at meal times (not that she necessarily has more) and then introduce more water and try and crack the nights again. She's currently tucking into a bowl of homemade chicken stew, some bread roll with cream cheese, tomatoes, egg and a lump of cheese.....she does like it, it's just that she gets a bit bored and can't be bothered I think....but I would too if it took me an hour to eat my lunch!

From age 1 they only need about 300mls of milk (approx 10oz) so she is still having a lot. I would try replacing at least one day feed with a snack and drink of water

Thanks, yes I do know that which is why it feels like she's having loads. Up until just over a month ago she had 3 x 5oz bottles in 24hrs. It was around then that she started waking in the night for feeds, so I increased her meals but due to her small appetite she still ate the same amount. So I reintroduced an afternoon bottle and she started sleeping again. Then after about a week she stopped sleeping again which is how the night bottles crept in. At the time I thought it was a growth spurt but now she's hooked! She's never had this much milk ever!

The trouble is, I know that if I decrease the milk she still won't eat more as she has a very clear limit. Still I can only try. Just told DH we're trying tonight....

Just a bit of an update. Pushed through last night, which was hard after working late and getting into bed after midnight, however it went pretty well. She woke up twice as she normally does. The first time took her about 35 mins to go back to sleep and the second about 20 mins. It was nothing like the last time we tried where she was up constantly. This morning she still had her usual amount of milk, so didn't want any more as expected but I'm happy with that because she was having too much milk anyway. So I'm going to try to up her food and see how we go. I will be persisting.

Yay! I was going to message to see how you got on. I think tonight might be a little tougher as they realise what's happening and really fight it but stay strong! I'm on day 5 now (I think) and last night he whimpered for a bit and got himself back off to sleep without me getting up.

We will sleep again!!!

Keep at it op. She's having too much milk at the expense of food and it's most likely making her hungry at night. I'd ditch the mid morning and mid afternoon bottles completely and replace with a proper snack.

Ok so a bit of an update. We've had a couple of nights where she woke up and wouldn't go to sleep at all without milk. We persisted but after 3 hours decided that her getting sleep was more important. I do feel that we're heading in the right direction and food/milk is now...

0700 Breakfast and 1oz cows milk
1000 Milk 5oz (formula)
1200 Lunch
1430 Snack and 1oz cows milk
1700 Dinner
1800 Milk (formula 5oz)

She's also had a couple of nights of sleeping through for the first time in ages. It's just persisting and increasing what she eats. She doesn't seem to like eating in her highchair these days!