Nealy 2 year old sick in the middle of night when he has a bottle. It happens at least once a week, ideas?

[whymewhyme]

I know he shouldn't still have a bottle of milk of the middle of night but ive tried water and he continued to wake and then he stays awake for a few hours crying.

Ive noticed that at least once a week when he wakes in the middle of the night he starts to cough, swollows alot as though hes got phlegm on his chest, coughes and then he projective vomites. Hes always done it and if he is unwell with a cold or chest infection he would do it every night in the middle of the night untill he gets well again. As a tiny baby he has terrible reflux but he appeared to grow out of it.

Has anybody got any experience of this?

I think from tonight I will have to persevere with the water

Mine refused all bottles but I know my brother diluted milk slowly to get rid of the night time bottle. So maybe try 75% milk 25% water for a few days, then 50:50 then 25:75 and then full water.

I'd also be tempted to make the bottle smaller.

If he's having a dense calorie snack in the middle of the night, can you keep him propped up for 40 mins afterwards?

Yes I agree with PP he’s coughing on a full stomach whilst lying down .

If he's coughing and mucousy milk won't be helping that.

Has he been checked out? He's too young for a diagnosis currently but asthma often flares up at night and doesn't always present with the typical wheezy symptoms (cough-variant asthma)

Phase out the bottle as well as the milk.

My DS used to do this regularly. (We got pretty good at 'sick drill' clean up)

They don't diagnose asthma at that age but GP prescribed an inhaler for use before bed which seemed to help.

It odd because he has the bedtime bottle absolutely fine, goes to bed well and then the middle of the night bottle is always the one that makes him sick.

I think I will give the hv a call

What time is he having all this milk, and how much? Seems a lot and unless there's other concerns, probably isnt actually needed?

My son did this. In our case, it got worse and worse, gradually increasing to after he consumed anything, to the point he vomited for a week straight and ended up in the children's hospital.
Turned out he had very bad reflux. The little flap that stops everything coming back up had not developed properly.
The coughing was a symptom of the feeling of acid rising up in his throat.

You need to get him off the milk in the night.
he doesn’t need it anymore

Its probably triggering a bit of reflux. I'd reduce the volume in the bottle by an Oz every few nights to see if you can wean the volume down, the same for the bed time bottle too.
It could be reflux from the bedtime bottle that is causing the need for milk in the night. This was the case with my refluxy toddler. Things like teething and colds make her reflux worse too. The biggest thing I've learnt about reflux is it can come and go and it's not a linear path out of reflux.

Does he need this much milk, not just nighttime one but bedtime too? How is weaning going? Are you brushing teeth after bedtime bottle? Better to be using a cup at this age rather than a bottle anyway

I agree with above advice. It’s not going to be an easy habit to break but that’s a lot of milk.

I would imagine it’s sitting heavy in his stomach and potentially aggravating reflux. He really doesn’t need a bottle of milk in the middle of the night. Does he have a dummy?

How was last night @whymewhyme?

He doesnt have a cough at all in the day or night until he has that middle of the night bottle. I know he is waking up out of habbit and I know it needs to stop.

We've had no more sick at all this week but I have noticed that when he has the middle of the night that he sounds chesty and phlegmy ( is that even a word lol) and has the cough.

This week he has slept until 4am so I have given him very watered down milk. Tonight I am going to try just water but I'm absolutely exhaused, I didnt feel this worn out during the newborn stage when I was feeding every 2hrs through the night. So I'm not looking forward to it at all.

Reflux gives my daughter an overnight cough. Her paediatrician explained that the reflux milk irritates the back of the throat and that causes the cough.

We can hear her bringing up the feed and swallowing it again and it does sound a bit like congestion.

If he’s got reflux avd is like that at night, does he have any other symptoms of CMPA?

Sometimes DC with CMPA can want milk because they associate suckling with comfort and think it will help with the pain.

It might be worth treating the bedroom
as though he has Dust Mite allergy too, so things like hoovering the curtains, mattresses and floors and washing the bedding at 60.

Hey, any update on this please? My boy is 11 months and only coughing / been sick after his night time bottle. He's never had reflux and is fine after every other bottle! I'm thinking maybe he's just full and it's become a habit now.

A 2 years old doesn't need bottles of milk on the night. You know it makes him sick. Don't give it to him. If he's thirsty a small amount of plain water is best. He might get upset for a while but you know it's best for him so cut out the milk.