Milk/water in the night....

[MillyStar]

..How old was you rbaby when you started offering them water instead of milk to encourage them to sleep through

Or, if you never did this how old was your little one before they slept through and didn't wake for a feed?

My daughter is nearly 9 months so i'm just curious, not going to try anything yet but it would be nice to know roughly when i dont have to be up for and hour from 2am every morning!

I didn't offer water but did offer progressively less milk instead until we were down to a couple of ounces, and then I offered nothing and settled without feeding.

I also have a 9 month old - and have never had any success offering water - but have managed to reduce feeds - deciding to go X long without milk - ie. a four hour block, then shh/ patt/ sing to them in the cot until they go back to sleep.

I think - just my opinion - that they will not stop waking unless you gently try to push them longer without feeds, because if they are in the habit of constantly waking and being given milk, then they are going to keep doing that. So I don't think there is a magic sudden sleep all night moment!

So - trying to stop feeds has had some success - and has definitely reduced night wakings - but there are some nights he wakes more often and I feed more often because I am too tired to do anything else!

I find it frustrating when people tell me he doesn't need milk at night - I know this is true, but I think people who have never had a very wakeful baby don't understand that you do what you have to do to get them back to sleep!

so..no answer really - there will be people who say they stopped giving milk at 6 months - but in the end, it's your baby and you decide what you feel comfortable with/ can cope with sleep wise.

Well she only wakes once so i give her a bottle and she is wide wide awake for about an hour and a half, i know im lucky it's only the once but i have to go to bed at 9pm so i'm not a zombie and i would like a bit of a life back!! Maybe her bottle is waking her up then and i should just try n sooth her for now, i might try and hold off tonight and see how she goes!

They're all different. DS1 stopped having milk at night very early on (about 8 weeks) but carried on waking at night till he was 3 - he just wanted a cuddle though, not a feed. DD was a good sleeper who slept through all by herself from 7 months without any encouragement. I can't remember when DS2 stopped feeding at night - it's all a bit of a blur!

I never tried offering water.

I never did this either. DS was breastfed though so don't know if it's different? They say BF releases sleepy hormones or something (in theory anyway )

He slept through reliably at 2.4ish but stopped asking for milk before then - I can't remember exactly when. I didn't find his feeds too disturbing so they didn't bother me too much.

Every baby is different :)

Have you tried a dream feed? Must be rotten to have to get up at 2am for an hour!

My eldest we stopped giving anything at about a year, he was well over two before he slept through.

DS2 slept through by himself from 8 weeks

DS3 slept through by himself from 9 weeks

All three have had a sippy cup of water by the bed from about a year or two old. DS3 drinks as much at night as he does in the day - he never wakes in the night or wets the bed so we leave him to it. He's not a big drinker and we're trying to encourage him to drink more but he just doesn't drink much in the day.

DO you have bottle ready? keep dark and no talking? try all that and reduce milk gradually, see how it goes 9 months is still very young,but then I have an 18 month old that still gets up in the night, so what do I know!?

Thanks for your replies, it's nice to know she is 'normal'! So many people look at me in horror because she still wakes up but I think 9 months Is stl tiny!

She really does seem to guzzle the bottle so maybe It's thirst and I need to offer her more water in the day

I usually leave the landing light on and have her door ajar and she can be awake for up to two hours but I just put the nightlight on her baby monitor tonight so it was darker and she's gone down again after 45 mins

Just need to get back to sleep myself now :-/

Never offered water in the night. Seems a bit odd to me.
Dc1 was a pain in the night until weaning was established then slept through from 7 months.
Dc2 slept through from about 3/4 weeks but I'm bracing myself for that to change!
I don't buy this habit theory. They wake because they are hungry. Don't forget their tummies are v small. Dc1 very dainty baby. Dc2 big heffer do it makes sense to me why dc1 needed to feed in the night and dc2 doesn't iyswim. Dc1 jumped 3 centiles eventually but dc2 is already 75th!

Fwiw I didn't do any 'sleep training' with either dc and won't be because dc1 grew in to an amazing sleeper that other parents are envious of bit it took some patience to get there.

Only good sleep advice I have is stick to a string bedtime routine. Make sure they get the opportunity to sleep in the day (esp under one). Out them to bed early and be quiet!! Dc1 eid fanny around at bedtime if she thought she was missing stuff downstairs cos she could hear the telly etc. be quiet during bedtime and leave noisy jobs until later its worth it I promise

Prepares for flaming:

My dd is 81/2 months and was still up twice a night for feeds (and maybe twice more). She's bf. my thought was she didn't actually know she was supposed to settle without milk. She woke, shouted on me, I fed her. I'd effectively trained her to feed at night. She also did not seem to me to be taking much, more a ritual (though think was taking more than I thought in hindsight).

So we night weaned 11 nights ago, 8-6:30 - no prisoners! After first night she was down to two cuddles, slept 8-7 last night. She is taking more milk during day now but in hindsight wasnt really taking any milk at all during the day.

Not for all but we were already, never fed to sleep, always settles in cot etc. I realise this is earlier than others will say but I actually feel like she is taking more milk overall and is less tired, more fun. I'm more fun too.

My sleep however is ruined hence I am awake now!

Piemother - I think it's very easy to say you don't believe in sleep training when your child sleeps through on their own after weaning/ at 7 months..>!

My 9 month old wakes up constantly on and off all night - the only reason he does any blocks of sleep of a few hours at all is because I did some 'training' although I would just say I had to do something, he was feeding constantly and awake most of the night. and it was killing me and he was crying half the night because he was awake and tired.

I am still feeding him at night so it's hardly cruel - lots of babies are completely weaned from milk at this age - so it's not a calorie issue although of course comfort is important - hence why I am still offering feeds.

munchkin no flaming from me it sounds amazing.....I need to work up to doing that.....

oh and ps. 'dainty babies' waking more - well, my ds is 97th percentile, massive baby, wakes constantly all night long and always has, wants to feed constantly.....so hunger is not the only reason babies wake..!

My ds woke at night but part of that was he had silent reflux and bad wind. So not always hunger.

He did have a magical sleep through all by himself at 12 months (12 hours), with regressions as he got ill/teething etc and he improved again. Then I fell pregnant so we night weaned but he still woke and still does occasionally at 3 again due to illness, wind (not since 2 for the latter).

So with dd - who's just dropped her night feeds of her own accord bar 1- I'll leave her unless no improvement. She's 13 months.

My ds woke at night but part of that was he had silent reflux and bad wind. So not always hunger.

He did have a magical sleep through all by himself at 12 months (12 hours), with regressions as he got ill/teething etc and he improved again. Then I fell pregnant so we night weaned but he still woke and still does occasionally at 3 again due to illness, wind (not since 2 for the latter).

So with dd - who's just dropped her night feeds of her own accord bar 1- I'll leave her unless no improvement. She's 13 months.

I started watering down DS' nightime milk when he was about 13 months (he is 2 now). He has always been an excellent eater but was only taking 1 or 2 oz at night. It took about 2 weeks and I think he was ready for it, as we had no crying. I watered it down by 1oz every 3-4 days, until he stopped waking up for milk. We then did gradual withdrawal from 15-16 months or so. Again, he took to it very well, no crying (I'm a big softie so might have given up if I saw him distressed). He is now sleeping through about 4 nights a week and he usually self settles if he wakes in the night.

my DD is 18 months and still has milk at night. (although more for comfort, I expect, than a need). 9 months is tiny!

Waterrat- saying I don't believe in sleep training wasn't what I said. I believe in it as I know it exists. What I said was that I don't/won't be doing it.

Leaving this thread before I read any more nonsense

piemother saying ' i never did sleep training, and offering water seems a bit odd to me, IS a bit rich when yours have slept through, you haven't had to have you?! Or do you think you are doing something we are not, so we are weird for trying anything to get some sleep?