Toddler drinking vast amounts of milk in the night!

[chillipopcorn1]

I have twins, 15 months. They were breastfed until 1 month ago and have always woken for feeds through the night. They are not great eaters during the day but getting better. They were prem and are very small -9th and 1st centile, still in 6-9 month clothes and not an ounce of fat on them. They are extremely active, great walkers (runners) and hitting all their milestones.
They drink from sippy cups of milk or water during the day.

When we weaned from the breast we replaced it with the bottle. It was quite traumatic and took a couple of nights of howling before they would accept a bottle of cows milk instead of breast for their bedtime feed or if they woke in the night. Part of the reason for weaning off the breast was to her better night time sleep.

Now for their bedtime routine they have bath, 9oz bottle, brush teeth and story. They settle themselves to sleep after story with a dummy and comforter. However, when they wake they scream and scream for milk and will only stop when given it. DT2 now only wakes 1/2 times a night but demands a bottle when she does. DT1 wakes every few hours for milk and is drinking around 30oz a night of cows milk!! This is ridiculous! I have no idea what to do, it can't be helping her with solids in the day, it costs a fortune and is a massive PITA having to traipse up and down stairs and make bottles. I have constant guilt that they are even having a bottle at 15months and also I am so on my knees with sleep deprivation I now just give her the bottle when she wakes and she falls asleep on it which I know is all wrong. Please help - I feel like I've just done everything wrong and that I'm harming their development.
I should add we have just moved house and also been on holiday a few times in the last month so they have been very unsettled.

We had similar in our house... My dd is now three but about a year ago she was drinking three bottles a night... Like you, I was just hanging her the bottle so I'd get a nights sleep.... She wouldn't eat a bite of food during the day as she was stuffed from the milk... Also her nappy was leaking so I was doing nappy changes in the middle of the night.... It was crazy;) in the end I just took the bottle away.... So once she went to bed, there was no more bottle... She upped her solids hugely and started sleeping much better.... I'd say get rid of bottle... It won't be as traumatic as you think;)

Water only at night and it's not worth waking up for so it will soon stop

I sympathise. It is so difficult to know what to do when you are exhausted. If it makes you feel better. I have just weaned my DS 2 aged 25 months off a bottle. I know all the research about bottles being bad for them but he loves a bottle, howled for it first thing every morning, constantly went to the drawer where they were kept. It would have been much easier to get rid 6 or 9 months ago. The only thing that worked for just getting rid of them out of his eye line and repeating ' bottles broken, all gone' . We have had a week of him crying for a bottle getting less every day . Painful but now done. It is one of those situations where you just say no more. They don't need a drink at night. It is just habit now and something they enjoy, mine wasn't interested in a cup of milk just enjoyed sucking on a bottle... perhaps if you partner is around this weekend just go cold turkey. No more bottles. Good luck.

Make sure their last meal before bed includes as much protein as possible, to keep them feeling full for longer.

We had very similar..... when we went abroad we used long life uht milk instead of standard and she stopped instantly. She hated the taste of the uht stuff and we haven't looked back. May be worth a try? But agree with the water also x

Do you offer supper and two snacks a day?

Thanks all for responses. Some great ideas and I'll be trying them out. I think it's hard as they are so small I have always wanted to pack the calories in, so loathe to not night feed. But it is probably affecting their daytime solids so needs to stop. Changer they have breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, then dinner at five, bath at six and bedtime half six. Do you mean supper as an extra meal after bath?

Add a weetabix to their supper menu and offer water only during the night. . Be tough!!

I weaned my 14 month old at night 2 weeks ago. He was having 2 x 7 oz in the night and a total of 35oz throughout the day. I replaced with water and he still wakes at the times he did for milk but he is much easier to settle and I'm hoping he'll soon give up waking. He seems thirsty so I'm loathe to stop the water.

He did start eating more in the day so you might find your twins do. He is a big boy though (91st centile) so maybe you could cut down the milk gradually or water it down so they can gradually start eating more.

Yep supper as any extra meal after bath. I give something like toast or dry cereal now as DD likes it and it is not too messy. You may have to bring dinner earlier. When I moved dinner to 4.30 I found DD ate more.

Do they Still have milk/bottles during the day?

Dentists advice is to stop bottles after 12 months. Offer water from a cup and stick to it. It's tough love but they need proper food during the day and you all need a good nights sleep.

I will be watching this thread as I'm going through trying to wean my son off breastmilk. He's 15 months so I know how stressful it can be waking at night to feed him! I tried to go cold turkey but he screamed and screamed all night!!!

My 2yo is a poor eater (although gradually improving) but does like warm milk to get her off to sleep. She also asks for it if she wakes in the middle of the night, but I try to stick to water and mostly she'll be content with it. I've never used a dummy on her but I think she uses her bottle more as a comforter more than anything else.

Her weight is spot on and she is very active.

My dd will not drink milk and hasnt since 11 months old. Refused during day but screamed all night! After breakfast and lunch I would give her a yogurt. Gave her her tea and a pudding but not a dairy pudding. Then at bedtime I would give her weetabix with half a banana mashed into it. She instantly slept through. Maybe not what a HV would recommend but it worked for us

And as @Changerofname987654321 said, dinner here is at 4.30. Weetabix is at 6.50.

23m old down to just a bottle before bed but we were here not long ago! To start, dilute the milk with water - it won't fill them up as much! Then once they are eating more in the day, stop giving bottle when they wake up during the night , only before bed. This is what worked for us xx