2 year old waking for milk at night, what to do?

[redtreesummer]

My son is just 2 years old and he has got into a habit of waking for milk at night, clearly requesting milk rather than comfort or water. He is a picky eater at best and often just not that hungry at mealtimes but I have been trying to get more food into him, particularly last thing, so he has been having an earlier tea and then a sandwich before bed... but still waking for milk. Any advice on breaking the habit?

No advice from me - but my DS (2yr 3mo) does this too.
He has multiple food allergies, and barely eats solids. He’s on a prescription toddler formula to make up the calorie deficit and he wakes at least once for milk in the night.
I’m just going with it for now.
Still trying to get as much food into him during the day as possible though.

My son used to do this from since he was born to two weeks ago when I stopped it. 17 months! He used to wake up and I felt bad thinking he's hungry or I'm too tired to be up so I'd give him a bottle. It started getting out of control and was waking up 4-5 times a night! The only reason I stoped it was because my dh and I noticed a little grey area on his front tooth. I took him to the dentist and it's tooth decay!!!! At 17 months! I was shocked as we eat healthy throughout the day, only has a sweet like twice a week if that, no juice, brushes his teeth. The dentist said it's called baby bottle tooth decay and it's cause when kids drink milk through the night. It's the fastest way for them to get tooth decay. I felt awful as he said if it got worse he'd need a filling or worse to have a metal crown over his teeth!!! I felt awful. I stopped giving him milk in the night. The first 3/4 nights he cried a lot but I said no, I'm doing it for your own good. And now he doesn't wake up at all! He sleeps right though. So I would suggest for the sake of your baby's teeth and sleep say no bottle. He'll cry maybe alotttt some nights but say no. He'll eventually accept the fact that he's not getting milk in the night and he'll go back to sleep. I've attached a picture of his teeth so you see what I mean! Dentist said when the milk sits on their teeth in the night it literally eating at the tooth, apparently milk has loads of sugar in it

Thanks Lovely, tooth decay was one of the worries and you are quite right, I need to knock it on the head.. something about the idea of him waking up hungry that I hate but good to hear your DS quickly slept through....

You may also find that after a few tough nights of no milk at night that he is hungrier during the day.

You're allowed to say no to him

Just because he requests milk doesn't mean you have to give it to him. Offer water and a cuddle.

My DD2 got into doing this recently despite originally night weaning at 6 months. I started by reducing the amount of milk she had from 10oz to 7, next night 5oz the next night 3oz. If she cried for more I then gave her a bottle of water and then on the final night gave her just water in a bottle. She wasn’t impressed and would pretty much throw the bottle aside but it did work; it took about a 5-7 days of interrupted nights then she got back to not waking for it.
I also broke the link between bed and milk at the same time and rather than milk in a dark room then into bed as I’d been doing since she was tiny I started giving the milk half an hour before bed then teeth and story in dark room; it took a week or so for that to work too but it made me less worried about the tooth decay side of things.

That's really worrying about the tooth decay. Makes me think we need to break the habit too (currently one bottle before bed and one or two during the night). And give the bedtime bottle before bath instead so we can brush teeth.

For those who have stopped, do you give milk in the morning or during the day to make up the amount?

After 12 months they only need about 10-12oz of milk and that can include cheese and yoghurt so you probably don't need to worry.

Agree you just need to say no and deal with the tantrum. Good luck!

The health visitor told me that at 1 DD needed about a pint of milk a day, not sure when that reduces though. I still give it in the morning and before bed but make sure she brushes her teeth before bed; it was hard to separate milk from immediately before bedtime but now DD is more interested in stories and will actually listen it’s worled

So we go cold turkey tonight. Wish me luck!

Good luck! Let us know how it goes

Well, he was suitably outraged but also I remembered how we got into this situation in the first place-waking at 4am. We realised that if we gave him milk in bed at 4, he sometimes went back to sleep..., it turned into a habitat and he demanded milk earlier and earlier.. so last night I held the line and he had no milk over night and seemed none the worse for it... but he was awake from 3.30am!

Really quick follow up for those thinking of going cold turkey. After the first night he has slept through and woken up at about 5.30 (great for him). I feel so much better that we have cut out the night time milk and I think he is beginning to eat better during the day. Many thanks for the advice to get on with it!

That sounds a real success, well done! We've postponed as DS is poorly but hopefully will manage it soon too.