Bottle night feeds (20 month old)

[Worrywart70]

My DS still has a cow’s milk night feed 😬. He doesn’t need milk to get him to sleep at night time, it’s just when he wakes up. I would like to wean him off it. Does anyone have any tips please?
I don’t want to do controlled crying. He can get to sleep independently, just oddly wakes once in the night, maybe sometimes twice.
Also, is there a safe way to store warm/cold milk upstairs? We use pre-made extortionate milk in mini bottles at the mo, or run downstairs quickly to warm it out the fridge.
He's absolutely hysterical by the time we go back up 😩

I'd start by giving him it fridge cold. He may be less inclined to have it then. Then I'd serve less and less. Then nothing or tap water.

We went through this for a couple of weeks with dc1 (13mo) and it was hellish but SO worth doing in the long run.

Also, does he have a filling supper (porridge or similar)?

Same as above, although why are you using pre made mini bottles if he's having cows milk?

God I didn't even see that - pre made cows milk in bottles? What a waste of money!

Same here, she can get to sleep herself for nap and at bedtime but can't settle if she wakes in the night, and milk is the only thing that works. I'm afraid i don't have advice about the weaning other than maybe start watering it down more and more until it's basically just water then they might need it less. However, although we mainly use cows milk we use formula during the night so we can just leave a couple of bottles of water in the upstairs bathroom with the tub of formula and it's way quicker.

Thanks all. I'll give the watering down & cold milk a try. @BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz we give him his tea but might try a more substantial one tonight. @Chickenpeppers it all started because he was absolutely screaming when we nipped down to the fridge. Pre made was quicker but it’s obviously 50p a feed hence me asking for tips. Can’t afford to waste money on that now days! @Nick106 thank you, thought it was just us!

I would add a substantial supper, I used to give a bowl of porridge plus milk to make sure tummy was full.

Thank Minty. I gave him some porridge for supper before his usual bedtime milk and he ate it all. I hope he’s not been hungry all this time! Hopefully it’ll work 🤞🏽

We always did porridge before bed as then we didn't feel as guilty when we insisted on no midnight milk.

Toddlers always think they are hungry even when they have eaten recently 😂

Fingers crossed for you...🤞🏻

Porridge or rice pudding before bed.

Does he have it in a bottle? I would change to milk in his usual daytime cup (cold).
And then after a few nights swap to water if he wants a drink.

Having milk in the night will make him feel hungry because his body is used to digesting it, so will be expecting it. Once it stops, his body clock/digestive system will adjust to not expecting anything until morning.

Going through the exact same thing. Feel baby is fully fed before bed but still waking for a bottle. I bring fridge milk and leave it in a cooler bag next to his cot. No advice on weaning off because I refuse to do controlled crying too