Handhold plz, breaking the feed to sleep association tonight 🤞

[MrsChipsreturns]

My son is 20 months and he still has a bottle before bed, we give it to him while we are getting him into his sleep bag and he takes it into his cot with him and finishes it there. He has 7oz and we also do the same for his nap.

He is an absolute bottle fiend and crap sleeper so this has been a long time coming.

I've just let him have his bottle of milk in my bedroom, in his PJ's and sleeping bag and then I've carried him into his room and popped him in his cot after he's finished.

Plan is to go in every 10 mins and check in while he is crying/ fussing and to say "bedtime" and give him a kiss.

Need to be strong and not offer more milk 🫣

Can I get a handhold? 😬😬😬

Forgot to mention that he wakes 1/2 times a night and also needs a bottle to go back to sleep.

Good luck! Could you try a cuddle/rock to sleep for a bit? I found that an easier step down than cold turkey. Have you prepares him e.g. read stories about it?

Thank you!
I am shocked, but he chatted for a bit and then he actually just went to sleep! The trickier bit will be when he wakes in the night.

He is honestly not much of a cuddly baby and he is 99th percentile and a whopper so rocking is a big no no. I'm happy with our plan, I'm just scared 😂

My baby girl 18 months is the same 😫. Watching how you go on with interest

Great! The wakings are tough on you for the first night or two, but if he's going down without a battle at the beginning of the night you should see some improvement really very soon. In this weather maybe have some water ready to.offer him - if he's used to having milk at night his body will expect.something, and if he cries he'll get hot an uncomfortable.

Handhold here!

I probably need to do these soon too. My son is 17 months and is breastfed to sleep. I've decided enough is enough if we are still doing this at 2! But I'm really not looking forward to the night we start😧

A friend's daughter used to leave two full bottles in her 18month olds cot. He'd wake up and drink them on his own and went back to sleep. I wouldn't have done it but she said said he was fine with it.

Not sure if it was a fluke but...
He went down with little to no fuss, then he woke up at 11 and was awake for about 10mins but didn't really cry. Then he slept all night, woke up at 6! I'm amazed.

It's my DH 's turn tonight so we'll see how that goes 🫣

Just an update for anyone interested.
We did the same method for his nap yesterday and he went down without a fuss.
Then bedtime he cried for a few mins, husband went in and gave him a kiss and said "bedtime" once and he was out after that.
He didn't wake up until 3.30am but he cried a lot, he was awake until at least 4.30 with my DH going in to him every so often to reinforce bedtime and hand back his comforters etc. After an hour my DH offered some sips of water and DS was not impressed. After thinking about it he glugged some down and then settled back down. He's actually still asleep now at 7.30.
So far not as hard as we thought it would be.

Ahhh this is interesting to hear. I think we're going to have to be firm. We will try in a few weekends time i think

He slept 7-7.30 last night, no wake ups! This is a huge improvement.
He was sleeping 7-4/5/6 and waking up 2/3 times every night.