Rusks

[FizzyPop31]

Little one is 3 but despite having tea around 5 still wakes up in night constantly asking for milk. Think they are hungry...

Can I ask re rusks... do they work on slow flow tests? I'm at a lot and want to try and put a risk in bottle.

Little one had 3 bottles of milk during the night!!!!

I can't up it anymore for wetting the bed!! Already do a 10pm nappy change and potty around 3am.. sleep is crap at the moment :(

Also, you sound absolutely knackered.

Going cold turkey might mean a few difficult nights, but it will be much better in the long run as they will sleep through and so will you.

It's not just the offering food (which I'm sure you are doing) but getting them to actually eat it. If they're getting a chunk of their calories from overnight milk, they're not going to have as much appetite over the day, so they don't fill up at tea and are hungry again in the night, so it becomes a cycle. If you cut the night milk, they'll readjusted to eat more during the day, which will then stop the hungry wake ups.

Then you do need to contact your health visitor to find out why a healthy 3 year old is behaving like this.

but firstly, stop the bottles. Completely. Milk only in a cup.

add a supper as recommended on here by multiply different people to her daily intake.

make a note of all food and drink she has today and tomorrow and phone the HV on monday so you have all the information. If it is not typical include a couple of examples of typical days.

when did she last visit the dentist?

Are you both sat at the dining table eating your meals together? That will encourage her.

I breastfed my eldest till she was 3 but even then it was just once in the evening. She was fully potty trained and dry through the night at 2.2 years old.
I think at 3 years old you should be (assuming she has no learning disabilities) able to have a talk with her about how she can't have milk feeds in the night as she's a big girl.
It might be a few nights of tears and tantrums but it's now time for her to grow up. Warm
Milk in the evening, getting toilet trained etc because of you continue this she'll be behind for years to come and will never learn to control her need for comforts.

This is a very good point.

And you've reached the point now where you know something has to change because you can't keep on like this.

We have just stopped bottles for my 2.5yr old, we went cold Turkey and told her that the "bottle fairy" had come.
Since stopping the bottles she is eating so much more food. Of course it's obvious this would happen looking back but when you're in the middle you sometimes can't see it for yourself

OP it is such an emotive subject and it's so tough when you just don't know what to do and you are a bit tired by it all.

I think maybe this is just a habit that your DD had got into. The best thing I would do is to sit her down and have a little chat, explaining that it's not good for her to be having a hottie through the night any more as she is too old now.

So I'm assuming she having breakfast, little snack, lunch then tea.

We always give our DS a weetabix, porridge or a homemade flapjack before bed. He had a great variety of food but only eats in reasonably small portions, he is like me, so we do the little but often approach. Somedays he eats bigger portions, some days littler ones.
Porridge is a great supper as it's an "easy eat" before bed, we tend to do it 30 mins before bed, then teeth brushed and story in bed.

The thing with milk through the night is it's bad for their teeth as well to have the sugar from the milk sitting in their teeth.
Check the Rusks as well as they used to Just be laced with sugar, maybe not so bad now, but check the amount.

But please don't be hard on yourself it's so tough when you are tired and out of ideas of how to solve the problem. Just start now with a new routine, our your hard hat on for a tough few days as you all adjust but stick with it and just keep in your mind those milk free nights as your end goal.

Oh my goodness I don't know where a hottie through the night came from I meant a bottle through the night !!

You must be so tired, this is the routine my breastfeeding ds was in from 1yr - 16mo and I was exhausted wishfully hoping he would finally sleep through the night. I would be tearing my hair out if he was still waking at 3yo

You desperately need some uninterrupted sleep

Are you a lone parent?

Sounds like she is filling up on milk over night and is too full for food in the day so then wakes up hungry over night. The cycle isn’t going to break itself.

Some children just don’t eat their dinner or other meals as they don’t want it.
I also have a 3 year old. He’s a terrible eater some days, lives off air. But he gets all meals, he gets unlimited snacks offered. Then he goes to bed around 8.30 and gets no more food or drink ( except water in cup) until morning.

It must be impossible to toilet train with that much milk.

He's not eating enough at meals because of all the milk he is having.

Increase the amount of protein in his meals especially dinner.

Give a supper of porridge or weetabix.

Stop all the bottles. Milk in a glass with meals.

If that doesn't work then you need to see your HV or GP for advice and help.

As for all the night time happy changing and potty at 3am. Stop that too. You can't teach nighttime dryness. He has to be producing a hormone to wake him up when he needs a wee. Leave him in a nappy or switch to pull ups. Until he is dry at night.

You are really making things unnecessarily hard for yourself.

My dd was just over 3 wen I stopped all milk at night only water and extra snack b4 bed toast porridge or something she likes just not loads of sugar as will be bouncing off the walls for hours on end it took about 4 nights of wake ups and then nothing good luck @FizzyPop31 x

3 year old shouldn't be having a bottle at night. Give a filling supper,vwe give wheetabix and banana

The only reasonable explanation for a 3 year old wanting bottles in the night, that you are asking about putting rusks in, is that they are not getting enough food in the day.
A 3 year old should not be having bottles.
A 3 year old should have enough food in the day that they sleep through without being hungry
A 3 year old should not be fed baby food (rusks) as it is not designed for them.

No one is having s go- they are offering advice that you have asked for.

So, moving forward, speak to your health visitor or do some research. See how many calories and ratio of healthy carbohydrates, proteins and fats your little one needs in the day and check it against what they are having.

Then, make night time wakes boring. Water if they are thirsty, in a beaker not s bottle. No fun interactions. Straight back to sleep. They'll soon stop.

I would also give her some weetabix or porridge after her bath before she goes to bed

It's not that people think you're not feeding them enough. It's that they're not eating enough in the day because they're eating in the night. It's a catch 22 and you need to break the cycle.

Re bottles, it's really easy to overlook that these things should really have finished, especially when DC ask for it.

It's a habit, you need to break it. When she's adapted to not getting calories at night, she'll eat more in the day.

And put her in nappies overnight for your own sanity, if she needs sorting in the night then she's not dry.

You’re going to ruin her teeth.
throw the bottles away. Three is absolutely ridiculous.
cut the milk at night and they will eat more in the day. Milk is very filling.

Babies can use sippy cups from around 6 months old so I'm not sure why you are still bottle feeding your 3 year old child (not even a toddler). What is she eating during the day? Maybe her portion sizes are too small.

My dd is the same age as yours and eats dinner with us about 6.30pm. She has the same food as us (smaller portion and less salt/chilli etc). Then a cup of milk just before bed and she never wants anything in the night (I mean she wakes up wanting cuddles but not food or drink). Then she'll happily mess about for an hour after waking up at 7 before wanting any breakfast or drink, so she's clearly not hungry or thirsty.

You could try having dinner later and giving your dc the same meal as you are having. If it keeps you full, it'll hopefully keep him full. Then no need to count macro nutrients like protein etc - presumably you eat that stuff in your adult meals anyway

No judgement about not realising your dc shouldn't be on a baby bottle any more. We are clueless first time parents too snd it was our fab nursery who prompted us when it was time to wean off bottles, potty train, etc. Without them I'm sure we'd have made mistakes like that. So no judgement but I would switch to sippy cups then open cups ASAP if I were you

No judgement about not realising your dc shouldn't be on a baby bottle any more. We are clueless first time parents too

Absolutely no judgement, first time is hard. And we are all clueless.