Any thoughts on why my toddler keeps throwing up at bedtime?

[SaysSheWithThe80sPerm]

Some info - DS is 15 months old. He wasn't a sicky baby at all while being breast fed. He's not a big eater of solid food. He's a terrible sleeper.

So DS will drink milk (cows milk) during the day and during the night with no problems at all. I know he shouldn't need milk during the night at this age, and we are working on it, but at the moment it is what it is. Plus I think he is probably genuinely hungry.
Unfortunately he is still in the habit of feeding to sleep, and it is when he has this bedtime bottle that the problem occurs. At least half the time he will drink it then vomit it back up everywhere. He is then happy as Larry and full of energy. The food from the day will also come up with the milk. I don't understand why it is only this time of day that he is sick.
We make sure that he eats his last meal way before bed. He drinks the milk sat up in my arms. If it was an intolerance wouldn't he throw up at other times as well? I have mentioned it to the doctor when he was there for another reason but they weren't concerned. I haven't tried the health visitor yet.

Any thoughts or similar experiences? The constant washing of sicky bedding and scrubbing of carpets is getting tiresome!

How long has this been going on for? You said he wasn't a sicky baby, so I assume a new thing? Does he cough before he is sick, is he sick after lying down or while still drinking the bottle? Has he ever had a stomach bug, if so how long ago?

Also does he have any congestion?

I would guess that he's simply over feeding with that bedtime bottle. Do you limit the amount he has or let him keep going?

Thinking about it this has been going on much longer than I thought.
He was weaned off the breast fully by 11 months. Not long after he started throwing up his bedtime bottle of formula (again just bedtime only). Thinking the formula might be the problem, we switched to cows milk as he was less than a week away from turning one. The being sick stopped for a while then he would throw up maybe once a week, and from then it has slowly increased in frequency. We still have the odd vomit free week but it's certainly getting more frequent.
He doesn't tend to cough before. It either comes out of nowhere while he's calmly sitting or he wriggles around as though in discomfort then it comes up

My little boy did this, although not as often as yours. For DS it was that he was just drinking/eating too much and then laying down i think. Never ill, always one big vomit and then fine. I just stopped the bedtime bottle, offered a (very) small cup of milk and it stopped. Maybe try that? Increase milk elsewhere if you are worried about dairy intake.

It could be a case of simply overfeeding. I do take the bottle away for breaks if I feel he's gulping it too fast. He can be sucking away for ages though and when I stand the bottle up hardly anything has gone. He gets choked up and spluttery if using a teat flow suitable for his age, so he does still use a newborn number 1 size. Could this be a problem?
I'd like to switch to a cup but I need to look into what type might be best

I think I will have to go down the route of cutting out the falling asleep bedtime milk if nothing else works

Reduce his amount refill his bottle if he needs another drink, he might have reflux which seems to be worse at night for adults.

So maybe the same for children.

With my son it was a cow's milk intolerance, rather than an allergy. He was fine when breastfed and with cooked dairy products but when he drank plain milk there was an issue. Night time vomiting, rashes and runny pooh were the main symptoms. Does your LO have any of these?

My eldest had a full fat milk intolerance. I had her on semiskimmed I obviously wouldn't advise this with an under 2 without checking with your Dr or a health visitor.

Is he constipated? That can cause vomiting I think

My daughter had a massive reflux flare up at 13 months. It caused massive issues over night and nothing during the day.
She was desperate for milk overnight to ease the discomfort. She went from drinking 5-8oz of formula overnight to 20-25+ and screaming for more. We had to cut her back dramatically and got her back to 1-3oz once or twice a night

She still has reflux and it's mostly at night. She has thickened oat milk before bed. She has it before stories now so that it's a bit longer between having it and getting into bed. Since 10 months under drs supervision she has had a pillow. She was on 8oz of oat milk at night but is doing better now we have been able to drop it to 6-7oz and on the odd days she wants more she gets the extra Oz but only if she can't be distracted away from the extra oat milk. She now only has oat milk overnight a couple of times a month but she was 3 before this was possible.

I would want to rule out wind initially. He might simply need to burp before he lies down.

What type of cup does he drink water out of during the day? Could you offer a smaller milk drink from the cup rather than the bottle? Mine used to be sick like that when he was too full when he was smaller.

I wonder if he’s just having too much milk, then lying down too quickly. Could be that simple!

I would offer a small cup of milk instead. He could simply be taking in too much air with the bottle sucking. At 15 months it would probably help to cut down his milk intake to encourage more solid food.

Could he be swallowing too much air because the flow is too slow? Then when he needs to burp the food / milk comes up with it. He likely feels better because the air has come out?

My daughter had this issue it stopped when we went dairy free

He should be off the bottles (particularly size 1 teat) at 15 months - try the Tommy tipee cups.

If he wants to suck something to go to sleep let him suck his thumb.

i don’t have a suggestion about being sick but just wanted to say that feeding to sleep is completely normal at that age and so is wanting milk during the night. Yes some don’t need to but some do.
my little one is 18 months and feeds to sleep and wakes up for milk during the night.

Thank you all for your thoughts and experiences. We're currently on a good run of 5 nights without being sick. At the moment i'm inclined to think that it is a feeding issue (too much/too fast/ lying down too soon) rather than an intolerance to dairy, so I'll work on that first to see if there's any improvements.

I don't mind him still having some milk overnight if it's what he needs. I am going to switch to a cup from a bottle however.

I hadn't thought about constipation. His poos are very different all the time so I'll take more notice of how they are on the days he is sick.

Try reducing the amount of milk for the bedtime bottle. And waiting a bit longer after dinner to give it to him. My little boy was the same

Oh you make it sound so so easy 🤣 my daughter had bottles until about 3.5. She would not give them up aged 1. And as for sucking thumbs, that’s terrible advice. A dummy would be better. Again, my daughter is a huge dummy fan and she would NEVER suck her thumb.

All of this ❤️