help me please... how do i sort this out?

[mankymummy]

DS is 3+3. He is still very heavily reliant on bottles with milk in. If he gets upset during the day he wants milk in a bottle and he has always had some milk in bottle to go to bed with.

He happily drinks out of other things, glass, cup, beaker, straw etc. but he is emotionally reliant on milk in a bottle.

I was of the opinion that ok, he'll grow out of it, he's still young, its a comfort, does it matter... etc. etc... but he's now taken to waking 3-6 times in the night asking for milk. I've tried giving it to him in a beaker but he wont take it unless its out of a bottle.

What on earth do i do? enlist the help of the bottle fairy and go totally cold turkey on the bottles or gradually cut down?

anyone had a similar problem?

i need help please !

OOooooh I don't really know but am bumping for you. Has anything in his life changed recently to make him need extra comfort? Just thinking of his night wakings....
FWIW when we took away DDs dummy, we just took it away completely as we thought it would be kinder than the drip drip effect.

maybe you could prepare him for santa taking it away at christmas? though that is a long time to wait if you are having your sleep interrupted.

I had this and watered down his milk litle by little until he just pushed it away and didnt wake for it anymore - it took a good 10 days. Just do it gradually, dont rush it even if its one ounce at a time.

My LO still wakes every night - he's 3+8 and has started tip toing across the landing and getting in bed with us

Sorry but you have no other option but to dump the bottles completely, you say he wont take the milk from a cup in the middle of the night but he really doesnt need milk in the night, if I were you it would be tommorow night, I dont mean to sound preachy I did go through it with dummies and getting up several times to retrieve teh bloody thing. I was also as emotionally attached to them as dc were. Are you ready for him to move away from that baby stage.

Mine was like that.... ear plugs helped. I also explained that 1 bottle was all he was going to get all night. He now gets one ( he is almost 4) and no more.

I would go for bottle fairy and just get rid. At 3 he should understand I think. This is what we did with dummies and wasn't half as bad as we thought. play on the whole, you are a big boy now I think.

I've recently only just got my ds off bottles just before his 3rd birthday. Got him a special cup with a curly straw in. Like yours he was happy for other drinks to come in beakers but not milk. The 1st 2 - 3 weeks i resigned myself that he was probably not going to drink milk again but persisted with handing him it (received with tantrum!). One night he just said "thanks mummy" and has drunk fine since. Incidentally my ds has started waking couple of times a night too despite being fantastic sleeper since 6 weeks. But i am potty training and he started play school in september. Even though on surface he has taken to really well (skipped in from 1st day) i suspect thats probably something to do with it.

At 3, he also shouldn't be having milk in the night unless you are then waiting for half an hour and brushing his teeth each time .

Sorry, that's no real help I know. However, you know that he doesn't need milk at night, whether it's in a bottle, cup or beaker. If necessary, give him some cereal before bedtime if you think he's hungry.

Waking for milk at 3 is just a habit. If he wakes, just give him water.

thanks everyone... really helps.

in answer...

things that have changed.. ive started college, so he's at nursery for longer and more days (i have less time to focus on him solely), but obviously make as much time as i can), just done potty training (big boy stuff etc. and he's done really well), few other little things.

i know he doesnt NEED the milk, it is a comfort thing definitely.

i do water down the milk (so its pretty much only 20 percent milk), and to be honest in the night i think its the sucking action from the bottle thats the comfort not the milk itself.

i guess i just dont know how to handle it for the first few nights when he asks for milk... do i give him a beaker when he wakes or just say no, there is no milk tonight?

i think its me, i will just feel so bad denying him something that gives him such comfort

Well I would just say no, no drinks in night, sleep in the night, the problem is he has used the bottle as his prompt to get himself back to sleeep and you may have to give him a new one, I would read ds his story last thing and leave him holding the book then if he woke I would give him the book to look at and tell him it is sleep time.

clueless thats a great idea, he's a big boy now so big boys dont need milk at night? he does have a manky old bit of cloth as a comforter too so he can have that to hold.

or maybe he can take a soft toy to bed (he's never been allowed to do that before).

ds has had his whole train set under his pillow, whatever it takes to keep him in there for the longest time, it is jsut a matter of him learning to fall asleep without sucking on the bottle.