Are we encouraging her not to sleep thru by giving her a bottle?

[Moomin]

Dd2 is 11 m old and has only slept thru (7.30 -7am) for about 1 week when she was 6m old. We've started leaving a bottle of milk in her cot whe we go to bed in the hope that she will find it and feed herself. usually she cries, we go in, find it for her and she goes back off after drinking it. Therefore one of us is up every night - not for long admittedly - but it's still a broken night.

She eats ok but doesn't have a huge appetite, and because she goes off again after having her milk in the middle of the night I assume it's because she's genuinely hungry. Dh says he thinks she's just 'one of those babies' that never sleeps through, and we just have to lump it til she's grown out of it. Is it our fault she's not going through though, by letting her expect milk in the night? Is it worth trying cc - had a half-hearted attempt a few months back but it kept waking dd1 and as she's now at school I'm loath to disturb her.

[moaningpaper]

certainly am!

She keeps getting colds actually so am I often woken up in the morning by a little cough followed by a tsunami of breastmilk englufing my face/the bed/the carpet.

It certainly gets me out of a bed in a jiffy.

[jessicaandrebeccasmummy]

hi moomin

another october baby also on cows milk, also having milk in the middle of the night. your OP could have been written by me!

We are just letting her get on with it to be honest. Jessica did the same and slept through from 15 months so im hoping by the new year becky will be sleeping through.

I think Becky is genuinly hungry - she eats like a horse! Has had her milk at 5am this morning, 1 weetabix and a slice of toast already this morning and will have a bottle before her nap at about 9.30am. She will then have sandwich, fruit and yoghurt for lunch, another bottle this afternoon at about 3pm and then a big tea followed by fruit for pudding and a bottle before bed.

Ok so i know she shouldnt need her middle of the night bottle, but if she wants it, who am i to take it away when it could lead to screaming in the middle of the night?!

HOpe you find something that works, but wanted to reassure you that for me and my girls it has been perfectly normal until they are up on their feet and running around to knock them out at night.... and sympathy with the teeth too - Becky only has 1 and has had it for months - think the next ones will all come at once!

[moaningpaper]

Gosh bad luck with the teething - it's such a pain not knowing whether they are suffering from that or not. We nearly have a full set of teeth and it will be a HUGE relief when they are all through.

[leogaela]

Moomin, i have only skimmed over this thread but it sounds as if our ds was exactly the same at this age. He just needed the bottle for comfort to go back to sleep, we reduced the amount and watered it down slowly so we knew that he wasn't hungry. when the bottle is reduced as much as possible we stroked shhhhed him back to sleep, then stopped giving him the bottle and just comforted him back to sleep. I think it took a couple of weeks but he started sleeping through - what a relief !

The other thing is to make sure she has enough milk before she goes to sleep, if there is some left in the bottle then you know she has had enough, if she drains the bottle give her a bit more.

[Azure]

We did the same as Leogaela when both of my DSs were around 8 months and it worked both times. Once the milk was so diluted we knew they were not getting any nutrition from it and they both slept through within a couple of days of no more bottles being offered. Good luck. BTW don't you worry about the milk being stale if it is left in the cot?

[creepydazy]

Moomin does your daughter have a dummy? Both my children didn't have dummies and so there bottle was not only their food but also there comforter. I don't want to upset you but both my children only gave up their bottle when they started school and that was because "santa needed their bottle for his baby reindeer". I had tried everything to get my DS to give up his drink through the night but this is the only thing that worked and like I say it took until he started school for him to do that.

[lulusmama]

Hi moomin
I was just thinking, 3 oz is not a lot - does she refuse if you try to give her more? Just wondering if her second waking is cause she's still hungry... I know that's the wrong direction here. I would try to dilute her night feed down gradually also, and she (hopefully!) will get hungrier during the day. How much milk does she drink during the day now?
I also think that alot of babies will sleep through the night only when they are ready to do so - not when we want them to unfortunately! (But I totally understand what it is to be sleep-deprived!!)

[Moomin]

we've had two rubbish nights. Not helped because she is full of snuffles which I think is from the teething and a little cold too.

1st night dh was up with her at 2 and gave her the diluted milk. she trashed it and he tried to settle her. After an hour of her waking and crying, he gave in and fetched her more milk... but then I went in at 4 and she hadn't drunk it all. she was crying because of the her teeth so i have her some calpol and everything settles again by 5am. (I looked MIGHTY FINE at work the next day)

Last night she drank the diluted milk at 3.30 but was still crying later on. We raised up her bed to help her breathing and I put her down after 20mins cuddles. She went off again without any more milk and was RAVENOUS for her breakfast so I'm pleased about that. God, this is like the most boring Diary of the Mundane. I'm even boring myself. that's a yawn not a 'shock' face.

am soooooooooooo tired.

[Mumpbump]

It's so frustrating, isn't it? My ds has had a cough and temperature that have come and gone over the last few weeks. He'll get over it and sleep really well for a couple of nights, then get another cough and have a really disturbed night... Sometimes, it makes me feel like we're back to square one, but the cold can't last forever!!