9mo waking for tiny amount of milk

[FreeSpiritsBadAttitude]

Formula fed DD2 wakes around 3am, like clockwork. She won't resettle unless we give her milk, but she only drinks a tiny amount - 30ml!! Then she's out like a light.

I have tried:

• diluting gradually over time until it's mostly water. She sussed me out.
• trying to resettle - will sometimes drop off but will wake up screaming as soon as she goes back into cot.
• leaving her for a minute to see if she will go back to sleep - fussy cries become frantic.
• dummy - she won't take one.

Nappy gets changed at last feed (1030pm) so is generally not too wet.

It only takes a minute to feed her but I'm not a good sleeper and find it hard to drop off afterwards so I'd like to find a solution if possible...

Hmmm, I night weaned by reducing down but when we were down to 1oz and he was still waking up, I let him cry it out. One night, 12 minutes of awful crying, 8 more minutes of moaning and he's never woken for milk since. He has woken for bad dreams, illness or teething though.

Not for everyone.

I'm not adverse to doing something along those lines (controlled crying) but I think I'll wait till she reaches 12mo. Good to know it worked for you though.

We had a very similar thing. I would wake and feed at the drop of a hat. The. I was way for 4 days, my husband slept through his demands for milk. I tried in do the same on my return. He now sleeps through.

Tough love, but it worked for us.

Best of luck.

Have you tried white noise? My 8 month old was waking 5 times a night and would only be settled by milk (bf, but same same) I tried a white noise app that detects noise through the mic. When it detects crying it switches on and plays white noise, eg mountain stream, thunderstorm etc for 10 minutes. This has reduced his wakes down to one or two! Was a bloody revelation!

Does something happen at 3am? Boiler kicking in, neighbour going to work?

You could also try a last minute feed of ready brek or aptamil porridge.

Oh yes - rice pudding is also a good dessert for dinner to keep them fuller for longer...

DS was the same. We checked on him but didn't give milk. He did cry. By night 3 he slept through.

We do an extra feed of banana + baby porridge right before bedtime bottle, so I know she's not actually hungry as we stuff her like a Christmas goose!

White noise thingy sounds like a plan ... I think that worked with DD1, actually.

I'm not adverse to tough love, but it just feels too early. If it continues though I will be doing something as we are all pretty knackered.

Thanks for the replies. Wishing everyone a restful night.

Fast that's interesting, I hadn't considered that. We live in a very large, noisy city, and DD2 is (unfortunately) shaping up to be a light sleeper, so it could well be someone pulling out of a driveway etc.

Try googling "wake to sleep"- it worked for us when DD was little. I read somewhere that if baby wakes at exactly the same time every night it is a habit rather than a need IYKWIM?

Yes that makes sense. It's just figuring out how to break the habit. It's as though there's a key I haven't quite located! Will check out 'wake to sleep', thanks.

Oh let us know how wake to sleep worked....c