Introducing night bottles for 8m old bad sleeper. Am I crazy?

[Isabelleforyourbicycle]

So my 8m old, bf until recently, now won't go through the night. He wakes every 3 hours and will only settle with a feed or sleeping on me.

I know I need to get him better at self settling and move away from night feeds but I am desperate for better sleep and I've got to that point of trying anything.

Am I crazy to give him a little bottle of formula at each waking? So say 5oz at 11 dream feed, and at 2 am and 5 am? He has weaned really well, eats 3 meals a day and never refuses or spits out food. He doesn't drink much milk during the day though, I struggle to get 16fl oz in him at all.
Does it matter if he has bottles at night?
I feel my lack of sleep is now clouding my rational mind.

Our 10 month old has 6oz at 11pm still. Only way to get him through the night. We think hunger is a big factor in his waking. If he hasn't had lots of food in evening he'll just wake every 3 hours.

Sometimes he even has milk at 3am if he wakes.

So it's not the end of the world then to give night bottles? I weaned him off bf at night because he was just comfort sucking but he still wakes up. I should have added he's very small, on the lowest percentile although he's not skinny , just a petite boy (only 14lbs at 8 m!)

Maybe I should treat him like a younger baby and not hope that he can sleep through yet as he is so small?

Glad I'm not the only one then Muscat.

Going from 7pm to 7am without a feed is the ideal but certainly isn't the norm. Prioritise your sleep and sanity. You won't spoil a routine since babies change and adapt all the time.

The last person in our house to go to bed makes a bottle up and feeds the baby. He hardly wakes up and necks the bottle down before falling into a big long sleep until morning.

Thanks muscat. Spot on advice about babies changing and adapting. I'm going to go with my instinct that he's hungry and needs feeding. It'll probably change next week!

Here's to sleep and sanity!