18 month old night feeds?

[TodmordensDog]

Dd1 is 18months, and the way we do bedtime is she has milk, settles herself with dummy and teddy and goes to sleep. I then fill a bottle and put it in the corner of the cot when I go up to bed for during the night. The trouble is that she's waking more and more often for even more milk than we put in so I'm getting up just as much. It's not like she needs it now is it?? Should she be sleeping through? How can I fix this?

Try water, she's doing it out of habit I'd say not out of hunger.

Currently bf my 22 month old back to sleep for the second time tonight. Watching for handy hints!

Should I just go cold turkey and give her water, or reduce the milk gradually?

You could try just water and see what happens and if not successful water the milk down each night. At 18 months she will understand if you say all gone and water now (after first bottle of milk) and just refill bottle in bathroom with water. Good luck x

Is she eating enough in the day? As long as she is eating enough in the day then there is no reason why she should need a night feed.

Go cold turkey! Little bit of pain for enormous gain

At 18 months she shouldn't even need the evening milk at bedtime - if she's on 3 meals a day then there's no reason for the milk at bedtime.

She should be sleeping through and this has become a habit. I would go full cold turkey with no bottle in the cot [too old for a bottle anyway] and just giving her, her dummy back with minimal interaction/or no interaction if she wakes crying/asking for milk. She already has a crux with the dummy and uses that to self settle so she definitely doesnt need a bottle too.

Hi, I've recently night weaned my 11month old - she was waking up 5-6 times during the night and wouldn't go back to sleep without a feed. I was exhausted and it was getting worse so we gradually reduced the night feeds over the course of 2 weeks. I did this by sending DH in to settle DD till 11pm, then 1am, then 3am etc. I was terrified that she would be starving as she was so used to having milk during the night, and although there were a couple difficult nights she adapted so quickly and very soon didn't look for a feed when she woke. She's sleeping SO much better, not all night yet but every night is an improvement so I'm feeling optimistic it might be soon!

I know it's a slightly different situation to you, but I think removing the milk would benefit you all in the long run

iguess my ds is 5 and still likes milk before bed he doesn't need it but he enjoys it so where's the harm??? I let my dc have a bottle at bedtime until well turned 2 they gave it up themselves when they was ready, during the day they had a cup.

Yes my son is nearly 2 and still drinks milk before bed. I think it's lovely to give them a little drink of milk before bed. No he doesn't need it but he doesn't need a lot of things.

What he doesn't get is anything overnight, not milk, not water. It's about choosing your battles. I'd work on reducing what is available overnight. When I night weaned I offered water instead of milk and he soon lost interest. Milk at bedtime? Up to you.

I'm not looking forward to tonight- I've gone no milk with today's naps too to make things less confusing, eg milk for day settling but not for during the night and it's already been difficult.

Dh wants to reduce it gradually and I honk he'll crack before I do!

How did it go OP? I started sleep training last night too. Gradual retreat. So for the next 3 weeks I'm up for supporting/hand holding/sympathising

Well it was mixed... Dh accidentally left the bottle in there after bedtime, so I woke up and went in and she was swinging both the milk bottle and the water beaker around! But no wake ups that I know of- but maybe she just found the rest of the milk and went back or maybe she just slept through. Who knows. But I feel like we've wasted a night of not getting up for work when we could have been sleep training!