Weaning off night feed at 12 months

[Aisha92]

Hi guys,

My baby girl is now 13 months old and still wakes for 1 feed which I am hoping to wean her off of. Just wondered what worked best for everyone?

She usually sleeps from 8-6 and wakes for a feed around 4am. Now that she will be soon moving off formula (CMPA formula) I want to cut that night feed out but not sure which approach to take.

Thank you!

I’m no expert but can only offer my experience. At 12 months I was pretty sure my sons wakes were because he was too dependant on milk in the day and therefore wasn’t eating enough solid food. He had a horrible teething episode where he wouldn’t anything, even a bottle and the only way we could get fluids in was a straw cup or open cup. We used the opportunity to drop the bottles completely, his food intake rocketed and he slept through fairly consistently almost immediately. He had cows milk from a cup with meals now.

Give her a filling snack right before you start the bedtime routine e.g. weetabix with her milk then when she wakes at 4am you canbe confident she isn’t actually hungry so just offer a sippy cup of water and cuddles.

Can you do a dream feed around 11pm just before you go off to sleep?

I’m the biggest fan of the dreamfeed for small babies but surely not at 13 months? Not only is it doubtful you’d manage it without waking them, they shouldn’t be having bottles at all and especially not of milk overnight after age 1 because it’s really bad for teeth. Dropping the night feed altogether, as OP is looking to do, is far more appropriate for a young toddler than introducing a dream feed.