Bedtime routine at 15months...still waking at night for feeds

[MMG]

What bedtime routine is best at 15 months?
I used to let him have dinner at 5.30
Bath at 6.45/7 ish
then bed at 7.30

now he is just too tired for bath nd crys if i try
and put him in. would it be best to bath before dinner then up to bed when he shows signs of tiredness about 7pm?

also he still wakes for a late feed before midnight which i dont mind but its the later one thats does me in could be 2pm or 4pm. Have to give him the bottle as he cries and cries then dont get any sleep and he`s exausted.....any suggestions please

With my 15 month old I do dinner at 6, bath at 7, then cup of milk and in bed for 7.30. No milk during the night, then another cup about 6.30 - 7 am when she wakes up.

First point - he really doesn't need milk in the night at this age, especially not two bottles. Is he getting enough to eat during the day. Currently I feed my 15 month old the same as her 4yo brother in terms of portion sizes etc.

Also what is his daytime sleep like? When does he nap? DD has 1.5 to 2 hours between 12 and 2 roughly.

He does eat well usually during the day, if he dosnt each much dinner i offer him porrodge or shreddies a bit later so he dosnt get too hungry. I just dont know how to get him off the night feed, he has on the odd occasion and slept through! im thinking its a habit as i`ve never really tried not to give the night feed.

he does sleep during the day, its either 2 1hr naps, mid morn and mid afternoon, or he skips the morning and has a long nap about 1pm ish.

So you think he has a reasonable amount of food and sleep in the day. I think it is probably a good idea to top him up with cereal if he doesn't eat his dinner at least while you are trying to sort the nights out. Think you will probably have to get tough but you could:

• offer water instead of milk
• put the milk in a cup instead of a bottle so it is less comforting
• water down the milk
• gradually reduce the amount of milk you give by 1 oz every few nights
• go cold turkey and don't give him anything, just cuddle him and put him back to bed.

Does he do better at bedtime on the one nap or on two naps? Could he have 20 mins at about 4.30 ish maybe in the pushchair to see him through to bedtime? What time is he getting up?

he gets up about 6.00 - 6.45am depends which shift me or hubby are on at work so mon-fri are always early starts, last night he was asleep about 7pm and was up at 6.30am but had 2 bottles in the night, and he only drinks about half so it makes me think its for comfort.....i`m afraid of going cold turkey but i do need to toughen up and do something about it...do you think its worth first trying to redice the amount i give like you suggested by 1oz each night and see how he responds...also he does have a dummy spits it out when asleep then put it back in himself later.

I have to do something, exhausted at work

7 pm until 6.30 am sounds fairly reasonable to me. Its the two bottles that you need to knock on the head. I really would try one of the options that I said. I've never tried the reducing the amount thing myself - have just heard it recommended by others. Does he often only take half the bottle? Because in that case i would be tempted to reduce it by that amount straight away and then reduce it gradually from then on. Personally at 15 months old I would start getting tough. But bear in mind that you might be in for a few bad nights before he gets the idea.

thanks for the advice....last night he had a bath at 5, dinner at 6 and lots of it then at 7 off to bed and was asleep by 7.30pm had 150ml. Sleep well till 1.30pm which is an improvement only having the 1 bottle then went straight back to sleep till 6.30am.....seems to eat more after having bath early so i will stick to new routine then get tough with the night feed, don`t mind 1 feed for a lttle while but not 2 feeds.

thanks again :-)

Let us know how it goes MMG. But remember he really doesn't need any feeds in the night.

thanks i will, i know your right he dosn`t need it at all :-)

well last night he woke at 1am again for a feed so i let him have that one but when he woke at 4am i just gave him the water, he moaned for a while and eventually went back to sleep then woke at 6.45am so at least its 1 bottle again rather than 2, in a couple of days i will try reducing the amount i give so fingers crossed :-)

so far so good, he is having his bedtime bottle not at bedtime but at about 10.30am then sleeps through till about 5am ish! which is a big improvment. He still wakes in the middle of the night but soon goes back to sleep. If he hasn`t ate much dinner i give him some porridge etc b4 bed. At last hope he stay like this but every 3 months he seems to change!!! thanks everyone :-)