1 y.o. now waking up at 3am for milk

[ckny1]

2 new issues with my 1 year old DS:

Over a month ago his paed told me that he is drinking too much milk a day (28 - 32 oz/ 1000 ml) though he eats 3 meals. I can't seem to get him to reduce to 3 bottles. If he drinks 3 bottles a day, he wakes in the night for the 4th.

I started to give him small snacks between meals to fill his belly, but that doesn't help. He also started drinking whole milk 2 weeks ago, but this hasn't altered the number of bottles needed a day.

In addition to this, he has now started waking every am this week at 3am, either for his 4th bottle, or just starting the day with a new bottle (don't know if this makes sense).

In the past he naturally reduced his milk intake and he was a very good sleeper. He is in the 50th % for weight, and 75th for height. Could it just be that I need to not listen to the doctor and let DS reduce his milk when he's ready?

Also, how do we stop the 3am feed habit?!?!

what foods are you giving? Is he having plenty of carbs and protein to help keep him fuller for longer? You could give a cereal before bed to see if that helps. Could he be thirstier due to the warmer weather - maybe he needs more to drink e.g. water rather than milk.

Thanks, Seona. He drinks a full bottle of water, which is great, though he'll let me know when he doesn't want it substituted for milk(!?) I give carbs at each meal and protein at lunch & dinner, but haven't tried cereal at night. His meals are something like this:

breakfast: 20 (!) blueberries, banana, and oatmeal or millet with cinnamon
lunch: toast or bagel with cream or cheddar cheese or yoghurt, some sort of fruit
dinner: potatoes or pasta, chicken or fish, veggies

snacks are usually sugarless cereal puffs or rice cakes and fruit

Once they are 12 months they should be having 300 ml of milk a day, however I think they do have a growth spurt at around 12 months so the 3 am feed may stop soon anyway. At 12 months I think half of alll babies are still waking in the night so he's not unusual doing this.

Now he is one you can offer the milk after solids so make sure he has his breakfast before his milk. I'd swap the bottles for a cup too as bottles aren't recommended after the first 12 months.

Never really gave mine rice cakes or cereal for a snack as they are a bit lacking in nutrients, anyway they weren't much for them as the rice cakes especially are a bit bland. There are some snack recipes on MN here and there are some great ones on the BLW website here.

I'd also offer pudding after his dinner and agree with Seona on the suggestion of offering some cereal before bed, like Oatibix and raisins.

Thanks, Jilted. I hadn't checked the BLW site in a while as we just give him what we eat at lunch and dinner, and my husband and I also wondered at one point whether the snacks we offered were too empty in calories. I clearly need to explore more recipe options instead of getting lazy with the same stuff every week...

We've introduced the cups with water, and slowly with milk, but should jump in more with this. I'm just afraid of the night waking when he doesn't drink enough, but will try to stuff him more with food!!! :)