[allerseelen4]

We successfully managed to get down from two bottles a night to one (around 4am) around Christmas. DS then slept until 7:30am.

For the past two or three weeks, he has been waking up for a bottle at 1am. He drinks the whole thing. On the night we tried not to give it to him, he cried and then played in his crib until 3:30, when we ultimately gave in, he took the bottle, and went right to sleep.

Sometimes he takes a bottle at 1 and then another at 4. He is waking up for the day around 6 (he usually wakes up a few hours after his bottle).

Please, please, please...do you have any advice about how to ditch one or both of these middle of the night bottles? He is fifteen months old and has been home for over 7 months.

Thanks!!!!!

[w8ting4Thomas]

Oh...I need to know this to!
I was just up ALL night last night. And the other thing is that when he wants one, I have been known to let him have the bottle laying down. I KNOW!!! EAR INFECTION CITY!!! BUt I work and sometimes I am SOOO tired.
I would appreciate ANY advice on this at all.
Our pediatrician said that it would take 3 nights of me letting him cry. Well as you all know, adoptive babies have enough issues and I have just been willing to do that yet. Any other thoughts?

Sleep depraved in ATL...

[DPline]

Have either of you tried watering down the bottles slowly until they are just water? It didn't work for my son (he was just plain hungary in the middle of the night until about 15 months) but I know it does work for some people. The other thought is a big bedtime snack. If he is truely waking up because he is hungry and not just because he wants a bottle as security or whatever, filling up his stomach might help. Oatmeal or something similiar that would keep his belly full for a while.

As far as the ear infection thing, honestly, all three of my kids had plenty of bottles lying down and not a single ear infection among all of them. Honestly, I wouldn't get worried about it. (Though maybe we were just really lucky!)

Good luck to both of you!!

[JustBarbara]

DS had five ear infections last year and I put it to his being in daycare more than to any bottles he had lying down. Is your DS hungry? Just wondering if you might feed him before bed - worth a try?

[w8ting4Thomas]

My OPINION (that is all it is since I can't know for sure!) is that it is habit and security.
But I will try feeding him later tonight and see how it goes!

[allerseelen4]

He gets a 9 ounce bottle right before he goes down. I'm starting to think it is habit, too..

[azamboni]

When our son came home and was still getting middle of the night bottles (this was at 6 months old), our ped. said that he could certainly make it through the night without eating, and to simply hold him, snuggle him or otherwise comfort/distract him at the times that you would normally give a bottle. DH worked through this with him, and it only took a few nights until he was sleeping a longer stretch (9-5 or so). Eventually, he slept much longer and later (until major teething started ).

[DPline]

Originally Posted by w8ting4Thomas

My OPINION (that is all it is since I can't know for sure!) is that it is habit and security.
But I will try feeding him later tonight and see how it goes!

That is such the hard part in deciding what to do! With my bio son, it was that he was hungry. He would chug down an 8 oz bottle and go right back to sleep, or, if I didn't give him the bottle, he would scream for hours. So that was how I decided to keep giving him the bottle, and one night he just stopped waking up for a bottle.

For my daughter (from Guatemala) however, it was a security thing for a long time until she really got settled in.

I feel for you! Soooooo been there done that!!!

[SKL]

I haven't had this problem - my kids both slept through the night even on my visit trip when they were 3.5 and 6.5 months old. (I know, you hate me now.) However, since you commented that you feel it may be a security / habit thing, do you think maybe you could try switching his "need" to something that stays in bed with him? My kids each have something they take to bed with them every night - a soft bear for A, a soft dolly for E - and as long as that is there, they think that all's right with the world and they don't peep all night (12 to 13 hours).

May I suggest that when you give him his bottles from bedtime on, you include a soft toy that he likes in the ritual, and encourage him to snuggle / take comfort from the toy, and put it next to him in bed each time he goes down. Once he seems to be getting used to this, try again with letting him go without a bottle; if he does get up and fuss, give him his toy to snugge and maybe a bottle of water during the transition (which you can leave in his crib if that helps). If he really just wants his bottle as a lovey, hopefully this will buy you some sleep time eventually.

Good luck!

[LilmissBrianna]

Try keeping your babies up a little later and feeding them filling foods such as cereal-with fruit- warm milk and toast before they go to bed. This helped me eliminate middle of the night bottles by time all of my babies were 12 months.

[mommysoon]

I second the posters who indicated trying a late feeding of something like oatmeal and incorporating a lovey that is always in the bed. DS has two lovies that stay in his crib. He has a couple others that are out and about in the house for him during the day. When he gets up in the a.m. we tell his bed lovies bye bye and that we will see them at nap time.

I haven't had this problem as DS has been a great sleeper since he came home (sleeping all the way through the night 10 - 12 hours). He slept in our room either in the bed (I know, controversial) or in a pack 'n' play next to the bed for several months when he first came home. During these months we used his crib and room as the "nap" place until he was used to the crib and his room. He has done fine since we moved him to his room to sleep.

Good luck. Being tired is the PITS!

[DPline]

Originally Posted by SKL

I haven't had this problem - my kids both slept through the night even on my visit trip when they were 3.5 and 6.5 months old. (I know, you hate me now.)

No, just insanely jealous!

It's funny, but it was my two who do have 'lovey's' that were my long time bottle kids, where as my other son who gave up bottles voluntarily the day he came home, has never had a 'lovey' he attached too.

Each child should really come with their own specialized instruction manual, because they are all just so different!

[JillnChris]

Okay, this is what we did when dd came home at 8 months old.
The first couple of nights we just gave her the bottle because she was grieving and we were sooooo tired! Then I started just giving her one before bedtime (around 8 p.m.) and then slowly replacing the bottles with water one at a time. So the first couple of nights she had two milk bottles and one water bottle. Then one milk bottle and two water bottles. Until I only was giving her bottles of water. Then, I figured out that she was mostly just using them as pacifiers so I gave her a pacifier and she has been sleeping through the night ever since! Ahhhh, it is heavenly.

[Tamiswaiting]

Up until a couple of months ago, Kevin was also getting up for a middle of the night bottle. When he first came home, he actually was getting up 2-3 times a night. That went down to one when (I feel) he started feeling more secure. I was sure that it was a habit instilled in him by his FM because you could just about set your watch by him. He was so tiny when he was born that I think she woke him up every 3 hours for a bottle to help him gain weight...but I'm just guessing there. I didn't push it when he came home because I didn't want to traumatize him any further, but he started weaning himself. For the final bottle, I started watering it down until it was just water and he no longer wakes up for it...for the most part.

[hope872007]

Originally Posted by DPline

No, just insanely jealous!

It's funny, but it was my two who do have 'lovey's' that were my long time bottle kids, where as my other son who gave up bottles voluntarily the day he came home, has never had a 'lovey' he attached too.

Each child should really come with their own specialized instruction manual, because they are all just so different!

my cousin steven is 18mths old and he still goes to bed at night with a milk bottle