Hello again, i have another queston about feeding. LOL i must seem so stupid but hes my first baby so im unknowledable in some areas. My mate said you shouldnt be giving milk feeds to a one yr old during the night, and to give water or juice when he awakes in the night. Unfortnatly he doesnt sleep thru and i dont know why. He still wakes up for milk. Is this wrong? Wot do other mothers do, still give milk duirng the night or water/juice? Do all toddlers sleep thru the night?

my 21 month old son stopped his night time feed at about 9 months, he has slept through the night 7pm til 6:30am 99% of the time since then. He still gets a cup of milk (cows milk) before bed and again at breakfast. I breastfed him until he was 11 months old and was finding it was more for comfort in the evening than actually needing it.

Yeah i would try the water and if he is actually thursty he will drink it but if he is just looking for comfort of a milk feed then he should stop waking for it if all he is gonna get is water. It may take awhile but soooo worth it when he sleeps through!

Good luck,

hi my daughter is almost 20mths now and i still give her milk in the night if she wakes for it which is most nights ive tried water and she just screams i even gave up breastfeeding and tried her with the water and she just wont drink it she likes her milk i dont see the harm in it cause she will stop when she is ready

HIya Lewis is 13 month - and he was bf up till a couple of weeks ago and i saw him wakening sometimes in the middle of the night for a sly sook of the boob lol - since he stopped the boob he hasn't touched milk, he just doesn't like it, he drinks diluting juice like its going out of fashion - he gets a drink before he goes to bed and thats him till morning! I asked my hv about coz my sil gives her kids juice cups to bed with them (that isn't good for teeth) and hv said that he doesn't need it if he is getting a drink before bed! My advice to you is try him with water coz Lewis wont look at it!

Babies over a year old do not NEED milk throughout the night. That's very different from wanting it, or having a habit of taking it. So long as your child has a varied, balanced diet and 16-24oz of milk throughout the day, then they do not need night-time milk feeds. It's more likely LO has come to expect it. If you're ok getting up and giving the milk, then that's fine. There's no reason to stop if you're all happy with the situation.

However, if you want to encourage LO to break the habit, you will have to be firm and strongwilled. There will be tears and tantrums and some sleepless nights, but that will only be for a relatively short period and the end gain will soon leave those nights a distant memory. I would start by offering only water when LO wakes. You will have to stand your ground and not back down, however much LO creates... that way, they soon learn it's not worth waking up for. If that doesn't do the trick, the other option is to go cold turkey. That will only work if you stick to your guns, however tired you are and knowing that milk would solve the immediate problem. LOs are fast learners, after a week you should see a noticable difference in how many times LO is waking up during the night.

Good luck to you.

joseph sometimes wakes in the night for a drink of water but not milk dont think he has had milk for a good few months now. he has half a rusk and a bottle milk before bed then none till morning. he is 14 months btw x

Sam used to do this and we were so fed up with doing it, we've decided we gonna try controller crying - so booked ourselves a week off work and started preparing him for this by watering down the formula (one less scoop into the same amount of water in weekly intervals). We got as far as 2 scoops in 6oz of water - that's when he's decided he didn't want the "coloured" water and it wasn't worth him getting up for it and started sleeping through, so in the end we didn't need to do cc at all!

Agree with watering down formula, my grandma did this with my mum when she was just 3 months old to make her sleep thru and it worked! I wouldnt do it on a baby as young as that tho!

I was going to suggest watering down the night time bottle as well, you can gradually make it more water than milk and lo might decide it's not worth waking up for.Just add one less scoop every time.

My 14 month old has a cup of milk at bedtime and in the morning, she used to have a bottle before bed but I've stopped it off and she hasn't missed it thankfully!

Good luck!

xxx

David will not, go to bed without a bottle of milk, or go through the night without a bottle either (just the 1) he is 16months, we tried without for 2 months but i just ended up way to stressed and tired, HV/MW said there is nothing rong with an older child having a bottle at bed or during the night, it could just be there that tadd bit hungry and thirsty and a bottle will do the trick, its not like your going to feed them food in the middle of the night, i know loads of people who have older babys even 3years old having a bottle, it just depends on the child

xx