# Advice/thoughts on night time bottle



## GERTIE179 (Apr 20, 2005)

Hi all,


I'm looking for some advice. My LO is 15.5 months (behind in some regards). I see the benefits of bottle feeding and happy to let little man regress if he needs it, however I am know doubting the practice FCC used as I think it's making things worse for us in terms of sleeping etc. I can fully understand why this worked for them.


Scenario:
Little man is used to going down at night and nap in cot with a few ounces of milk in baby bottle. This is left with him during nap and was removed after the first hour for night time sleep. He is not a good sleeper and would wake 1-2 times per night. Sometimes dummy and soothing worked, but most nights he would be given more milk and be left alone with bottle to soothe him back to sleep.


Whilst at ours we kept this up but have found he is regressing in sleep and waking 4-5 times per night. I don't feel right leaving him with a bottle of milk (and already diluted his milk with part water).  Plus if you can't get bottle from him when he does wake and find it empty he wakes wanting it refilled.


My concern is not the bottle but the self feeding/soothing in this way as he flatly refuses to let you hold bottle.  He sucks aggressively on bottle or soother and i feel it is mechanism for him rather than comfort.


Since a few very sleepless nights where I decided to soothe/rock him back to sleep (sometimes with bottle and now without) I can see this changing and he will fall fast asleep in my arms and let me put him down once asleep in cot (5-10 mins of wriggling and stop/start crying then goes with motion and comfort).  He does this at naps now too.  We are also off bottles during the day now (regressed for a few weeks being home but now happy with zippy cup/soft nuby drinker).


So my question is... 
Do we continue but swap mid night time bottle for water only 
or and leave that with him or try and go cold turkey re leaving him with any bottle (milk, empty or water).


I have no issue with soothers/bottles if he needs to feel this but instinct is saying this may be something different.


He's doing amazing in every other way and actually feel the bonding has improved greatly since I started rocking him etc (before that he was biting me when angry or bad scratching). The biting has now reduced to teeth on me during day when he wants my complete attention (ie if I am cooking or look at the news. So I've started t stop what I'm doing give him a cuddle or touch to reassure them and then he seems happy to play or stay nearby).


My main concern is bottle is not being used for comfort as such and then the health or his teeth with sugar from the milk. (We do brush properly twice a day and would be happy if he was battle, teeth then down).


Is his just bad habit and will take time or something else


Thanks fr reading and all views welcome as I try to understand the best course of action.  Ps I know HV will say he shouldn't be having bottle all through night or at all.


Thanks GG


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## panorama (Feb 7, 2005)

Hi


My lo was 10 months when he came to us and had a bottle in the morning and at night before going to bed. We would give it to him before putting him in the cot. He dropped the morning one about 14 months but carried on with the night one till 22 months! Maybe I was a bit selfish as I enjoyed it too  


Anyway about 15-16 months he started waking up very early and only thing that got him back to sleep was a bottle. We did this for a few months but was becoming a bit ridiculous so we went cold turkey and he screamed for a couple nights but soon got the message. We just kept putting him back down after a small cuddle. 


However all through this he has used a dummy to sleep and still does for comfort, he is nearly 2 1/2 and we are about to go cold turkey with the dummy at Easter, not looking forward to it but I'm sure he will be ok after a few days. Trying to get him to hold a cuddly toy now when he wakes during the night as well as the dummy.


It's hard to know what to do sometimes, but kids are very clever so sometimes hard to gauge whether to go Down a certain route at times!


Good luck!


Pamorama


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## GERTIE179 (Apr 20, 2005)

Thanks panorama.


I think we may have to suck it and see as they say and try things out. I hate adding more change so soon but it's obvious that his old routine isn't quite working for him here either that or he thinks he can try it on for night time snacks.  He is getting enough to eat (he has no stop button re food anyway). 


Thanks again G x


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## keemjay (Jan 19, 2004)

hmm its a tricky one
my gut feeling is that if he's having a bottle at all then you should be feeding it to him, or at least holding him while he has it. I wouldnt put it in the bed with him.


I would do bedtime bottle in your arms, then put into cot..if he reaches for it then get him out again and let him have more on your lap..get the message across that milk is for laps not in cot..it shouldnt take him too long to get the idea. if he gets distressed he could have water only in the bottle in the bed but i wouldnt do this unless you have to.
if he wakes in the night again he could have (diluted) milk but on your lap...same routine, it doesnt go back in the cot with him, whilst it would be nice to phase out all night time waking for bottles maybe pander to it for a just a bit longer as it gives you the opportunity to soothe him. gradually increase the water once you feel you have a bit more a routine going with it all.  then try just water and see what happens  


we weaned DD off her night time milk about 6 weeks in..we had already diluted it and would have kept on with it but she had a yukky cold and ear infections and i wanted her off dairy so that was that..she didnt wake up after a couple of nights and we never looked back..
hope that helps


kj x


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## GERTIE179 (Apr 20, 2005)

Thanks KJ


Yeah my gut is saying that as he is not letting us feed him the bottle then it's either self soothing or a ritual. When he's upset and we have given him he bottle, he's been frantic sucking at the bottle (even pushing my hand off the bottle). Trying something different from tonight so will see how that works.
G x


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## thespouses (Jan 5, 2006)

I would go with a combination of:
Giving a soother/dummy quite a lot to get him used to the idea it works to soothe him (there is no evidence this hurts teeth more than sucking your thumb, but bottles with milk do).
Starting to move over to bottle on lap before getting in cot.
Switching to a soft spout rather than a teat (the Nuk soft spouts are the same material as teats), better for the teeth too.
Switching to a cup for milk rather than a bottle during the day (we use the Oxo cups as they are see through and Little Boy has worked out they do indeed contain milk, not nasty blue stuff like the Tommee Tippee cups!)
Eventually brushing teeth after bottle on lap at bedtime (that's what we do), plug in soother immediately once bottle/toothbrush comes out!

You do need to be prepared to pop back in to retrieve the dummy in the night... sigh...


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## GERTIE179 (Apr 20, 2005)

Great advice thespouses - we are doing all if the above and working well. He's definately more accepting of a cuddle to soothe now rather than milk now its in tippe cup. He still wants to take bottle substitute into bed so that's going to now be water since we've watered down over a few days whilst he has got used to new cups. Only once woke last night but he only got water from bottle whilst in the rocking chair.

Fingers crossed this continues x


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## thespouses (Jan 5, 2006)

Sounds like it is going great, well done!


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