Weaning your toddler off of nighttime feeds!
Weaning your toddler off nighttime feeds is crucial at the right age. It's important to remember that all babies and toddlers wake up 4-6 times during the night. They ‘sleep through’ when they can return to sleep without your assistance after each awakening!
If you use a bottle or breastfeed to put your child to sleep at night, your toddler will learn that they need the milk to fall asleep. And then, when you use milk again during the night, it constantly reinforces to your toddler that they can only sleep with milk!
So, rather than becoming less likely to wake, your toddler may begin to wake more frequently. He or she will want a bottle - until you decide not to use milk as a resettling technique.
To teach your toddler to settle without a bottle:
YOU must first decide that this is what needs to happen! Both parents, or anyone else involved in the resettling process, must be committed to the strategy. If you give your child a bottle every now and then or after a certain amount of crying, he or she will be very confused and will take a long time to learn what you expect, i.e., that they can sleep without relying on feeds/bottles.
Be assured that if your child does not get enough calories from milk at night, they will begin to eat more during the day. Decide when you know you can be consistent and stick to your plan, and you'll be surprised at how quickly your toddler learns to sleep through the night without your assistance.
For a long time, many toddlers have enjoyed milk as part of their bedtime routine! It can be a great way to unwind at the end of a long day, as well as a strong indicator that it's time to sleep. Warm milk is also well-known for helping people of all ages fall asleep!
Here are a few pointers to keep bedtime milk from becoming an issue:
Have the milk up rather than lying it down.
After the bottle, brush your teeth.
You1ll need to allow 5-10 minutes of awake time AFTER the milk is finished. And so, your toddler does not become drowsy or fall asleep as a result of the milk.
Try having the last milk feed of the day while sitting on your knee and telling a story. After that, brush your teeth and read another story before going to bed.
If you want your child to learn to sleep well, never let them fall asleep while breastfeeding or drinking a bottle. This is almost always going to result in night-waking, not to mention tooth decay.
There are several methods for getting rid of bottles in the middle of the night.
Going cold turkey
The quickest way to get rid of bottles in the middle of the night is to simply stop offering them as a resettling technique. Yes, your toddler will object; toddlers object to many things that aren't to their liking!! You can use any other method of resettling...just not a milk feed or bottle. For more information, see our article on Gentle Sleep Training Techniques for Toddlers or the longer article on Teaching Your Child to Self-Settle.
Adding water to the milk
This is a gentle and effective method for weaning your toddler off of night time bottles. Dilute the milk with water gradually over a few nights. Do the same with any bottles offered throughout the night. So, here's how it could work:
Night 1 – 1/4 water and 3/4 milk
Night 2 – ½ water and 1/2 milk
Night 3 – 3/4 water and 1/4 milk
Night 4 - All water
Usually one or two nights after offering water, your little one will realize that milk is not an option and they will begin to settle and "sleep" on their own.
Reduce the amount of milk
You can use this technique for breastfeeding or formula. By reducing the amount of bottled milk for a few nights or shorten the duration of breastfeeding. You may need to combine this technique with other transfer techniques, or reduce the volume or time very slowly to allow your baby to gradually adjust. So, this is how it works:
Night 1 - 200 ml of milk
Night 2 - 150 ml of milk
Night 3 - 100 ml of milk
Night 4 - 50 ml of milk
Night 5 - No milk
If you are breastfeeding, reduce the feeding time. Yes, you will see a lot of protest, so you need an action plan for another technique that you will use instead. As mentioned above, avoid your child falling asleep while eating!!
Offer a pacifier and/or blanket:
If your baby is more dependent on nursing than milk, you may find that a doll or blanket will cajole him at night. Place a few in the crib and show your child how to put them in. This is only ok if your child is old enough. Follow safe sleep guidelines ALWAYS! For babies and infants the crib should be clear of any loose items that can pose a SIDS risk.
Do It
Once you decide not to use bottles for the night, you will be amazed at how quickly your baby's sleep will improve. It may seem impossible to deal with (you often hear "but they just go back to sleep with a bottle !!!") but it's quick and easy to fix once you get to it.
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