Will he stop on his own or is it a habit I have to break

Penny - posted on 10/20/2009

My daughter used to do the same thing and my pediatrician said to give him a bottle before bed at night and then brush his teeth. It worked great. Don't give your kid a BINKIE... I've seen and heard too many horror stories about those. I see 3 and 4 year olds with binkies in their mouth! Their parents need to eliminate those at a MUCH younger age!

Lydia - posted on 10/18/2009

could be either - with my daughter I cut her down to a top-up bottle only at first and then I just started sticking her dummy back in and she would go back to sleep. we now get to sleep in til about 6 - 6:30 :)

Chantal - posted on 10/18/2009

Try to break the habit. He probably thinks he needs it because he knows he's going to get it so it's probably just a routine thing to him. Do it slowly though becaue in the end he still is a baby, so it could be just a comfort thing. Even if you have to put less in his bottle each time, hopefully after a while you may be able to work it down to nothing. That's what i did with my eldest's pacifier when he was about 8 months old, just gave it to him less and less and eventually he kind of forgot about thinking he needed it. Hope I helped out a little.

Audra - posted on 10/18/2009

Children are very smart...they know when you are most vulnerable and will continue the wake cycle as long as you let them. I know it is hard to listen to them cry but start out w/letting him fuss for five minutes one night...then a little loner the next night. Eventually he will stop crying before you get there. Another thing you could try-if you want-is to put water in the bottle instead of milk. If he's really thirsty he will drink it, if not he will go to sleep and eventually not wake for water at all. I have a daughter the milk thing worked on and a son the water thing worked on. Hope it helps.

Kirsty - posted on 10/18/2009

My son used to wake up early in the morning for a bottle around that age. We believed that it was a habit and it needed to be broken. As hard as it was we went in there and settled him down, and put him back to bed. If he started to cry again we would let him cry until he went back to sleep. It was really hard but did lengthen his sleep pattern to a more reasonable time (6.30am). It shouldn't take that long to change, it only took us couple of nights to change but it may take longer.

There is a book called Silent Nights by Brian Symon that may help, like any book there are things that you may or may not agree with but its just another suggestion.

Laura - posted on 10/18/2009

I think it's a habit you are going to have to break cos he propably sees it as he 'asks' for it and gets it so you will have to teach him he 'asks' for it and doesn't get it so after a few days or weeks he will hopefully stop asking. May have a few tears but once you start don't back down or it will take even longer because he will remember that you backed down once before. Hope this makes sense!

Jamie - posted on 10/18/2009

you will deff have to break this habit yourself! my little one started a 3 am habit and i kicked it as soon as possible and now sleeps 10-12 hours at night. they will get used to waking up for that feeding. The sooner the btter that you break it!! You will feel much better. It may take a couple of crying nights but trust me no one has gotten hurt from crying. And you will both feel better.