It’s very common to feel anxious and overwhelmed while helping your baby give up their nighttime bottle/feed. This milestone may feel big and emotional —like they are growing up and moving away from babyhood. It may also feel like a fight waiting to happen if your baby loves that bottle/feed. However, moving away from feeds at night at around age 1 will ultimately be best for your baby’s health and well-being.
Risks of Prolonged Bottle Feeding:
- Babies who bottle-feed/breastfeed lying down, as is often the case with nighttime feeds, tend to get more ear infections. The act of sucking while lying flat can obstruct the eustachian tubes in your child’s ears. Nighttime feeds are also the leading cause of dental cavities and obesity.
- They are taking up their calories during the night with those nighttime feeds that leads to less calorie intake during the day.
- When a child relies on a bottle/feed to fall asleep each night, they will naturally feel that they need it each time they wake up. This can lead to a dependency (multiple wakeups during the night) that will keep both of you up all night disrupting the entire family’s sleep.
So, how do you ditch that nighttime feed??? Here are some tips to help you do it:
- Introduce your child to a cup.
You should be able to start introducing your baby to a cup from around six months of age. You can use a sippy cup or an open cup.
2. Reduce milk each night.
You can try decreasing the amount of milk in your child’s bottle each night. Allow the bottles to get gradually smaller, decreasing dependency. Alternatively, you can try increasingly watering down your baby’s milk, eventually giving your child bottles of water at nighttime, before you give up the bottles for good.
If they are breastfed, reduce to one feed during the night and feed them only if they wake up for it and when they wake up for it-watching them for their personal best. Build it from here and reduce to zero feeds.
3. Stop the nighttime bottles/feeds ‘Cold Turkey’.
If the baby is 6 months and older, their weight and health is fine, you have the OK from your paeds and you just want to get over with this, just stop those night time bottles/feeds altogether. It is clearer and less confusing to the baby and it resolves the problem a lot faster.
4. Be ready for a little fussing, and stay strong.
Getting rid of your baby’s nighttime bottle/feed may not be easy for your child, or for you. Just remember that it will get better. Once you’ve made the decision to pull the feed away, though, you will need to commit – don’t go back! Stay strong, and keep in mind that you are doing what’s best for your baby’s teeth, ears, and overall health. Your whole family’s sleep will improve once the habit is broken.
My sleep training package will cover every possible issue that might be holding you back from getting that full night’s sleep, be it feeds, bottles, pacifiers, rocking etc. I help my clients achieve those sleep goals while keeping into consideration their wants/needs.
Book a FREE 15 minutes consultation with me at https://calendly.com/gentlezzz/free-evaluation-call to know how we can do this together.
