My 1 YO still needs a nighttime feeding - 10 PM or so - to get through the night. I've tried to skip it, and she always wakes up sometime in the middle of the night screaming. She wakes up 5:30 - 6:30 AM every day and wants to eat right away. I need to wean her to take some medication I need and I would love to just give up this feeding all together - but instead am I going to have to give her a bottle every night? How long did your little ones need this late feeding?
My daughter was 11 months when she finally slept through the night BUT now at 16 mo she wakes up super early (like 5am) and is famished, wanting her milk, and won't go back to sleep (even after the milk). Soooo, I would almost rather still do the night feeding and sleep in a little! :) Good luck!
I'm going to suggest she doesn't need that feeding at night, and hasn't for awhile.
(This will sound accusatory, and I don't at all mean it that way...)
She wakes up screaming because you've conditioned her to think she needs it. If you woke up at the same time every night and ate, your body would think you "needed" it too, when all you'd actually be doing is packing on useless calories. Your daughter's body is doing the same.
If she's eating well during the day, she doesn't need to eat overnight. Generally, the need for that drops off at 6mos.
My kids were done with overnight bottles by 4mos, both of them. I sleep trained both of them at that age, which is what you need to do now. Although it'll be harder now than it would've been at 6mos.
I you don't want to go with extinction (ignoring the screaming until she goes back to sleep), you can do partial extinction. But HOW you respond will determine how long it takes to extinguish the behavior. Simply offering a paci, or patting her on the back, if done consistently, will work. It will take a week or more. Ignoring the behavior entirely will take a couple of days.
Good luck! I know it will be hard, but you can do this!
I second MandA, almost verbatim. I night weaned all of my children at about 8 mos. (except my third, she started sleeping through the night at 4 mos.). We are creatures of habit, and our babies are no exception. One year old is plenty old enough to be able to get through the night without eating.
We nightweaned all of them around 18mo.
She is growing each and every day. And will continure to do so until around 20 months. Then she kind of takes a break and stays the same size for a while. She will start showing a lot of mental growth then. After that around 3 she will have a huge growth spurt again.
As long as she is in this age group she will still need to eat about every 3 hours.
A good schedule is Breakfast around 7:30 - 8:30 am.
Morning snack around 9:30-10am
Lunch around noon - 1pm
Nap time, sleep uses nearly every little bit of energy because the body works on growing and healing when we are asleep.
3-3:30pm a good snack with protein and carbohydrates. Not a simple fruit or something, she needs the complex carbs to sustain her and the protein will help her last until dinner.
5-7pm Dinner
9pm or just before bed. An evening snack
Needs to be another high complex carbohydrate "meal". She needs this to sustain her until morning. If she uses the energy up during the night she is going to wake up. This meal needs to be foods that don't really cause gas too. If you feed her a bunch of raw broccoli and ranch dip she is going to be up screaming with gas pains....
4 mo to sleep through the night
Stopped the 10/11p feeding about 7-8 mo.
***your mileage may vary.
My son (now 3.5yrs) woke up at least one time a night until I stopped breastfeeding at 18mo. after that, he woke up but learned to put himself back to sleep. My now 9month old wakes up every 1-2 hours screaming and acts like he is starving. I nurse him and he falls back to sleep in a few minutes. I know he doesn't need it.... but unfortunately I have given in and it is now a soothing thing. He has been battling ear infections for 2 months, so that has been a big culprit to the problem.
Long story short - there is not one answer to your question. All infants/toddlers are different and they learn what we teach them. I would not start a bottle.... the food is not what she needs, it is the comfort of you and the nursing. Don't start something else that you will have to stop later..... My boys have always woke up to nurse every 1-4hrs. However, that time goes by quickly and I always treasure those moments in the middle of the night with him (even though I am exhausted). They grow out of it quickly and in my opinion.... there is no hurry. If you are done nursing though... do not start a bottle. She just needs some cuddle time.
I read all the responses & have to disagree in my scenario but then I had
a boy that was verry active.
I gave him a bottle at 10pm to last him.
He did that for a long time.
Your DD seems famishes when she wakes up. If she's waking up in the middle of the night I would continue t ogive her te 10pm feedin to get her
through the night for now. Still continue.
Again, I would continue to give that last feeding at 10pm for awhile longer.
That should help abate the nightime waking/screaming. Obviously hunger is waking her up.
I say try for a bit longer. Can't hurt & can only help.
I think it's her way of telling you.
Hang in there a little bit longer . This too shall pass soon. :)
Best wishes!
Our 13 month just gave up the nighttime feeding one and a half weeks ago. I can practically tell you the precise date and time down to the second.
For what it is worth our pediatrician cautioned us against getting too worked up over that last bottle to make it through the night. He said children tend to drop that bottle on their own once they are eating very well during the day. I think when we transitioned to real food and cut out formula all together, it took our son a few weeks to get full and stay full. I know it was a hot topic in our house. We questioned if we had conditioned our son to eat that bottle or maybe he was crying to get what he wants (us/attention), how long were we going to go with that bottle, etc. The angst and recriminations were piling up against our parenting abilities. We did set a deadline just in case he didn't drop it on his own (15 months) but since we didn't have to force him off that feeding, I can't tell you how that would have gone. Good luck and take heart you're not alone on this issue.
My daughter was 6 months old when she slept through the night...but my neighboors daughter is 1 YO and she still gets up like your daughter does...every little one is different, hang in there.
My kids didnt sleep through the night till 18 months when I stopped breastfeeding. Till then they used to wakeup every 4 hours or so for feeding. My daughter is going to be 2 soon and some days she wakes up at 4.00 or 5.00am and asks for a bottle.
My DD was 5 months when she started sleeping though the night. Maybe you need to feed her dinner later. Do you give her a snack before going to bed. My daughter gets fruit, cheese and crackers, peanut butter, etc. If she is eating enough solids then she shouldn't be hungry. Is she really hungry or does she just want Mommy?
My daughter stopped all nighttime feedings at 10 months. I thought she needed it because she was a small baby but in reality she just needed the comfort and security. So I would go in and hold and rock her until she calmed down and then put her back in her crib sleepy but still awake. It took about a week and then she either stopped waking or put herself back to sleep on her own. Her last feeding was around 8 or 9pm and then she would wake up at 7am starving.
