Sleep Help - Orange Park, FL

Please don't take this the wrong way, but why do you want him to sleep without his bottle? Is it something you feel is not necessary? I don't mean to sound rude at all, just trying to understand your position. My daughter is ten months and we put two 8 oz bottles in her crib at night and she uses them to sleep, but she sleeps through the night without us having to get up and feed her. The bottles are there if she wants them and sometimes she does and others she doesn't. She uses her botlles to sooth her, even for naps sometimes.

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I can empathize with you! We have a 10 month old son who is in the same boat! We are trying the "sleep lady shuffle" (it's a technique listed in the book, "Good Night, Sleep Tight"). We are getting ready to start that tonight. You may want to check that out! We've tried every techniqe known to man and nothing works. It's frustrating, and I feel your pain!

7 mths is so young, it's un-natural for them to just go to sleep without any comfort. Please don't let him cry it out, I promise it will get better!

buy some baby cereal and put it in his bottle. He needs mnore food before bed especially if he is having a growth spurt.

Good luck.

Deb

I think 7 months old is too young to get your child off a bottle at night. My daughter was 14 months before she started sleeping through the night and she wanted the midnight feedings. My dr recommended getting my kid off a bottle at around 12 months when they are taken off of formula.

Hi C.,
When my son was about the same age we couldn't get him to go to sleep or stay asleep without endless rocking. We tryed every non-crying technique we could find but in the end we really gave the crying - it - out technique a go (that was also the advice of our doctor). The first night was awful he cried for a full hour every time he woke up, then the next night it was a half hour, then the next ten minutes after about week he was sleeping for 12 hours a night and he continues to do so to this day. It was sooooo hard - I would have to leave the house and make my husband listen to the crying but in the end it was the best thing we ever did! But you have to really be serious. Once he is down, he is down. Good luck.
Take care, M.

Hi C.. I am a mother of a 2 yr old that had horrible colic for about 6 months. We started a night time routine to let him know that it's bedtime. We give him a bath and then read a few books. That really help because he began to learn that the bath meant bedtime, now he asks to take a bath when he's tired. It's great. The other thing we did was use the Ferber method. It was horrible for the first 2 or 3 nights, I suggest starting on the weekend, and then it got better. Here's how it works, You lay them down awake, say goodnight and walk out. Check on him in 5 min. Keep it only a few seconds, say it's time to sleep, I love you and walk out. Don't touch him. The screaming gets louder, but don't check on him for 10 min. Do the same again when you check on him. Next time wait 15 min. then 20 and so on. A good set of headphones really comes in handy!!! It's not fun, but my son after 2 or 3 days began sleeping without anything to help him all night. He would wake up around 3:30 eat a bottle and go back to sleep. It works, I promise! My friend did it also. It's bad but only for a few nights, then it gets better. I don't remember the name of the book but I bet you can google it. I've read that letting your baby fall asleep with a bottle isn't good for their teeth and gum development, plus it's a really hard habit to break.

I would play music for my little man. You can turn the volume up just enough to make him stop to listen. It might work.
Also Try just giving him a bottle top with cotton in it. My brothers wouldn't take a pacifier but did take the bottle top.
Good luck. Mine still goes to sleep with his music. I sugest Baby Einstins, Lullaby.

I understand that you want to break the bottle habbit! Mostly, it will make weaning him off of the bottle at age 1 a lot easier! I started rocking my son at 4 months old to get off the pacifier. I did the same thing to cut out the nightime bottle. Rock him while he cries until he falls asleep. I felt better about this because you are there with him. Others might say not to get in the rocking habbit, but it has been no problem for me. I just put my 2 year old down for a nap with a book and some rocking. At age one, he started putting himself to sleep after this routine just fine. I just get him relaxed and drowsy.

Have you tried giving him a pacifier instead? Get one that is shaped similar to the nipple of the bottle. He may just want to suck on something and this way milk isn't sitting in his mouth when he falls asleep which is really, really bad for him. The only other thing I can say is hopefully the crying will eventually start to wear him out.

I don't think it's a bad thing, my daughter was the same way when she was that age (she's a year old now). She has stopped needing a bottle to sleep now. I just followed her lead and she doesn't like having one to go to sleep now. I hope this helps!