Weening a Baby from a Nighttime Bottle

Hey D.,
I'm going thru this now.. my son is 8 mnths old. & only reasoning being is that when i went to go into his room to give him a sippy of milk.. he never drank it, so obviously he wasn't hungry just use to me coming in everynite.. But 2 mnths.. OMG!! babies r suppose to be feeding every 3 hours still. That's just insane. My kinds r starting to eat 'table food' or stage 3 by 6 mnths.. therefore, they're consuming more food & sleeping thru more the night. i have no idea what the hell this doctor is smoking.. but honestly i believet that is too early.

1 mom found this helpful

Keep in mind this is coming from a breastfeeding mom.
I don't believe in forced weaning. I don't make it through most nights without waking up and having a drink of water, so I never believed I should force an infant to do it. Breastmilk goes through their system in 2-3 hours, so they are certainly going to be hungry during the night. Formula takes longer because it isn't fully digested, but it still doesn't last 12 hours for all night.
Yes, there are doctors who tell women that they should make their children scream themselves to sleep and deprive them of the cuddles and food they want in the middle of the night, but I don't think it's a good idea. Babies sleep through the night when they are ready. 5 hours is considered "sleeping through the night" for a breastfed baby and can be expected around 6 months. I believe the expectation for formula-fed babies is 8 hours by 6 months, but shouldn't be forced.

I know as her MIL you walk the fine line between "helping" and "mettleing". But I suggest getting her a book with more up-to-date information on infant feeding and sleeping. "The Happiest Baby on the Block" and "The Baby Whisperer" were a great help to me.

1 mom found this helpful

My 4th daughter is now 8 months old and I still give her a night time bottle. She will not go to sleep without it. I think I stopped my girls when they were around 12 to 18 months. But it was not hard because they were ready. I also have a daughter that will be 3 in December and sometimes she wants milk before she goes to bed. And I give it to her. If you are talking about the middle of the night. I let them tell me when they were ready to stop. My girl that will be 3 soon didn't sleep through the night until she was almost 2 years old. Each child is different. She needs to listen to her instincts. Dr. don't even agree on these things. She knows her baby best. I hope this helps.

I suppose its a matter of opinion...Personally I think 2 months is WAAAY too young. they are too little. My doctor told me 4 months..so that is what i did...4 months

2 months? I bet the doctor doesn't have a baby...;-)...

Are you talking about the middle of the night...or the before bed bottle? I have 2 kids and the rule I have followed is middle of night bottle can go after the first time the baby sleeps through the night. When they prove they can go a stretch without a feeding, then they are ready and I believe in encouraging it. This depends on the child. 2months isn't necessarily too early. As long as the baby is growing she is probably making up for that mid-night feeding during the day!! My daughter for example was trying to sleep up to 6 hours at night from the get go and while the maternity nurses were hollering at me, my pediatrician said go with it! AND, I did and she has been sleeping long stretches at night since 2 months easily! But following the same theory...my son didn't start trying to sleep through until about 8 months. Each child is different.
The bottle before bed should continue until at least 1 year. After a year they don't require nearly as much formula/milk so then you get it in them whenever it works out!!!

I like the response that suggested offering up to date books. Unless the baby is sleeping through the night on his own........why would anyone not feed their child? Sounds like misinformation to me. I was lucky enough to have one of my 5 children sleep through the night at 7 weeks......the other 4, well we just started sleeping again in our house! My almost 2 year old twins still take a bottle before bed of whole milk. I may be a little on teh "older" end of the bottle, but it is their comfort before bed while we rock. A 2 month old definitely needs that security. Good Luck......

I learned never to question a daughter-in-law if she said she heard it from her pediatrician. Eventually they will learn to feed the baby when its hungry, and forget about a schedule.

Gah! My first response is that is really early. However each child is different and on their own unique schedule. I worried about nothing until maybe six months.
At two months I do not believe she has any self soothing skills and I don't think she is learning a bad habit yet.
I did read the book the 90 min sleep program (I think this is where I read it) and found it to be helpful with my daughter for developing good sleep patterns and some self soothing skills.
If your DIL is unhappy with hid advice she nay want to go to a doctor who has views more in line with hers. Many doctors would probably have a variety of answers depending on their overall philosophy about parenting.

What?!?! That baby will be up all night because she is hungry if she isn't given a nighttime bottle. I didn't ween my daughter until she was over a year, when she was being potty trained. My son still gets nursed right before bed and he is 8 months old. My doc highly suggests so that this keeps him sleeping through the night. Tell her to go with her gut. Doctors aren't always right.

I agree with you! That is too young to be thinking of that yet. I didn't try and wean my kids from their night bottles. They just eventually stopped waking at night and slept all night. So, if your daughter-in-law is patient, this will happen for her too. Some babies don't sleep all night until they are around 6 months old. Some do it at 2 months. Every baby is different. I don't think she should worry about it until her baby is 6 months old. I didn't always follow my pediatrician's advice about stuff like that. I was the mother and I felt I knew what was best for my children.

Hope this helps!
A. M.

Well I guess that depends on what the nighttime bottle is that's in question. Is the night time bottle that 11p or midnight bottle? Then I would have to say it's a little early for that. If you are talking about the bottle in the middle of the night, then it's a very appropriate time to wean it. I would say the baby could sleep 6 to 8 hours through the night at this point. BUT keep in mind that each baby is totally different. I know babies that have slept 6 hours through the night at 3 weeks old, and others didn't sleep through the night once until they were 2 years old.
Hope this helps.

What planet is this doc from??

Maybe if baby is sleeping through the night s/he wouldn't need a nighttime bottle, but then this question probably wouldn't even be raised.

I breastfed mine and it was a long time before they didn't nurse at night. Formula might "hold" the baby a little longer, but 2 months seems way too young--especially if baby wakes up and is hungry.

K. Z.

D.,

I have 3 kids and I would HIGHLY recommend to switch pediatrician immediately if he is saying to ween a 2 month old of night time feedings. I would say close to 12 months is still acceptable to have one bottle at the middle of the night. In average I think, after 6 months of age, and in a good solids diet a lot of babies will sleep through the night and won't need a bottle at night. Just one before going to bed and nothing until morning. But not every baby can do it and you should allow them to do it until they can make up that feeding with more solids during the day. Other babies can sleep through the night after 4 months. It's all about listening to their needs and their natural rhythm. Schedules, books, advice... they all are just guidelines, not carved on stone rules!

That seems young too. At that age aren't they still eating frequently and it is too young for cereals or jar baby food. Either the dr is a quack or your daughter in law is tired of the feedings. This is how food allergies develop.

Geeze, it is definitely not appropriate to wean a 2 mo. old from a nightime bottle. That is the craziest thing that I have ever heard. Maybe she misunderstood her pediatrician. My son is going to be 12 mo. and he still gets a night time bottle. At age one is when bottle weaning should start because its better for their teeth. So be at ease giving your child a nighttime bottle!

Good luck!

2 months old is WAY too soon to be weaning from a night-time bottle!!

We have 2 daughters, and they were both getting "bed-time bottles" at least until about 18 months, and I think even a bit longer.

I don't think that's a battle she wants to fight with the poor baby!!

That is crazy! Every baby is different, but my son starting sleeping through the night at 3 months, but still had a night time bottle before bed for quite some time, hard to remember now, but probably close to a year he would still have a bottle before bed!

That's too young. My grandson's 3 and still takes his and wakes up wanting more in the middle of the night.

I think this baby is way too young to be denied food no matter what time of day or night it is! My doctor told me at my baby's 12 month appointment to cut out the middle of the night feeding. Yes, she still wakes once or twice at night to nurse. But that is a 12 month old he was talking about...not a 2 month old! And you know what, she is 14 months old now and I still nurse her at night if she wakes! Why in the world would you deny a 2 month old a bottle? Sorry, but it sounds crazy to me!! Is this an attempt to get the baby to sleep all night? If so, that is also crazy. That tiny baby has a sleep cycle. Babies that young usually cycle into a light sleep every 60 to 90 minutes, and if they are hungry or cold they will awaken during the light sleep cycle to alert their mothers that they are hungry or cold, or whatever the problem may be. If a 2 month old is waking because he's hungry, I think that baby needs to be fed. A child that young should get to eat on demand.

I hope your daughter-in-law does not listen to this particular advice from her doctor. Doctor's are not always right, just because they are a doctor. Your DIL needs to listen to her motherly instincts and do what she thinks is right for her baby. Good luck to you and her. Congrats on your new grandbaby!

Do you mean the bottle right before bed, or the bottle in the middle of the night? Because the answers here already seem confused about which you mean.

If you mean the bottle before bed, the posters on here are right that that ped. is wrong. Poor baby will be soooo hungry! If you mean the bottle in the middle of the night (the midnight/2a.m. feeding), well, then I agree it may be time to start, although in my experience in this case (which is limited, since I only have one child at the moment), the baby mostly does that himself. My son weaned himself off of his middle-of-the-night feeding between 3-4 months, but I began at 2 months trying to rock him back to sleep first, before I offered the breast, to make sure he wasn't just having trouble sleeping. I think your daughter-in-law should go back to the ped. and ask for specifics.

However, just as a brief side note, I have a good relationship with my mother-in-law, but that doesn't mean I would listen to her over my ped., and furthermore, I don't appreciate her input when it comes to my baby unless I asked for it. If she asked for your advice, I would definitely tell her what people have said, but if she didn't, she'll manage to figure it out on her own. ^_^