When Is It Time to Say Good-bye to My 3 Month Old's 11 p.m. Bottle?

Updated on November 10, 2008
S.C. asks from Arlington, TX
16 answers

My 3 month old little girl is sleeping soundly from 11:30 to anywhere from 6-7 a.m. When is it time to stop waking her up for the 11 o'clock bottle? She usually falls asleep around 8 and then we wake her up to give the last bottle before we head off to bed ourselves. Do I start backing it up to 10 or 9? Even if it's only been a couple of hours since she ate last? Or do I go cold turkey? I don't remember how I did it w/ my son...I think he just kind of fell into it, but I'm not sure. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

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J.M.

answers from Dallas on

Not yet Shannon. Let the baby guide you. Try adding some cereal to it to thicken it and stay with the baby longer so it stretches out the time. This is an "ole wives trick" that truly works.

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D.C.

answers from Dallas on

I would say let her sleep. If she's not waking up on her own to have it then wait until she does, she may not.

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S.N.

answers from Dallas on

Now is the perfect time. My doctor told me that any time I had to wake my baby to feed them, then to forget doing it. He says that if the baby is hungry or needs that feeding, she will wake up and cry for it. If not, don't wake her up to feed her.

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D.W.

answers from Tyler on

Shannon,

Perhaps you can keep her up for an hour later, and give her a bottle before bed. Then let her sleep until she wakes up. She may or may not wake up in the middle of the night for a feeding. It might be best not to get her in the habit of waking her up to eat.

As she gets older she should be able to sleep longer periods at night without eating. Then she will be hungry when she wakes up.

I actually had the reverse happen... my oldest son, started sleeping from 9-10pm to 5-6am then at 4 months starting waking up again at 2 for a feeding. But it did not last very long.

Hope this helps.
D.

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T.B.

answers from Dallas on

NEVER WAKE A SLEEPING BABY!!!! If she's hungry she'll wake up, if not, you could be over feeding and this could cause weight gain. Let her tell you when she's hungry. NEVER WAKE A SLEEPING BABY!!!! Good luck!

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B.P.

answers from Dallas on

We have done away with this with our 3 month old daughter right about now. She lets us know when she's hungry and we will also give her the evening bottle around 8:00 / 8:30 and leave it at that. She is now sleeping until about 6a.m. (or thereabouts) before waking up for the next one so I say don't bother waking her.

Good luck to you!

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A.A.

answers from Dallas on

Oh...dont wake your baby up for a feeding! Unless you like punishment...ha.
My Pedi said that at 3 months (or 12 lbs) that our baby could physically make it through the night without his bottle. So, we stopped. It only took a few nights and LOTS of running in to put the binky in his mouth then he finally got the hint. Others will disagree and some mom's think just to continue with night feeding until he/she is ready but then, are they every "ready"?

I found this on baby center:
http://www.babycenter.com/0_baby-sleep-training-night-wea...

We also used the BabyWise book to get him on a sleep schedule and really has been a great sleeper since. Again, BabyWise seems to be controversial for some reason. I found absolutely nothing idiotic about it, you might want to read it?

Good luck!

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A.K.

answers from Dallas on

I say if she's not waking for it, then give it up. Of course, you may have her waking then at 3 or 4 for some. My son slept through the night by 3 months (from 8-8 or so). He didn't need it during the night because I made sure he had his 24 hours-worth of formula while he was awake during the day. Worked for us! It was nice to be done with the night feeding by 3 months.

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N.C.

answers from Dallas on

We give our baby boy a bottle at around 8pm, even if he's already eaten and we don't think he's hungry. Usually he'll take at least half of it. Then he settles down and goes to bed and sleeps through the whole night. If you know she's full and been fed before she goes to bed, than I wouldn't bother waking her up. If she gets hungry she'll let you know.

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A.J.

answers from Dallas on

This is about the same time I dropped my daughters late bottle. We just didn't wake her any more and if she woke up in the middle of the night I would go in and give her the binki(as she developed hand coordination I would put it in her hand and put her hand to her mouth so she got the idea of how to put it in her mouth by herself). Eventually we just stopped going in and she would fuss for a few seconds/minutes and then go back to sleep. She was not usually actually awake, just kind of sleep fussing. Still to this day she usually fusses for just a few seconds around 10:30 and then she is done! I was told this was the age where the baby starts to go by the schedule you give them so it is the best time to start helping them sleep through the night. In the beginning we had some nights where we had to get up 2 or 3 times but that only lasted a few weeks. Now she goes to bed between 7 and 8pm and sleeps until between 6 and 7am. Then she gets a 6 ounce bottle and she gets swaddled again and sleeps about another 2 hours. This was also the time we implemented our bedtime ritual. We play for a while until she shows signs of being sleepy. Then she gets her bath, and then the lights go down and she gets her 6 ounce bottle. Then off to bed!

Good luck!

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M.C.

answers from Dallas on

We did away with my DD's 11pm bottle at 3 mos. She'd then sleep from 7 or 8pm through to 5 or so, when I'd nurse her, then she'd sleep for another 2 hours or so. This was fine with me, because I had to be up then for work, anyway--I'm not quite sure what I would have done if I'd wanted to sleep later. But by 3 mos, physiologically she's probably able to go all night with no feeding, if you can break her of the habit. GL!

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E.C.

answers from Dallas on

I have a 4 month old right now. She is really different from my first b/c my first baby started sleeping through the night at 3 months; and was going to bed around 7:30pm or so; sleeping until 4am-5am. Now with this little one she started to get sleepy at around 7pm; I put her down and sleeps until around midnight. I don't wake her for a feeding in the hopes that she will at some point start sleeping through the night. Plus I work; so i really need that 10pm feeding to pump. Last night she only woke up one time which is a vast improvement.

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A.J.

answers from Dallas on

I never woke my kids up to feed them since they reached about 2 months old... I would liet her tell you when its time for her to eat at night... see what happens. if she is hungry she will wake up and tell you!

:o)
HTH
A. J

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J.H.

answers from Amarillo on

I never did wake a child to feed them, so it is hard for me to say, as with them only being 3 months old I would be afraid they wouldn't sleep as late as they are now if you don't feed them, but I'd be tempted to do a 10:30, and then a little later, not wake them just to see if they would sleep alnight.

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L.W.

answers from Dallas on

Why wake her up? Let her sleep through. Give her a bottle mixed with formula/cereal as her last bottle at 8:00 pm.

Good luck.

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C.P.

answers from Dallas on

At 3 months and 12 lbs, she should be go to go from 8-8, unless she's nearing some sort of milestone, gets sick, or her day gets terribly off schedule. And even if she wakes up, she probably doesn't need to be fed, just a little reassurance. If she's getting enough nutrition throughout the day, she'll be fine.

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