Help! 2 year old drinking too much during night.

[conansmummy]

My son is nearly 2 and still has a bottle to go to sleep. He is on cows milk. I would really like to cut out him having a bottle to go to sleep with during the day and night. When he has a bottle during the day it usually takes him ages to go to sleep and will have 1-3 bottles, then at night he will have anywhere from 1-4/5 bottles just to go to sleep then will wake up during the night for another bottle.

I really want him to stop because during the night he drinks so much that by morning he is soaked with pee. If he wakes at night i will change his nappy but he is still wet the next morning.

I have tried giving him a cup of milk with lunch and dinner then no bottle at bed time but he screams and gets himself really worked up.

He hasn't had a dummy since he was 13 months old and I think he uses the bottle like a dummy, sometimes i hear him sucking on his bottle with nothing in it at night while he is still asleep.

It has gotten so bad that he has been asking for "nigh" (thats what he calls the bottle) during the day and he will go to the cupboard where they are kept to get one out for me to fill. The more I say no not until sleep time the more he throws a tantrum. I try to ignore it but doesn't always work.

What do i do? It would be great if anyone has some tips to completely get him off the bottle for good.

:hair:

[UmmInayah]

:hugs: It's so hard being a mum sometimes.

Have you tried distracting him when you see him going for the bottle? Like doing something crazy to get his attention so that he forgets about what he was going to do?

Sorry, I don't have any other advise :(

[EmmasMummy]

I think I have just started this bad habbit.... DD has been fully breast fed up untill now and My mum thought she should be having more milk ...so i was giving her a bit in a sippy cup and putting her to bed.... now i dont think she will go to bed without it :(

[Electric Rodeo]

My little man was just the same....exactly, even down to age. We called him a little poddy calf cause all he'd do is drink milk.
I went the cold turkey approach and he wasn't to impressed the first few nights but not as bad as I thought he'd be. Now he sleeps up to 14 hrs a night straight through which is something new for him.
I changed his bedtime routine and tried to get him to take something else. Bath books were good, nice and soft and he'd flick through them before going to sleep. For the first few nights I'd give him a cuddle in the chair next to his bed as a comfort thing. Was worried I was starting another bad habit but he no longers wants that. Now he just picks a toy to take to bed( a no no I know) instead of his milk and a straw cup with water in it that doesn't leak. Works for us. Hope you can find something:goodvibes:

[conansmummy]

I tried just letting him cry himself to sleep and i don't really want to give him water either before bed because he does pee heaps during the night.

I am thinking about changing his routine so he is really tired by bedtime then he will go straight to sleep without a bottle.

I am also thinking about throwing away his bottles, my mum done this with me, got me to throw my bottles in the bin then watch the garbage man take them away.

hoping this approach will work :rolleyes:

[LolliLips]

How about a cup of milk in the lounge before bedtime then into bed, story, cuddle etc and just leave him. Tell him he can get some in the morning with brekkie.
That's wat I'm doing with my daughter, she used to have a bottle to fall asleep and one if she woke in the night.

[MamaKoala]

Sounds like you're going to have to wean him and put up with the tantrums. up to 5 bottles a night is insane. There should only ever have been one.

I never had this issue with my boys because I stopped putting DS1 to bed with a bottle at around 15 months (pretty much cut out bottles once he started eating and drinking out of a cup) and with DS2 I breastfed so once he weaned off that and onto food and cups they would have a cup of water at dinner and then that was it for the night.

Either way he is going to scream. Sounds like he's getting worse if he's throwing tantrums during the day.

I took care of a 4 year old once and he still had bedtime bottles and wore a nappy. This was incredible to me because he was fully toilet trained and at an age where there was no need for bottles. Perfectly healthy child with no special needs so I didn't get it. One day he came home from preschool and was tired and cranky but it was almost dinner time so when he demanded a bottle and a nappy I told him it was too late for a nap, he would have to wait. He threw a huge tantrum. I had to call his mother to find out what to do. It was almost like dealing with a 18 month old again. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it.

So my point is, you can either do it now, or do it later, but you will have to deal with the protests and tantrums for about a week or so. Make sure you change bedtime routine and do not give him fluids after a certain time (make sure he has had plenty of water during the day though).
Good luck!!

[conansmummy]

Thanks everyone for your tips and suggestions.

Giving him a bottle to go to sleep with was the biggest mistake i have made and i know that now.

I know that he is going to scream and carry on but he is getting worse and DF and I are ttc baby 2 so i don't want him getting worse when there is another baby in the equation. So i really need to do it now.

I isn't going to like me one bit but i dont him to get to 3/4 years old and still want a bottle.

Though i have a friend that still puts her son in a nappy of a night time even though he is completly tt and turning 4 this year. This is all because she is too lazy to change sheets of a night time.

anyway....

I can't start his new routine until monday as i won't have him tomorrow but will definatly implement a new routine on monday and :fingerscrossed: it works. I will keep you updated on how it goes.

[Opinionated]

Does he actually eat much food with all that milk?

I would be gradually watering down his milk until the bottles contain water only (eg. day 1-75%milk, 25%water, day two 50/50 etc). Maybe just a splash of milk for the colour to prevent a tantrum when it is all water, but mostly water. I would give him milk in a cup, not in his cot.

I would imagine that he will be hungrier for food when he is only having cups of milk, and this will sustain him overnight.

[conansmummy]

I have been watering it down mainly because he drinks so much we go through 3 litres every 2 days so it cuts down cost a little bit.

He also eats in between all that milk. He has been wanting more milk on his weetbix too, he won't eat it until i put an extra splash of milk.

It is getting very frustrating. hoping the new routine works.