Baby Wants Feeding Bottle at Night

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Baby Wants Feeding Bottle at Night

My 15 months baby wants to have milk from a feeding bottle both day and night. I have tried sippy cup and other option, but she refuses them all. I think she is now too old for a baby bottle and I also want her to stop feeding at night.

Please provide tips on how to make her forget the baby bottle and start using a cup intead.

Baby Help Line Response:

Weaning From Bottle To Sippy Cup

At the age of around 15 months, many babies have quite a strong view on what they want and they show it! While this is a natural development, it can be hard to know how to deal with it. So if your baby really likes her bottle, she won't give it up without a big fight!

To wean a baby from the bottle and to a sippy cup, it will certainly be easier to start with introducing the sippy cup at daytime.

Here are a few tricks you can use to make your baby want to try the cup:

Make sure it is easy to drink from. Try it yourself to see how hard it is to get the liquid out. Some no-spill cups are quite hopeless even for adults to drink from.

Consider giving her a regular mug (not a no-spill one), but still a baby cup with handles and lid. They are often easier to drink from.

Let her use the cup as a toy to get used to it. You can play a game together, where she can feed her dolls and loveys and you (but not herself unless she wants to).

Put some tasty liquid in the cup that she really can't resist, like breast milk, formula or juice.

Use the cup yourself without offering it to her, to make her curious.

Meet other babies that use sippy cups, so that she can watch others using it.

If you have a fight over her current cup, buy a new one that doesn't look the same and have a fresh start with all the tips above.

If your baby really hates a sippy cup anyway, consider a cup without a lid. She will spill more, but since it is easier to drink from, she might accept it easier. One of my kids were like that. Hated the sippy cup, but gladly drank from a regular cup AND learned quite fast how to drink from it.

Once she has started to accept the cup, take away the bottle at daytime first. When that works, try offering the cup at night too. It is very possible that your baby will stop feeding at night, if she is not offered her beloved bottle.

You can learn more ways to stop bottle feeding or nursing a baby at night here. (The article is mostly about breastfeeding at night, but many ts can be used for bottle feeding as well.)

Paula

Find answers and comments below.

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Comments for
Baby Wants Feeding Bottle at Night

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Dec 01, 2007

Offer water
by: Anonymous

My baby was like that. What I did was to offer her water in her bottle at night. I never thought that it would work, but it did. She stopped eating at night without being very sad or anyting. Then you don't really need to take the bottle away, just don't offer milk or formula at night.

Jan 28, 2008

GO FOR STRAWS
by: Anonymous

Those sippy cups are really hard to drink from - use the ones that have straws that they can drink from without tipping over their head. A lot of times the baby is just frustrated with trying to get liquid out and they know the bottles work just fine so will be very fussy. My son was soooo fussy with sippy cups, then i saw somebody using the straw cups and it was like the burden had been lifted. no more bottles.

May 11, 2009

Baby wants feeding at night
by: Anonymous

Hi Ladies

Mine is a nightmare,I have a 2 year old baby and have been trying to make him to stop feeding a bottle at night but all he does is cry and i mean he screams and that is really not nice and I have also tried to use a cup it doesn`t work.I really need a plan on that PLEASE HELP!!!

Anonymous

Jun 11, 2009

baby stop feeding at night
by: Anonymous

My baby was a nightmare like i said,i finally managed to make him stop feeding at night.I use to give him kids rooibos tea but that night i decided not to make it for him and hey it wasn`t easy because he kept on waking up crying for it almost the whole night but i just ignored him and i am telling you it worked very well because the following night he slept the whole night and till today we sleep like angels with my babyboy,so ladies i suggest that u give it a try even though it is not so easy but it worked brilliantly for me.

Jan 15, 2010

mis
by: salma

hi all my name is salma i have 2 year old son and i want to stop bottle feeding at night and i kenw how so please help me

Feb 14, 2010

my 2 yr old son wants bottle at night
by: Anonymous

my son is 2 yrs old. he sleeps daily at 10 30 pm. he has very good dinner at 8 30 pm daily. if he goes to sleep without drinking milk he wakes at 2 am and demands for milk screaming his head off. the worse is if he drinks milk while going to sleep he wakes once in 2 hours screaming for milk.. i really need help..

Oct 28, 2010

4 years old
by: Anonymous

my daughter is a 4 year old kid..and until now she used to feed at night and day with her bottles..even when we're in out time..nevertheless she forgotten it when she'd playing.. i plan to stop her once but she used to cry, scream and tantrums will occur..i want to stop her but its stressed me..how can i do it..she's older now and planning to go to school next year.how can i stop her?

Nov 08, 2010

Bottle at night
by: Diana

Hey, My baby boy is 14 months old and lately he wants to drink 4 bottles as night.

If i give him water he throughs a tamtrum and screems till he get milk. He is on Nido. My mom inlaw stays infront of us and even them can hear him screem.
Please help.

May 05, 2011

4yrs old daughter my nights are horriable
by: qaisy

my 4yrs old daughter takes bottle feed all night after every hour or two she screames for her feed .i wake all night my nights are sleepless. she does,nt eat any food at daytime nor she drinks milk at daytimes,pls some one help me .

May 05, 2011

To Qaisy
by: Paula (Baby Help Line)

Hi Qaisy,

You have a determined little 4 year old; that is good and the way she is supposed to be considering the development phase she is in.

But being so "old", she is also capable of changing her behavior with a little bit of help.

I would suggest you create "star trail" for her. The idea is to get away from the power struggle and reinforce good behavior instead of bad. It is actually very efficient!

First draw a snake or a trail on a paper and divide it into small steps, so that you have 60-80 squares. In every 3rd to 7th square you put a big question mark. Then go buy some gold stars or other small, pretty stickers.

What you then do is that you sit down with your daughter at some point in time when you are both content and in balance and explain to her that now when she is such a big girl, the two of you are going to play a game.

Every time she wakes up at night and accepts to hug her lovie (or whatever) instead of demanding her bottle, she'll get a sticker to put on her trail. Every question mark is a surprise gift.

At night, you might want to simply put small buttons in glass or something simple instead and then she can count them and get her stickers in the morning.

I don't know how many times she demands a bottle every night. Try to construct the trail so that she'll get her first reward after the second night (or even the first), and make that reward something she really enjoys, but not something big and expensive, since that will make her expect similar things in the future.

The surprises can be small toys, going to a playground or movie of her choice, staying up late (if she really wants that), borrow mom's make up and put make up on herself and you and so on. Be creative and see this as an opportunity to have fun together too.

Once she starts waking up less, you can add in another assignment, so that she has enough possibilities to earn stickers to stay motivated, one at night and one during daytime. Maybe she lay out forks and knives for dinner, put her shoes nicely when coming home or something else.

If you want this work, focus on the times she succeeds and praise her for them. Never threaten with not getting a sticker. Remind her once in a nice way, so she has a chance of succeeding.

When she gets to the end of the trail or to the snake's head, make a big fuss of it. Give her a diploma, and get her a great surprise; something that she really, really wants, and preferably something you do together rather than a toy.

I hope this can inspire you! I have done star trails with all my children; the youngest at 4 years old and it was a very effective and positive way to change an undesired behavior.

Good luck!

Paula

May 05, 2011

Hey use your noggin
by: Anonymous

There are sippy cups that have soft silicone lids to make the cup similar to the bottle. Try those...My daughter took to the silicone lid quickly.

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