Cutting out early morning feed

kaf7 · March 2014

Hi Ladies Any suggestions on how to drop the 5am bottle? I know LO Doesn't need it. I'm just looking for some suggestions on how to ease the transition. Currently if he doesn't get one when he wakes up between 5-6am he will settle and then wake and cry every 10min. I haven't made a real effort to drop it yet. I'm not sure if Ferber's book covers this topic or not. If it does I am happy to buy it. It's not available at my local library. Thanks!

mnj05 · March 2014

This is the one bottle we're having issues with too. On the weekends and my days off, I take H to his high chair, get him milk in a sippy, and puffs or graham crackers until I can get breakfast ready. It's so hard during the week when I'm trying to get ready for work in between all of this. I think DH is going to have to give up his 10-20 minute lay in bed and play on his phone time and help me with this.

Jenny935 · March 2014

We just recently stopped the morning bottle. I honestly don't know how we did it, but the fact that our kid is (thankfully) a fan of sleep helped a little. I did up the size of the bedtime bottle just a little. I also did everything I could to keep him asleep. When we found that he prefers being warm to cold, I added a onesie under his PJ's and sleep sack. I also switched to night time diapers to keep him dry. I found if he slept thought that magical hour, I was better off. Also for a couple mornings in a row he cried and I ignored him. (Mostly because I was under the weather those days and just couldn't handle getting up, and DH leaves for work crazy early.) Since we had already sleep trained at night, maybe he got the message that I wasn't coming, or maybe he just gave up, or maybe it was complete luck and next week will be a different story. I never know what I'm doing! GL

CarrieB. · March 2014

Have you tried doing a snack right before bedtime? We did that for a long time- maybe fruit or graham crackers or applesauce with a sippy of milk before bed and that helped DD1 sleep better.

kaf7 · March 2014

Thanks for the replies so far. LO gets dinner at 6pm, then bedtime routine starts at 7 and he is asleep at 7:45 after having a 4-5oz bottle at about 7:15. He then (usually) sleeps until 5-6am, gets a 5oz bottle, and then goes back to sleep until 7:15am. He sleeps in a onesie and fleece pjs with an overnight diaper already. We haven't used a sleep sack since 3-4m because he just kicks against the bottom of it and keeps himself up. I think I probably will just have to let him CIO for a few days... We are also trying to get rid of bottles altogether so that bedtime one doesn't have much longer either. Maybe a snack will help at that point. Thanks.

kaf7 · March 2014

I guess my concern too is that he won't get back to sleep and his rise and shine time will be 5am. Or that he will still be crying by 7am and then getting him up then if he's still crying will reinforce that he just needs to cry for 2h to get what he wants....any thoughts on that?

TJ1979 · March 2014

Can you just push that bottle back by 5 minutes or so at a time? Or lower the amount you give a little bit at a time. Or a combo of both.
Ferber does talk about weaning off night feedings. He suggests trying a bottle of water. That way you know whether LO is actually thirsty, or just waking out of habit.

pb_bride · March 2014

kaf7 said:

I guess my concern too is that he won't get back to sleep and his rise and shine time will be 5am. Or that he will still be crying by 7am and then getting him up then if he's still crying will reinforce that he just needs to cry for 2h to get what he wants....any thoughts on that?

My guess is your LO has gotten used to waking up at 5am, and gotten into the habit of having a bottle. You'll just have to break that habit, unfortunately. If he wakes up at 5am and won't go back to sleep, my suggestion is to just ignore him (unless he's screaming and crying).

When M first started STTN, he was waking up between 5-6am. I basically waited until closer to 6am every day before going in to get him. Once he started waking up a little later (say, 6am), then I would wait until 6:15a to get him, and so on and so forth. You basically are resetting their body clock to wake up later.

Also, I'm not sure if it is that important that LOs get a bottle as soon as they wake up first thing in the morning. I was nursing M when he wakes up in the morning. After I weaned him last week, when he wakes up, he doesn't get anything right away. DH does the morning routine, and then they come downstairs. The 3 of us have b'fast together - usually about 30-45mins after M wakes up.

M gets dinner at 6:30pm. His last bite of food/milk happens then. He gets water right before bed (at 8pm). He doesn't get anything to eat until around 7:30am. He seems totally fine.

Having said that, he is a little older than your LO.

jesselayne8 · March 2014

I just dropped DS's 4-5am nursing session 2wks ago. I just had to let him CIO. MH does have to go in there and soothe him occasionally. I don't go get him up until 630am which is earlier than his old 7-730am wake up time. I honestly don't think he is starving at 5am it's just a habit.

kaf7 · March 2014

Thanks for the further replies. I was hoping you'd chime in @pb_bride. I know he doesn't need it and he's definitely just developed a habit I've well enforced. He woke at 4:50 this am and I am firm about not getting up before 5 with him. He fell back asleep until 5:45. I think maybe I will just change my "firm" time to 6:30, a time I can live with him not going back to sleep after. Thanks!

bumpuser6119831 · March 2014

Have you tried giving him water in the bottle instead of milk, maybe when he realize that he will no longer get milk he will just sleep through the night

kaf7 · March 2014

I think I am going to start watering down the formula while we get rid of other bottles in the day and push the time to 6am and then 6:30am for a few days each. Wish me luck!

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