Wean your toddler off night time bottles with these tips!

The only way to stop your toddler from waking at night for his bottle, is to do it cold turkey! As his expectation is that he gets a bottle or dummy every time he wakes, he will obviously cry if that expectation is not met.

1. Make sure he is not ill – that is easy to ascertain. If he is teething, a paracetamol syrup can be administered (speak to your pharmacist to ensure the right dose).
2. Even if his appetite is poor during the day, nutrition plays no role in toddler sleeping at night unless your child is ill.
3. Speak to your pharmacist about an iron supplement – frequent waking can sometimes be attributed to an iron deficiency.
4. A magnesium supplement helps to calm busy little minds at bedtime and will also help for cramps and growing pains.
5. When he wakes for the first time, go to him and comfort him, pick him up, offer him a sip of water, and rock and hold him until he falls asleep (you may have to go and sit in a chair.)
6. He may, however, continue to shout and scream (because he is expecting a bottle of milk). If this is the case, then place him into his cot, and leave the room to catch your breath.
7. Return after a minute or so, calmly and confidently, pick him up and cuddle him again, offer the water (which he will most likely throw across the room in anger), and try to rock him, sit with him etc until he goes to sleep. If he continues to shout and scream at you, put him back into his cot, and leave the room again for a minute or two. Return again and repeat the procedure, until he is happy to either fall asleep quietly in your arms, or falls asleep in his cot.
8. Each time he wakes, repeat this procedure. It may take a while, and you will be up and down a lot, especially the first night, but keep going.
9. DO NOT be tempted to give him milk because you feel sorry for him – he does NOT need milk at night anymore. This will confuse him and make him insecure.
10. When you get to the point that he is still waking, but is happy to go back to sleep in your arms WITHOUT the bottle, then start plan B!
11. When he wakes, respond to him, pick him up and cuddle him until he is drowsy, then say “goodnight”, put him into bed, and leave the room for a minute or two.
12. Return calmly and confidently, pick him up, cuddle him, say goodnight, then back into his cot, and leave confidently for another minute or two.
13. Return and repeat the above, continuously going in and out until he eventually falls asleep.
14. This may take a few hours, but persevere! After a few sessions of this, he will soon learn that he does not need to cry, because, in fact you ARE around, coming back to pick him up etc, and this will reassure him enough to “let go” and go to sleep.
15. This consistent, firm but loving behaviour has to be carried out for ALL sleeps – that is: day time nap, going to bed, and responding to him in the night.

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Ann Richardson

Qualified nurse and midwife Ann Richardson, co-author of Baby Sense, Sleep Sense and author of Toddler Sense, all bestsellers, has worked in the midwifery and paediatric fields for over 30 years. Ann has been in private practice for the past 22 years, and introduced the first private well-baby clinics, now a well-known phenomenon at Doctors’ rooms and pharmacies across the country.Passionate about her work and dedicated to ensuring that parents have the necessary knowledge to enjoy and rejoice in their children, she regularly lectures to both professionals and parents on various baby and childcare issues, in particular the effects of the sensory system on infant behaviour, and the management of sleeping disorders. Her specialisation is the treatment of “difficult babies and toddlers”, in particular those with feeding and sleeping disorders.She is a regular contributor to childcare publications, TV and radio. Ann is married with two daughters, and lives and practices in Johannesburg.

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