Sleeping FAQ: 24+ Months – Settling/Sleep Associations

My son is 2 years 6mths. He used to have numerous dummies in bed with him but now has only one. He drinks a bottle of cow’s milk at bedtime but now is waking several times a night and takes 3 or 4 more bottles as this is the only way he will settle back to sleep. How do I wean him off both? He no longer naps in the day.

My son is 2 years 6mths. He used to have numerous dummies in bed with him but now has only one. He drinks a bottle of cow’s milk at bedtime but now is waking several times a night and takes 3 or 4 more bottles as this is the only way he will settle back to sleep. How do I wean him off both the bottles and dummy? He no longer naps in the day.

My son goes to sleep by himself in his bedroom at 7-7.30pm.

Your son associates falling asleep with having both a bottle of milk and a dummy. It would be better to work on one of these issues at a time.

Your son is obviously very dependent on the milk he has at night so you will need to eliminate one bottle at a time. It is often recommended to do this by gradually diluting the feeds down. Discuss this method with your health visitor before proceeding.

Rather than diluting all the feeds he receives in the night at once it is better to dilute and eliminate them one by one. This is discussed in the CSG. Start with the first bottle given in the night. Dilute the amount your son normally takes by replacing 1oz of cows’ milk with 1oz of water. Each night dilute this feed by a further 1oz until you are down to 1oz of milk and the rest water. Once he has taken the very diluted feed for a couple of nights, try to settle him with water only. This may take some time but do not be tempted to offer him a milk feed again at this first waking. You may find your son takes more milk at his next waking but don’t worry that the method is not working. You are gradually eliminating the number of feeds he is having.

After a few nights of settling your son with water only at the first waking, begin to dilute the next feed in the same way. As your son is drinking a lot of milk at night this might be affecting his appetite during the day. You may notice that as he takes less milk at night he begins to eat more in the day. If this is the case you can begin diluting the next night feed by 50% and, within three or four nights, he should be down to water only at this waking. Continue to eliminate each of the feeds in this way until you are down to only one diluted feed. By now you should see that your son has a bigger appetite during the day. You could also try using a smaller teat size on his bottles at the same time as diluting the feeds.

Once you are sure that your son is no longer waking genuinely needing milk you can replace all the bottles he has been having with a beaker of water which you keep in his room at night. Then you can introduce another method of sleep training. The CSG has several methods which could help you but be sure to discuss any of these with your health visitor before attempting them.

As your son also associates having a dummy with falling asleep get rid of all the night feeds first before tackling this problem. Use a baby proof chain to fasten the dummy to his night clothes whilst you are dealing with the bottle issue. Once you have eliminated all night feeds and bottles then attempt to get rid of the dummy.

Some mothers decide to go “cold turkey” and explain to their child that he is too old to need a dummy any more. It may help if you replace the dummy with a new soft toy your son chooses for himself as a comfort object. Having a special “goodbye to the dummy” ceremony may help him take this step forward and learn how to settle himself alone.