Advice please - milk/food/sleep dilemma in toddler

[HollieES]

My 20 month old son has always been a great sleeper. He has always gone to bed at 7.30 and has woken up at 7am at the earliest. For the last month or so though, he's been waking up at 5am wanting milk - he'll have a bottle and then go back to sleep (most of the time!) until around 7am.

He still has milk in the morning and before bed (260ml each) and often asks for it during the day (where I try and encourage him to eat food instead). Basically he loves milk and I know he finds having a bottle very comforting (he won't drink it out of a beaker or cup).

Food wise he is not a fussy eater, but doesn't eat loads. Typically he'll have porridge/weetabix/cheerios for breakfast at 8.30am, he sleeps from 11am-1pm, has lunch around 1.30pm, normally a sandwich or scrambled eggs/beans on toast (this is the meal he's least interested in because he'd rather be playing). He'll then have tea at 5.30pm - something warm like spaghetti/fish fingers & vegetables or normally whatever I've cooked for us the night before. He'll make a better effort with this meal but still isn't that interested.

Sorry to ramble on with the details, but I'd just like some insight as to where I'm going wrong really...

Is he having too much milk and not actually filling up properly (hence he's hungry at 5am)?

Should I be trying to cut a bottle? If so, how do I do this when he enjoys it so much?

Should I be offering him food all day in the hope that he'll eat more?

Or do you think it's not food related and he just needs less sleep in the day?

I think it's worth mentioning that he's a very healthy, active toddler. We're at the park at least twice a day and he does loads of walking & running around so I don't think it's a question of him not burning off his energy.

Any advice much appreciated.

Thank you!

Hollie x

[Mrs Bigsy]

Hi Hollie

I've got a boy about 6 months older. All I'd say from your description is could it be more to do with his daytime sleep than his food - which sounds great. Mine started cutting back length of daytime nap before 2, if daytime sleep is too long or goes on too late (after 2:30) then getting to sleep in evening is hard and he wakes up earlier in morning

[hellosailor]

I agree, my instinct would be that it maybe isn't a hunger issue, it's perhaps that he's started waking early for another reason and wants a bottle because he loves milk and he's used to having a bottle as soon as he wakes up, rather than he's waking cos he's hungry?

My reason for thinking that is that I know every baby and toddler is different and some must need more food than others, but the amount you're describing him eating food and drinking milk sounds like it's a v good amount, even if he's not eating everything on his plate, he's eating regularly etc.

My 18 month old never ate very well, until more recently, so there have been many many days when barely a morsel has passed her lips, i.e pretty much no solid food at all and 270ml milk in total, and I've been convinced she would wake howling with hunger, but she never has, so it strikes me that they need less than we think!

Also, I know several toddlers who have gone from always sleeping till 7:00 to waking up at 5:00 in the last few weeks, so I think it must be to do with summer in some way and, er, biorhythms, or something. Our daughter is definitely waking earlier than usual, and her room is very effectively blacked out, so I don't think it can be the light, more a sort of change of body clock.

Having said that, my friend's baby has been waking at 5am for some weeks and she has been able to shift this a fair bit later in the last few days by cutting his daytime sleep down a bit and making the nap earlier so there's more hours between waking up and bedtime, so I wonder if you could try to give him 1.5 hours instead of 2.

You're already giving him a nap which ends early in the day so it can't be that he's napping too near to bedtime I guess.

Sure it will just be a phase and he'll be back to 7am before long!

in answer to the milk question, because my daughter never ate well, I was reluctant to reduce her milk for ages as I thought that it must be the only thing sustaining her! But I reduced it about 6 months ago and there was a radical increase in how much she eats!

i.e I used to give her 210ml first thing and then the knock on effect was she wasn't hungry for breakfast, or even really for lunch. I started giving her 120ml instead and hey presto, she was eager for breakfast etc. She has that in the morning and between 170/210ml before bed and eats so much better now that it may be worth reducing milk to increase food intake..

[HollieES]

Thanks both, I really appreciate your thoughts on it. I think I'll start by reducing the milk...I'm a little less reluctant to give that up rather than precious daytime sleep! ;)