My son Brayden is going on 8 months old and has yet to sleep a full night. He wakes up 2 to 4 times a night wanting a bottle. He is on a regular schedule with solids and bottles. His schedule very rarely if ever fluctuates. This is my first child and I was just wondering if this is normal behavior?

What are you giving him in his bottle? Water I hope.

Formula

Time to get rid of the formula. This can cause what is called "bottle teeth" and can lead to damage to the teeth even before they erupt. Baby teeth as well as adult teeth.

Now, what is your normal bedtime routine?

Whole routine is as such: morning around 8:30 oatmeal w/ apples followed with a bottle around 10:30 or 11 which is usually accompanied with a brief nap. Then around 2 sweet potatoes with another kind of food mixed in being that he will only eat sweet potatoes, with bottle of apple juice or formula around 4 or 5. Then a light snack of apples or pears about 7 or 8 and a bedtime bottle. But he only sleeps for about 3 to 4 hours max before waking wanting a bottle. This happens over the course of the night twice or sometimes 4 times.

Hey jonathan, how long does he nap for? Sometimes making him wait a bit longer to take a small nap or changing his nap time to earlier for longer naps is helpful. Does he like to be rocked to sleep or has he always had the bottle to put him to sleep? If you can change this, it will mean easier nights for you and a closer bond between you too! It is up to you, not really up to him, so if you work on this and lose a bit more sleep, you may just see a change in him with in 7 or so days. Change is hard, for you and him so it may take a few days to get used to it. He is still little yet, but he should be able to sleep without that bottle in the middle of the night.
For my kids, we filled their tummys, gave a bath and read a book, then it was sleepy time, it seemed to work really well. With my first I also gave him a bottle in the middle of the night and had to make a few changes like I said before, he did great the third night, but the first and second were really hard. Good luck :)

I want to advise not putting juice in a bottle, he is old enough to put juice in a sippy cup (if you hold it for him) This is a very hard habit for him to break if it gets started. ;)

Hey startover, to answer your question, he wakes usually around 7 in the morning, with his normal routine to follow, so I won't get back into that, but then with his bottle he usually naps from 11 until around 1 sometimes 2 in the afternoon. Then we proceed with his schedule of feeding, then takes another nap from about 4:00 until about 5 (sometimes this part varies) then he is up until between 8 maybe 9. My problem is without going into too much detail is that I am 27 and he is my first child. I had an unfortunate accident and blew 5 confirmed discs maybe 6 (not sure on the last one) so I am a stay at home dad. People have told me to make him stay up all day, but I can't stand to see him cry. The tears absouletly break my heart. I feel so bad for him that I give in, but 7 months, almost 8 now without a full nights sleep is beginning to take a toll on me. As far as the rocking issue, we did that for a while but he got to where he refused to lay down so me and my finacee where having to hold him the whole time he slept, hence the fact we lay him down with a bottle now. Sorry for some info that didn't pertain to the question, just wanted to give a brief background so you kind of get an idea of what I am dealing with. Thanks for your input though. And if you have some more that would be great. Thanks guys and girls

All right Jonathan, how about only one nap a day then? I know it is hard, I would love to help but you have to do the work, I can't. I know you suffer, I am sorry for that.
If you lower his nap time, either two really short ones or a nice long one at 11, he will get into the groove as soon as you set the pace. I would never put him in a nap after three o'clock, I can't even fall asleep at night if I have a nap.:) Then when he wants a bottle in bed don't give it to him, talk to him, give him a soothing loving voice and pat his back for a bit(using a nice rythym), then walk out. Let him whine a bit, it is OK... you know he isn't hurt, so it is OK for a little bit. See if he falls asleep, if he doesn't then go back in pat his back a bit, tell him you love him. DO NOT MENTION that BOTTLE! This may take a week or so to get right, but I promise if you stick to it, it will work. Once you start this Jonathan, do not return to that night time bottle, nothing works without consistency. Also, he needs a bigger dinner, and a nice little bath or a book at night to get into the night time groove. Good luck Jonathan. ;)

Thanks for the input. I am going to start today with trying to get him on a good schedule. Once again thanks a lot.. I will keep you posted and let you know how it works out.

Great, you can do this Jonathan, I know it is a pain in the butt! You will love the results though! Go Jonathan Go! You are a good daddy:)