Bottle at Bedtime

Krys - posted on 11/14/2010

I feel for you. I just did this last week with my 15 month old son. The best advice that I can give you is just stick to your guns and don't give in! Try to get as much liquid and nutrition into her during the day. Do your best to ensure her tummy is full of milk (from a sippy) and solids before bedtime. Try giving the sippy of milk just before p.j time so its not associated with bed. After that allow her to have her favorite (healthy) snack once her p.j's are on. Follow this up with teeth brushing and bedtime story or 2 and hope for the best! If she still cries, praise her and tell her how much you love her. At least this way if she does cry you can assure yourself that shes not crying because shes hungry and it may help give you the courage to continue. Good luck!

Kristina - posted on 11/11/2010

I give my daughter a sippy cup of milk while we are reading a book and sitting in the rocker chair in her room. Then I tell her good night, take the cup, place her in her crib and the cup comes with me.

Gloria - posted on 11/02/2010

please stop now! what you will do is this whenever she cries at night try to get up and pat her on your shoulder is not easy to wake up but try, then learn to give water too at night, the child may be tasty. i hope it helps! cos i applied it to my girl she was like yours

Amber - posted on 10/31/2010

I am so glad someone else said that! I think a lot of people don't realize the importance of keeping mouths clean...even a baby without teeth!

Shonna - posted on 10/29/2010

My daughter started getting her teeth very fast,she already has 12 teeth all the way in and more that want to come in soon,so I tried to get her off a bottle when she was about 9 months. I had a very hard time with her,it did get much easier after a few days I just had to stick to it. Right before bed I gave her a sippy cup or bottle of milk(which ever I could get her to drink out of at the time) to help fill up her belly,then I gave her a sippy cup of water to go to bed with and it really helped

Jodi - posted on 10/28/2010

I am in the same boat! I have made my 14 month old addicted to the bottle. It's my fault i admit. If I'm doing homework I make a bottle and put him in his Boppy in front of the TV. If he cries at night I give him one and so on. I do this because I'm selfish and don't want to hear the fussing and crying or him try to come a sit on my lap while doing homework. I know I am going to have to ween him off of it soon. I don't like when parents tell me their child was off the bottle at 1. It's almost like they are saying I'm a bad parent because my 14 month old is still on the bottle. To me they are too young to get off the bottle at that age. They still need that comfort if you ask me. I have been telling myself that when he turns 15 months I'm going to stop giving him so many bottles. I do give him a sippy cup, but he has a sippy cup lying around and a bottle, so he chooses which one he wants. i should only give him the sippy cup, but just can't take the fussing right now. I love my son more than anything, but sometimes it's too much for me to handle and i just want him to be happy.

Jen - posted on 10/27/2010

My son takes a bottle of water to bed with him every night. Some nights he drinks it and some he leaves it. A sippy is just a glorified bottle anyway so I would let her have it at night. They are only this little once.

Valeria - posted on 10/27/2010

Definitely try to put water in the bottle. With milk, you have the increased risk of Baby Bottle Decay...YES EVEN BEFORE AGE 2!!!!

I am not speaking only as a mother, but as a dental hygienist.

Maya drinks water from her bottle at night.

Amanda - posted on 10/27/2010

try a pacifier, i breastfed both my kids and so they usually fell asleep on the boob. Neither of them would take a pacifier till they were off the boob. I continued our bedtime routine as normal, but gave them the pacifier at the end. You might also try getting them drowsy before you lay them down, so they are only on their own to dose off, not wind down like they used the bottle for.

Itsa - posted on 10/27/2010

Hi Dawn,

Maybe just try giving her some smooth cereal with yogurt or fruit like 30 mins before you plan to put her down, then just before bed give her the bottle, she might not want all of it, then brush her teeth and leave a sippy with water in her crib.

We still rock our son to sleep (it's extra snuggle time and we all know how they're "too busy" for snuggles now!!!) and he sleeps with daddy (dad works all day and that's their bonding time) so we never had the bottle-in-the-crib issue.

I really hope you find a solution that is beneficial to you all, and best of luck!

Jessica - posted on 10/26/2010

My 14 month old still gets a bottle before bed (of course it is a sippy cup (depening on which bottles are clean). I look at the fact that it is a sippy cup & that I brush her teeth before putting her into crib each night as steps in the right direction. I also know that she can fall asleep in other ways as well (she will go down if I change our routine up) however, she sleeps best after the bottle & we often eat pretty late due to our schedules so I think feeding her a bottle with dinner might be a bit much. My plan is to start weaning her from this habit around 18 months (by giving a drink of milk right before bath), reading in dim lights & putting to bed with the hopes that by age 2 she wont need this anymore to sleep soundly.

Sara - posted on 10/26/2010

When I was ready to take Brooklyn off the bottle completely, which she drinks milk at night too. I just made it a habit to use hard tipped sippie cups during the day and a soft bottle type sippie cup at night. It takes a couple times, but she got used to it, and now she will drink her millk out of anything before bed.

Amanda - posted on 10/26/2010

I just got my 14 month old off the bottle. I always gave her the bottle about an hour before bedtime so that she did not fall asleep with it, and then I would brush her teeth and then rock her to sleep after that. Same thing with nap time. Eventually she got where I could just give her the cup to help soothe her, and I was able to throw away the bottles. Good luck!

Sarah - posted on 10/25/2010

Iv never given my girl a bottle to fall asleep with purely so i didnt have to go through what ur going through so i do feel for u, however my girlie has a dummy for naps and bedtime so im gna have to go through a similar experience eventually! My advice would be to continue giving her a bottle but give it to her downstairs having some quiet time or a story before bed then ask her to leave the bottle on the side or put it in the sink, this way shes still getting her milk before bed and a comfort of her bottle and she knows where the bottle is. Im not looking forward to taking my babies dummy off her at night time but its gta be done sooner or later, good luck, if ur set on taking it off her completely then just stick to ur guns and give her something else to use as a comforter or maybe a dummy? at least that wont ruin her teeth (unless its overused obviously)
Im sure she'l get used to it soon xx xx

Chantal - posted on 10/24/2010

I dont have the bottle problem my sons been on a sippy cup since 5 months but i do have the problem where he wont go to sleep without his cuppy id tried taking it away but it dont work the dentist just said to try and dilute his milk with water so that its not alot of sugar at bedtime. If you want to get her switched to a sippy try getting a sippy with a soft nipple and dipping it in something sweet like apple juice for about 2 mins then put diluted juice in the cup with the lid on and it should work my son was addicted and then we would put everything else in it like milk and formula so now all he wants is his cup it doesnt matter whats in it now lol

Michelle Sanchez - posted on 10/24/2010

i am kinda in the same boat, however i am trying not to give a bottle at night except with water...sometimes it works sometimes it doesnt but i dont stress over it she doesnt take a pacifier nor does she like a night light and i dont have a hard time putting her to bed so the bottle is just a time thing to me.

Tracy - posted on 10/23/2010

Simply make it so they don't want the bottle. Make sure they are full so they aren't hungry at bedtime. Put water in the bottle for a couple of nights and you should be good to go, It worked like a charm for both of mine, my second one cried a little the first night I did but it was like 10 miinutes tops and it was the intermitten I am not happy cry versus the my life has ended cry. Plain the simple the bottle is like a pacifier and it is habit and comforiting to them not because they are hungry and this way they still have their bottle but with a different taste then they decide I don't really like that tsste so I guess I don't want that bottle anymore. Kaitlyn just turned 2 on the 12th and she had no more bottles at a year Kylie is 14 months and she didn't get anymore bottles at 13 months she was delayed a month but that was because she wasn't drinking well enough out of a sippy cup. Hope this works for you as well as it did for me.

Sally - posted on 10/23/2010

hi
i have got the exact same problem, but i am in a panic to get my daughter off the bottle as my 3 yr old stayed on bottle just at night till just ova 2 and she is now avin probs with her back teeth and got to av them out,
dentist sed it can be a couple of things such as lack of calcium, brittle bones or bottle too long, she is having tests dun at the mo,
but with bottle been 1 of the causes im worried bout gettin my 14m old off hers b4 shes 18m at the most.

but its gonna be really hard as like u sed she uses the bottle as a comforter to fall asleep,
but if u find anything that works plz let me no and il do the same fa u, but plz try ya best to get her off it in next couple of months as its not nice avin to tell ur child her teeth r bad and got to cum out!!

sal x

Ulku - posted on 10/17/2010

Dear Dawn, I have exactly the same problem. because she is having her molars now, she is not eating well so i dont wanna force her stopping bottle at night but when she is well I am planning to find a better way to make her sleep. if you find a solution, please give me a update too!

Rachael - posted on 10/17/2010

as long as you get her off the bottle by 2 it won't effect her teeth. what you can do is give her the bottle about half an hour before her bedtime and then brush her teeth and read her a story or whatever her usually routine is and then put her down.

Blackwood - posted on 10/16/2010

Sorry, I can't help you, but I can relate. My son is 14 months and seem to be going through a growth spurt, last nite alone he drank 3 4 oz bottles while in his crib. I'm not putting to much pressure on myself or my son, at this point. We will have to wait too see what happens.