bottles before nap and bedtime

Kailey - posted on 02/20/2010

my daughter gets a bottle of milk a few times a day before naps and bed time... i don't plan on taking it away for a while. i also give her a bottle while she is in the nursery at church. she is still very young and getting acquainted with the world and it makes her comfortable so i don't see a problem with it. i don't feel like i need to rush her to grow up. it helps her relax just like her favorite blanket. there is nothing wrong with the security the bottle and blanket bring the first couple years of life! i say don't worry about it, wait until they are a little older and can understand a little better. my mom waited until i was about two and told me that santa was going to take them to other babies that needed them and i was cool with it.

Megan - posted on 02/20/2010

First of all, if your kid has teeth and is falling asleep with a bottle, she will end up with teeth rot because of the sugar in the milk. Normally during the day it takes your mouth about twenty minutes to completely rid itself of the sugar in the things we eat or drink, because our saliva glands are active. When you are sleeping you saliva glands are not nearly as active so that process takes longer. She is using a bottle to sooth herself to sleep, its a habit and the only way you can get rid of a habit is to replace it with another one. Come up with a new bedtime routine and transition to it, bath, jammies, brush teeth, drink of water from sippy, story, snuggles and them bed. Find something she really loves, a toy, book, blanket, a small pillow. If she has to have the bottle to transition, put water in it. Also, you can replace milk with cheese or yogurt for the calcium requirement if you are worried about her not getting enough milk to satisfy her calcium requirement.

Becky - posted on 02/17/2010

hiya im in the same boat my daughters 15months old if she doesnt have a bottle in bed she wont sleep at all i think its more a comfort thing im not too sure what the best thing too do.
ive tryed letting her cry and go too sleep by her self she just crys and stays awake for hours we were up for four hours one night.
all i can think to do is replace it with some kind of other comfort thing but what :S

Natalie - posted on 02/17/2010

My 15 month old still has her bottle of milk before naps and bedtime...sippy cup during the day with water/juice (just like yours)..I dont know because I havent had any issues but my girl stopped her bottle during the night on her own..I guess I'll just wean her off so shes not having the bottle by the time shes 2. Its up to you really.

Emilee - posted on 02/17/2010

We are still having (goats) milk before nap and bedtime but I put it in the "Born Free" sippy cups. They have almost a nipple as far softness but the shape of a sippy cup spout. It was a very good transition cup.

Cathy - posted on 02/10/2010

We started the transition to no bottles by putting milk in my daughter's sippy cup at meal times. She would get thirsty and drink it. She doesn't drink juice and she loves water. She used to only drink water from a sippy cup so it took a few weeks to get used to the milk in a sippy. Once she did we haven't turned back to a bottle. She gets a milk sippy in the morning with breakfast, milk with lunch at daycare, milk or water with snack, milk with dinner and then milk at story time before bed. She kind of weened herself off bottles just after her first birthday so we didn't fight it and went with the sippy cup.

Lindsey - posted on 02/10/2010

I was in the same boat with my son. The only thing is he would drink his milk out of a sippy at daycare, but at home with my husband or myself he wanted nothing to do with milk in a sippy. I was really wanting to transition him from the bottles, so I started with trying a little bit of chocolate milk in his sippy during the day while we were at home and he did pretty good with it. A few days later, when he was rather tired and ready for his nap, I just up and decided today is the day...no more bottles! So I warmed up the milk a bit put it in his sippy and off we went to go down for nap. He actually did really well with it, which was a complete relief for me. He kinda looked at me funny when I first handed him his sippy, as if he was saying, "mom, really what is this? I get a bottle before nap time." I have heard also that if you just start with the nap bottle weaning and keep the night bottle things may be easier at night when transitioning down for the evening. This was just my experience, but when I saw your post I completely related to it and thought perhaps this might help.

Natalie - posted on 02/09/2010

i have the same problem. my son goes to daycare and all they try to give him is his milk in a cup so he doesnt drink all day while he is there.

April - posted on 02/09/2010

My mother told me to just stop giving my son his bottles before bedtime and naptime. I'm having the same problem. I have had a few nights that he drank his sippy cup and half hour later went to bed. I guess if they get tired enough they will fall asleep without a bottle. I just give in though when my son is crying and wants his milk from a bottle. Maybe we just need to toughen up and say no more bottle. ???

Caitlin - posted on 02/09/2010

My daughter gets a sippy all day with water. I'd suggest maybe watering downt he juice in the cup until it's mostly water, she may prefer the taste of milk then, I find it's the sweetness of juice that they really like, which will make them fuss for anything but.



My daughter still gets 2 bottles, oone before her nap, and one before bed but she's still needs formula twice a day due to allergies, and she'll only tak it from a bottle. If that wasn't the case, I'd prbably start now to phase out the bottles and maybe reduce the amount of juice int he daily bottle. If it takes a few days where she doesn't get her full intake of milk, I wouldn't worry too much.