At what age did yu stop giving bedtime milk (not necessarily in a bottle/breast?

[ComeOVeneer]

DS will be 2 next month and still has a bottle of milk before bed. He refuses it in any kind of cup. DD stopped virtually any "neat" milk (by that I mean if it wasn't in cooking, yoghurts etc) at about 18 months. Should he still have it and also when is it recommended to swap children onto semi skimmed milk products rather than full fat?

[hana]

i don't think children should be on semi skimmed milk until they are much older - dd1 is 5 and occasionally still has milk at bedtime ( full fat) dd2 is almost 2 and alwasy has milk after her bath in a beaker - she also has some first thing in the am
if they are on a health diet imo there isn't a need for children to have lower fat verisons of milk!

[ballbaby]

Think they recommend to keep to the full fat until they're at least 5. My ds (nearly 4) still has milk before bed - not in a bottle with a teat but in a covered cup or one of these .

[SnafuOutOfHiding]

Ds is 3.5 and still has a cup of full-fat milk before bed every night (and first thing in the morning, too). I can't see him stopping anytime soon - it's part of his bedtime routine.

I'm more than happy for him to continue having full-fat for a few years yet.

[hoxtonchick]

my ds is almost 5 & has a beaker of milk first thing in the morning & last thing at night. he'd be devestated if we stopped him having it. it's full fat too.

[earlysbird]

DTs (nearly 3) still have milk at bedtime and first thing in the morning, but s/s not full fat since they were 1

[Posey]

Dd routinely had it til she was 7 or so. Still has it sometimes, but not always (she's 9)

[hermykne]

around potty training time. gets them out of nappies day & night completely quite quickly.

[MarsLady]

My DTs 2.9yrs still get full fat milk at bedtime. In fact all of my children drink full fat milk.

[plibble]

No idea about when (or if) to stop bedtime milk, although my gut says that if your child drinks milk that's great as they only have so long to build up their calcium levels. Also, there's absolutely nothing wrong with giving full fat milk to a child. It is only 3.9% fat which is good for a normal, active child as they need the energy.

[madmarchhare]

DS, 3, full fat goats milk @ bedtime, morning, and if he asks for it any other time but not just before a meal.

[hermykne]

btw the most important time for kids to have full fat at milk is between 10 -13 when puberty begins and the bones really lay down the calcuim for later years. heard that on radio 4 . from the age of one it is not really that important.as yogurts and cheese contribute to the necessary calcium requirement too.

[ComeOVeneer]

OK I feel better now. But the dentist in me needs to get rid of the darn bottle. Need to steel myself up for a few (hopefully not too many) tough evenings.

[poppiesinaline]

I always get DH to do that task

Full fat has more calcium content than semi skimmed too. Or is it the other way round? Cant remember actually!! Someone enlighten me to that piece of information please.

[corrina28]

i think it depends on the child. ds1 who is nearly 8 still likes a drop of milk at bed time, think its a ritual that he has just got used to, but other then having it on his cereal its the only time that he drinks it, he drinks water the rest of the time, and ds2 tells you when its bed time "bottle malk" and gets the milk from the fridge.

[ComeOVeneer]

LOL your ds2 corrina sounds totally like mine.

[Bozza]

Right well in the NHS book it says full fat until 2 and semi until 5. These are "at leasts" so you can carry on longer. I give my 5 and 2 yos semi. But they drink very little milk. I think bedtime milk is up to the child to give up. But I put both mine onto lidded cups at 12 months. I think DD gave up her bedtime milk at 18 months. She still sometimes has morning milk at weekends ( a ploy to delay breakfast) but we have banished lidded beakers, so she tends to have it from a cup and a straw. They were both more into morning milk than bedtime milk.

[Whooooosh]

I went from evening bottle to cup ta 13mts and then stopped cup at 15mts.I make sure dd has allthe mlk she needs and all fluids prior to bedtime as when it comes to potty training I am not sure filling her up with liquid before bed will be a good thing....

[earlysbird]

I do think diet has a lot to do with it, my 2 are both good eaters and don't need the extra fat they would get from f/f milk so I'm happy with s/s, for the amount they actually drink most of the time its hardly worth worrying about. I think the only nutritional difference is in the fat content, not the calcium, but may be mistaken there...

[Amelily]

Dd2, at 14 mths, still has a bottle at night and in the morning (hope no dentists are reading this) as I know that she will give it up completely, just like Dd1 did, if I put it in any kind of beaker. Oh, and it's still formula. I console myself with the fact that she only has the bottle whilst we are holding her... never put her in the cot with it etc. During the day she only drinks water, from a cup. She was breastfed until 11mths.

[Bozza]

Hmm amelily I think you will find the op is a dentist. But she has confessed that her nearly 2yo DS is still having a bedtime bottle.

Actually I think the reason mine never got that attached to the bedtime bottle was because I always insisted on cleaning their teeth afterwards from when they first got teeth at 5 months. So they were more comforted/settled by the story - still are.

[Amelily]

Sorry, didn't read thread from the start. 'Fraid I'm a bit bad at the 'teeth cleaning' after bottle too.. dd2 finds falling asleep a trial so don't end up doing that

[madmarchhare]

COV - get rid all at once and then you cant go back.

DS grumbled about it at first, and consumption went down, but when he realised that it was in a cup or nothing he soon got into the swing of it.

[Uwilalalalalala]

I wtill do bedtime milk for the 18 month old and the 3 1/2 year old. Both are givien at the kitchen table (where they normally eat meals). It's part of our evening routine. For the 3 1/2 year old it comes in cup, and for the 18 month old it comes in a trainer cup. They quench their thirst and off to bed...

As for full fat to semi skimmed. Well, I like skimed, DH likes semi, and I can be arsed to organise a supply of three kinds of milk in the fridge so they have always had semi skimmed.

[Flossam]

DS stopped really drinking any of his milk by the time he was around 1. My MIL thought I was cruel cutting it out, but he barely touched it so it made sense to cut it out. Also (you'll be able to confirm this!) thought it might be better for his teeth as he would have it last thing...