Is it normal for an almost 2 year old to still have a bottle of milk just before bed?

[BettyBi0]

I'm a bit stuck with our bed time routine. We do dinner, bath, milk, brush teeth, stories, bed. Seems to be working pretty well but DD looks weird holding a baby bottle now at almost 2. Any other cups are just too messy and high risk for her to be having upstairs with the carpet etc but I don't want to bring her downstairs where all the distractions are just for her her have her milk.

She has about 7-8oz cows milk as I'm helping her into pjs after bath. Very heavy full nappies every morning and I guess we might be moving on to potty training fairly soon so maybe I should be reducing the amount she drinks late in the eve.

What do other people do? Do you just drop the evening milk somehow?

[Doublebubblebubble]

Could she not have her milk before she goes to bed, in a Sippy cup, with you downstairs??

[Doublebubblebubble]

My DD had milk before bed until she was about 4.

[WorldsBiggestGrotbag]

Like Double says. We stopped DD's bottle of milk before bed at about 16 months. Just gave her milk in her normal cup downstairs before going up to do bath/bed. She adjusted to it surprisingly well. We just decided to stop and she hasn't had a bottle since.

[Speederman]

We also do sippy cup downstairs before the bed routine.

But our routine is quite different - bath is before dinner (as it hypes both boys up). Then after dinner they play, then I grab the little one for his sippy cup of milk and usually manage to get him to sit down for it before teeth, book and bed.

Mine don't calm down much before bedtime but still conk out within 15 minutes of getting into bed as long as the timing is right. If it goes on too late they get another hyperactive period and it takes ages to get them to sleep! But that's not your question

[lornathewizzard]

We swapped DDs bottles at 12mo, just switched her to a no leak cup. One in the morning and one at night. I was concerned about it not being free flow but checked with the dentist and she said it was fine, as long as it's only milk or water.

[lornathewizzard]

When I say one at night, I mean before toothbrushing and bed

[BettyBi0]

Hmm I'll try the milk in a sippy cup downstairs before bath tonight and see how it goes. I'm just worried about the transition bit after the bath when she is all hyper. The bottle of milk is such a great wind down/ distractor when she is hyper from the bath and I'm trying to get her into pjs.

[Thurlow]

We tried milk in every single kind of cup imaginable but DD never took to it, and only wanted milk in a bottle (though she'd drink water from anything). It helped her wind down and sleep so in the end we didn't fight it - it was drunk very quickly and we brushed her teeth afterwards, so we decided it wasn't the world's biggest problem.

We managed to drop bottles when she was nearly 3.5 because she was old enough to understand the bribe of getting a present if she changed to cups and straws. A few months later she gave up milk altogether, which is a shame as she doesn't like cheese so doesn't get a huge amount of calcium.

With hindsight, I'd have tried to force it a bit more when she was very young, but in my (admittedly limited!) experience if that's what she likes, and she won't take milk from a cup but she needs the milk to wind down and feel ready for bed, it's not the end of the world, especially if that's the only bottle she has.

[BornToFolk]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

DS had a bottle of milk before bed until he was 2 and a half. Like your DD, it helped to calm him down. Also, he wouldn't drink milk out of anything but a bottle so it was a good way of getting 9oz of milk into him every day. He'd was fine using a cup for water, btw, just not for milk at that age.

We dropped it when he started to mess around with the bottle and it was delaying bedtime and causing problems rather than calming him down. He was old enough at that age to get the concept of the Bottle Fairy and was happy to exchange his bottle for a new Toy Story cup with a straw which he used for a bit before dropping altogether, well before potty training around his 3rd birthday.

Now he's 8, he usually enjoys a cup of herbal tea before bed.

[NickyEds]

My 2 year old has a bottle of milk before bed too. I'm not worried. It's part of his bedtime routine, he loves it so why drop it??

[LBOCS2]

My DD still has a bottle of milk before bed and she's just turned 3...!

[confusedandemployed]

DD was over 2 before we switched from a bottle in bed (before teeth) to milk downstairs before bath. We just waited until she could understand that we'd be doing something different. When we did do it she didn't bat an eyelid.

[MumOfTheMoment]

Ds had a bottle at bedtime until he was 4 when we swapped it for a story instead. The bottle made him so sleepy that there was no way I was getting rid of it any sooner. By 4 he was approaching school, and dd was younger than him and had stopped hers - see next point.

Dd was 2, had a tummy bug so didn't have her bottle for a couple of nights and then never asked for it again.

Neither of them have had milk as a drink since. Seems they liked the bottle not the liquid!

[mamaneedsamojito]

Mine does and he's almost 22mo. We do bath, bottle and books, teeth brush, bed. He doesn't drink a huge amount of water during the day so I like to know he's hydrated before bed. He loves his milk and I have no intention of taking it away from him until he's good and ready. He drinks from a cup the rest of the time.

[ODog]

My 18mo has a bottle when he gets up and when he goes to bed. I don't have an issue with it and won't change it until he can understand that it's going. I don't actually think he will care, he doesn't get comfort from it nor does it make him very sleepy. I just like getting a bit of milky goodness in him and he's a funny thing and won't drink milk from any other cup.

[AbeSaidYes]

My son has boobs before bed, he's 5.

Normal is a funny concept.

[BikeRunSki]

Both mine gave up their bedtime milk naturally around 3-3.5, but had it in an "anyway up" sippy cup from 1 onwards.

[CalliopeTorres]

DS still has milk in a bottle and is 6 in March. It's utterly ridiculous really but you know, it's not doing him any harm and he likes it. I'm very much of the picking my battles school of motherhood and this battle just ain't worth the hassle. He'll happily do without at sleepovers with family and it isn't a big deal if I've ran out of milk or whatever but it's till signals 'bedtime' for him. I do draw the line at buying him new bottles though so he knows once the teats are knackered then that's it.

[DetonationStation]

Miss 2.5 still has milk before bed/day nap. We took away the bottle at 2 (she bit through the last teat, so there were no more) tbh it caused ructions and took her hours to settle with one of us in the room whereas she would settle on her own beforehand. I'm assuming that it was the bottle removal (although I am aware there is also a sleep regression around 2yo too). Had a sippy mug for a bit but now just drinks out of a standard cup. Tea, milk, bath, teeth, story, lights out, cuddle, is what's currently working for us
(DD is still singing away in her cot 1.5 hours after my leaving the room)

I would say if it aint broke, too (we probably should have just bought more teats in hindsight, but I was trying to be consistent with what I was telling her :-/

[00100001]

why is she hyper after a bath??

[WorldsBiggestGrotbag]

Baths are over stimulating for some children rather than relaxing.

[00100001]

How though?? ]

Whatever is over stimulating them surely you can remove that?

[ODog]

Water stimulates my DS. You can't take that away. He loves the stuff.

[00100001]

Water on it's own?