19 month old-typical bedtime routine please

[GlummyMummy]

Our little one is 19 months and has been happily sleeping through the night 12-13 hours for a month now.

Her normal routine is: stories upstairs at 6:30, bath at 6:45, followed by her bottle of milk (cow's) on our knee in the dark, then into cot at around 7:15
We currently brush her teeth in the bath, i.e., before her milk. This has been her routine for some time and although it's working well, we are wondering about altering it because we worry about the milk sitting on her teeth all night and also friends/family have told us that a normal toddler bedtime routine should end in stories before lights out and sleep. Our health visitor also told us months ago to throw the bottle out but we haven't done this because she generally drinks very little throughout the day and worry about getting rid of 8 oz milk if she decided to refuse it from a cup.

We are in a bit of a quandary: my partner thinks if it ain't broke, don't fix it, but I worry we are trying to just keep her as a baby. Also, prior to a month ago, she wasn't a great sleeper so we have tended to cling to the same routine so as not to rock the boat! We are concerned about her teeth but some theories say to brush teeth before milk and some after-confusing!!

Any experience or advice would be welcome.

[Lilipot15]

I don't think there's a rule about when you do stories, sounds like you have a nice routine which works!
But on the teeth front I do think you should clean them after the bottle.
My nearly two year old has a bottle in the morning (!) but refuses milk from a cup. As we have a baby who has a bottle I thought it seemed like a battle not worth fighting nor fair to remove the bottle.
If I was you I'd do the bottle just after bath, then teeth then story.

[Iguessyourestuckwithme]

Teeth after milk.

From 18 months we did bath and teeth, then 1 story and light out. We don't do milk anymore.

[MissLanaBanana]

We do bath earlier on after tea,about 5.30, then milk and stories at 6.30 , teeth and into bed at 7. I would do teeth after bottle, but agree with your do that a bottle at this age once a day is no big deal. My dd dropped hers herself coming up to 3 but up until then wouldn't sleep without having it. ds likes his but isn't fussed if we skip it.

[GlummyMummy]

Happy new year and thanks all for your messages.

Interested to know how much milk your little ones have over the day? We've never tried ditching that bedtime bottle to be honest, so not sure how she would react, but she's certainly not keen on milk from a cup. We got rid of her morning bottle a while ago and tried to switch to a cup instead with breakfast, but she refused it so now just has milk in cereal with brekkie, not as a drink and then her bottle of 8oz at night.

[Jesabel]

Neither of mine were really drinking milk by that age. Sometimes they'll have a cup of milk during the day but not in any routine.

We generally do tea about 5.30/6, bath, teeth, story, bed at 7pm.

[Ridingthegravytrain]

If you're worried about how little she is drinking but not bothered if it's milk then you could try what we did. We watered the milk down little by little over the course of a couple of weeks. By the end of it she was drinking a full bottle of warm water before bed (at a similar age to yours)

If you want it to still be milk then definitely clean teeth after bottle they are pretty adaptable

[AuntieMaggie]

Reading with interest as we still have to cuddle ds to sleep

He has dinner about 5.30 then bath and then we cuddle him downstairs and he's normally in bed by 7... however the bath and being downstairs is now making him more awake so he's not settling until later. I think we're going to have to start putting him in his cot and not take him downstairs but when we've done that in the past he just screams and I mean full blown screaming

He's difficult at nap time too... Though only for me

[PurpleTreeFrog]

My 19 month old's bedtime routine is:

In the hour before bedtime he is offered milk in a sippy cup which he usually just has between 50-100mls of.

Around 7.30-7.45 we go upstairs. Then it's:

1. nappy change
   
2. pyjamas on
   
3. calpol if he's poorly or teething
   
4. brush teeth
   
5. get into sleeping bag
   
6. offered water to drink, usually just has a few sips
   
7. bedtime story by daddy
   
8. another bedtime story by mummy
   
9. lights out, mummy sings 2 nursery rhymes in the dark
   
10. tucked into cot with dummy and cuddly bunny, mummy makes quick exit.
    
    We've never done daily baths as it's not great for his skin and he doesn't get that dirty.

[PurpleTreeFrog]

Also, dont forget, milk can come in the form of cheese, yogurts, etc during the day, they don't need to be guzzling pints of the stuff.

[Iguessyourestuckwithme]

She has milk in her breakfast and then a beaker of milk to drink. She may have philadelphia on a rice cake at snack time. She has a pot of full fat Greek yoghurt at lunch (plus at dinner) sometimes she asks for a drink of milk when thirsty.

She may have cheese sauce with a meal, cheese on toast, yoghurt blitzed with fruit, a home made smoothie with banana and almond milk.

[georgetteheyersbonnet]

DD was bf until 2 but after that her routine has always been: upstairs to bath about 7:15: a wee on the potty (now loo), bath, pyjamas, brush teeth, blow dry hair (if needed), drink of water from an open cup, story, then lights off and I sing a lullaby, usually sleep by 8. She has cows' milk during the day but not at night and definitely not after teeth (advised by dentist not to). Could you do bath, milk, then story, teeth, water and sleep maybe?

[GlummyMummy]

thanks everyone!! Think we are definitely going to do the teeth after the milk, that much is clear. I had read that you were meant to leave it 30 minutes minimum after eating/drinking before brushing but that really isn't feasible at bedtime.

We tried doing the stories after the bath last night for the first time but it was a bit odd as we usually dry her/dress her after bath low light so I was really struggling to see to read! Might have to put lights back on but that might hype her up again after her bath, not sure! We gave her the milk in the bath but that didn't seem right either as the poor thing couldn't really play with her toys in the bath for having to drink the 8oz milk! Thinking maybe the milk should be before bath as many of you are doing but then I worry she will be hungry overnight as used to that 8oz feed at 7.15pm

All very confusing and suppose just a case of trial and error, but just worry as her routine had been working so well and we're only really changing it because of her teeth brushing.

[Iguessyourestuckwithme]

She doesn't need 8oz of milk at bedtime. Make sure she has a big dinner (carby) and then ditch completely.

[Artandco]

It's much early than mine at that age. But mine napped so would have bedtime around 9.30pm.

Nap 2-4/5pm
Dinner 7.30pm
8-9pm quiet games/ playing
9pm milk in living room
In bedroom, story with dimmed lights, goodnight by 9.30pm
Wake 8-9am

We always gave milk in living room so unrelated to bed routine. Could you start that but with bottle still another month? So do milk in living room, then teeth and story. Once that's fixed as new routine to can start stopping bottle and giving in a cup downstairs.

[Cric]

We give our DD a small cup of milk about 30 mins - an hour before bed time. When we changed her to a cup the first two nights she didn't have much the third night she drank the whole cup. She drinks most nights but not always.

[Artandco]

Give milk before bath. Then teeth and story. That way you will have a gap between milk and cleaning teeth as they will be in bath for a while

[Plateofcrumbs]

Hmm interesting I hadn't heard about leaving a gap between milk and teeth. Sometimes we have milk before bath, sometimes after (depends if DS sees his cup whilst we're getting ready for bath as he goes crazy until he gets it).

Our routine is bath (with milk before or after), teeth, book. Lights out and music box on, quick cuddle and into cot. He's like Pavlov's dog with his music box, he starts rubbing his eyes the second he hears the tune.

[Cric]

I am no expert but from a chat I had with a dentist I get the impression you either brush your teeth and then have milk as the paste will stop some of the sugar attaching to your teeth or wait after milk and then clean. If you do it straight after it just brushes the sugar around more teeth. However this was a few years ago I had this chat! I am sure there will be a dentist on here who can tell us!

[Plateofcrumbs]

It makes sense, I think I will switch to always milk before bath to give a gap. Also means I don't need to attempt to hide the milk whilst he is having his bath! Milk just before bed is a hangover from the early breastfeeding days.

[GlummyMummy]

thanks everyone. Tonight we have given the milk before the bath, then teeth and stories, then bed and all seems fine. Would be interested if any dentists out there have theories on when is best to brush!!

I suppose the ultimate goal is to lose the milk entirely but she always seems grateful for it and guzzles it back. When we've given it in a cup she's only taken 1 oz but happy to down 8oz in bottle. Do you think that means it's a comfort thing rather than genuine thirst/hunger?

[Cric]

What would happen if you put water in the bottle? That will at least tell you how thirsty she is??

[GlummyMummy]

will give that a try, we did once try giving her water out of her bottle in an effort to get her to drink more but don't think she was keen! Worth a try though!

[GlummyMummy]

Not really related, but anyone having problems with naps at this stage? DD has started crying for up to an hour when put down for her nap, not every day, but was bad today, I had to eventually pick her up and cuddle her to get her to settle. If they cry at the nap, should I just be giving up and getting her up?