To allow my baby to have a bedtime bottle a little longer than 12 months?

[MrsMaker83]

My baby is almost a year old (next week!) and she has been formula fed from birth.

She absolutely will not accept a cup, apart from very occasional sips of water. She gets quite distressed if milk is offered in a cup.

While we are still working on this, a bedtime bottle won't do any harm will it? I intend to offer only cups in the daytime from a year old, as food will become main nutrition, therefore she can take or leave the milk, but i think a bedtime bottle is a great comfort to her and don't want to distress her when she is tired. She is brilliant sleeper too and i worry that suddenly taking the bottle away will unsettle her.

My partner thinks we should cut all bottle use out at 1 year, and have her go cold turkey. I think there is no harm in taking a little longer (maybe a month or so?) to keep trying to crack it after all 1 year is advice and guidance, not law!

So what do you guys think? And any tips or advice for a stubborn little cup refuser?!

DD went straight onto a cup at 6 months but my three boys all had bottles until somewhere between 10 and 14 months. They just stopped drinking them.

I would let her have it if she loves it, why take it away from her? Dd3 had her bottle until 4, just one at bedtime.

DS nearly 2 has a bedtime bottle. My HV said it was perfectly fine to let him have it as long as it was the only one.

Mine carried on having a night time bottle long after they had switched to sippy cups during the day, and they have all turned out just fine - they are 17, 19 and 21, all fine, strapping lads with healthy teeth.

My 2 year old still breastfeeds a few times a day and I had a bedtime bottle until I was 7, if they like it then why take it away?

If bottles are washed thoroughly you don't actually ever need to use a steriliser.

It doesn't matter if it's formula, breast milk or cows milk though when it comes to sterilising, the bacteria multiply hugely.

It also doesn't matter what else they are and aren't doing. The bacteria from milk is nasty & multiplies quickly.

My 16 month old still has a bottle at bedtime. The rest of the time he has a juice bottle so I don't think one bottle before bed is going to harm him.

Finally managed to drop DD's (3.5) bedtime bottle by replacing it with this...

DD us 17mo and still has morning and bedtime bottles. We try and time it so she has it about half an hour before bed, then pjs, then teeth, then story/cuddle, then bed but it often doesn't quite work out that way...

My dd is almost 2 and she loves her bedtime bottle. She also likes her dummy which I introduced to try to ease her off bedtime bf.
And sometimes she still insists on a bf

Tbh, i think its all fine. I mean, if your baby was bf they would till have a bf without any problem and a bottle is just an alternative.

DD is 14 months and absolutely point blank refuses to drink milk out of a cup, even though she will happily drink water out of one. Therefore if I dropped the bedtime bottle she kiwi wouldn't drink any milk. I think her having a bottle at night is the lesser of two evils. She also still has a bottle first thing in the morning. I offer her milk in a cup after her afternoon nap but she throws it on the floor in disgust so I usually swap it for water. Have actually been thinking today that I'll stop offering it as there's just no point.

Both of my two were breastfed and so didn't have bottles. My ds was a dream with bf and I also got him using a cup (tommee tippee) for a drink of water from 4 months plus and then for milk too once I cut down his breast feeds and eventually weaned him off me. Then over time he moved through the different stages of cups.
Dd on the other hand had to be persuaded with the breast and did eventually get along with it but my goodness after bf trying to get this child to use a cup has been hard, in the end I looked for something that was like a bottle but classed as a cup and found a Nuby one, will try post a pic and she took to it fabulously. She is 14 months now and only over the past two weeks she has just suddenly started using a tommee tippee for water/milk all by herself, I thought it would never happen. It just goes to show how every child is different. Without a doubt I reckon dd would have been a perfect baby for formula/bottle feeding.
I weaned both mine off the breast at around 13 months, ds fully on his cup and dd on her Nuby which I think is more like a bottle than a cup so could be worth a try with your little one (of course only if u want to stop a bottle) Absolutely nothing wrong with your baby still having a bottle at that age though, one is still very tiny! So not surprised it is a comfort for them

Dd just stopped having bottles (bedtime and morning!) at 2.8. I was starting to worry mainly because for some reason it thought the longer she had it, the harder it would be to get her to give it up. But it was fine. We bribed her with a microwaveable penguin, and she never looked back.

do what you feel works for you and your child.

My dd is 18m, she still has a bottle for bedtime. She drinks from a cup during the day so I'm not too concerned just yet.

We stopped bottles by 12 months and only used free flow beakers - as the guidelines suggest. But there were plenty of other guidelines we ignored and DD sucked her thumb until nearly 4.

I think you'd drive yourself crazy if you tried to follow all of the guidelines. Just pick the ones that are easy for you .

Mine both had a bottle given to them in bed until age 4 ish. And yes, they fell asleep with them.

But, they both slept like pros, I never really had any issues getting them to bed, and now, 5 years later, there's no lasting effects. Teeth are fine.

I like to pick my battles. This really isn't one IMO.

Just do whatever makes your life easier.

All the women I know that breastfeed still offer breast milk at bedtime, this isn't that different.

I think babies have a strong suckling need for several years, many babies will miss a bottle if taken away at 12 months.

Although I never formula fed I did breastfeed for much longer than 12 months, my babies loved it so I don't see why bottle fed children shouldn't love suckling too.
I also feel it may be related to thumb sucking- I know several of my friends and relatives who took away the bottle dead on 12 months and their children became long term thumb suckers- a couple until they were 8 or 9 years old.
As if the need to suckle as a baby has been unresolved.

If I did bottle feed I don't think I would be overly eager to get rid of a night time bottle at 12 months, as long as good dental hygiene is followed and no sugary drinks or snacks.

I took bottles off dd2 at exactly 12 months. Hate the blardy things, but do what you like op yanbu.

Thanks everyone, really helpful x