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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

When and how do you swap from bath, milk, bed to milk, bath, bed?

36 replies

mrsflux · 13/08/2010 16:27

Ds is 16 mo and we have always done bath, milk bed but I know he will needto start doing milk first so we can brush teeth more effectively and so milk isn't a sleep aid/ crutch.
How and when do you do it?

Don't want to start too early and mess up bedtimes which are usually pretty good.

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PrivetDancer · 13/08/2010 16:32

I don't understand why you need to change?

dd is 23 mo and it's bath, milk, (teeth), bed still.

PuppyMonkey · 13/08/2010 16:34

We never had bath in our routine ( once a week if she was lucky) but I'd say fit in a story/ reading when milk gets drunk , then you do tooth brush. We did thT with dd from when she was about 2.

Original poster

mrsflux · 13/08/2010 16:40

Do you go back to bathroom to brush teeth?
Also how does it work when teeth brushing makes them v cross? Not great before bed.

OP posts:

lifeas3plus1 · 13/08/2010 16:42

Ds is 16months and we've always done bath, milk and cuddle while Reading stories, teeth and bed.

Don't see any need to change it!

JumpJockey · 13/08/2010 16:43

I wonder about this too - our bathroom is downstairs so it would mean milk has to be in the living room before going upstairs to bed, or we do milk upstairs, nice and sleepy, then back down through the living room and kitchen to do teeth!

Then again, I suppose the camping approach of a cup of water might work if there's a bowl to spit into.

omnishambles · 13/08/2010 16:44

When I stopped bf we just cut out the milk bit altogether - though dd has water by her bed.

So now its bath, teeth, story, bed.

PrivetDancer · 13/08/2010 16:45

no she just has her toothbrush in bedroom / wherever she happens to be.
She can get a bit cross when I insist on pinning her down and brushing the back teeth but soon calms down as soon as I stop! Then there are stories so she's always in a good mood again pretty quickly

lifeas3plus1 · 13/08/2010 16:45

I take toothbrush with toothpaste on into the bedroom with me and brush his teeth in his bedroom. I don't rinse his mouth afterwards (I heard it's better to let the toothpaste sit in the mouth overnight)

But ds loves brushing his teeth so no advise there I'm afraid!

winogal · 13/08/2010 17:05

My DS2 is 21 months and we still do bath, milk, bed. Once he's bathed and in his jammies, we read him a story while he has his milk. Then we bag him (grobag, that is!) and brush his teeth before dispatching him to cot. This works well for us, for both DS1 and DS2. Don't like the idea of milk before bath, but to each their own!

Good luck!

PuppyMonkey · 13/08/2010 17:14

We do stories and milk in the living room , then go to bathroom to brush teeth, have a wee then bed ( she's 3 now btw).

porcupine11 · 13/08/2010 17:20

Just started milk (downstairs), bath, water, bed at 23 months, he hasn't particularly noticed!

LadyintheRadiator · 13/08/2010 17:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

NickOfTime · 13/08/2010 17:26

always done bath, milk, (teeth) bed. my dcs are 10, 8 and 6yo... there's nothing nicer than a snuggly clean toddler in pj's, having a story and drinking their milk with you on the sofa, is there? then teeth and bed.

mum2oneloudbaby · 13/08/2010 20:25

Bf till 12 months dropped milk at bed then and went straight to milk with dinner then bath, story, bed. Why do they need milk before bed? Never really understood it, DD does have water in her room if she needs a drink.

MrsWB · 13/08/2010 22:52

We just changed to milk with tea then bath and bed. DS is 3.4. He was saying he didn't want milk at bed time but so far seems happy to drink it at tea time.

Works well for me too as bed time is quicker and no need to go downstairs to get milk. Also better for the teeth. We probably could have done it earlier than we did.

Chunkychicken · 13/08/2010 22:56

I read that the milk should transfer to before bath to avoid the sleep association with milk and then years of milk at bedtime... My LO is only 3.5mths so no changing yet, but I did think I might get her on to a bottle of breastmilk before bed when she's about 9 months and then transfer to formula before bringing the bottle to before bath time, as a) this will give me time to express milk when she's having a bath, b) will be a slower change than doing all at once and c) would allow teeth cleaning to become part of the routine without disturbing a sleepy baby. Might all go pear shaped in a few months though, best laid plans of mice and men and all that!

Fel1x · 13/08/2010 23:00

My eldest is nearly 5 and we still do bath milk bed!
The boys have the bath, then we go into kitchen for cup of milk then teeth, story, bed!

breadmaker · 13/08/2010 23:09

The longer the time between milk and bed the better (obviously brushing should be the very last thing before bed). This is because saliva is mainly produced whilst awake ( and very little is produced whilst sleeping). Hence if you give milk before bath there is a period of time still for saliva to be produced which washes away the natural lactose sugars present in milk, and allows the naturally protective properties of saliva some time to work. Water is the only thing that should be drunk at night. Over the long term even milk at night may cause dental decay, because of the lack of saliva production during sleep. So if you can move the milk to pre-bath once teeth are through, it can really help.

NickOfTime · 14/08/2010 00:16

chunky - is there something wrong with milk before bed then? (genuinely curious) it's worked fine here for nearly eleven years, and i don't think i stopped having a cup of milk before i went to bed until i was a teenager... might even have been when i left home lol. i still do it now sometimes myself. i thought that was part of the rationale - the milk is associated with the bedtime routine, so milk, teeth, bed is a perfect way to end the day. my entire family has been raised on bath, milk, teeth, bed for generations... it hadn't even occurred to me that there were people advocating that as flawed...

bread - but if you're cleaning your teeth after your milk, why does it matter whether it's drunk before or after the bath? i'm not understanding why it's an issue... am i being really dim?

lifeas3plus1 · 14/08/2010 06:28

I don't see what the problem is about milk being a sleep assosiation??

I have a cup of horlicks before bed! It helps me relax quicker therefore sleep better.

And it's no different to having a bowl of cereal before bed which I know a lot of adults still do.

As long as teeth are brushed last thing then really, what is the problem?

SleepEludesMe · 14/08/2010 07:37

I've never got this milk-at-bedtime thing either ... when DS stopped BFing to sleep (around a year old) he had his teeth done after the bath, then into bed for a story and if he wanted a drink there was always a sippy cup of water by the bed. He fed in the night on waking for another year but when he gave that up he was already in the habit of teeth, story bed (+/- water).

Books definitely seemed much more attractive than boobs! He's not allowed anything other than water after his teeth are brushed, end of story. But it happened very naturally.

I have friends who struggle with their DD and milk - she'll only drink milk from a bottle, never a cup, and they're stressed because she therefore has to have a bottle at bedtime. I've always been a bit about why they've never tried to just drop the milk (and thereby the bottle) - at 3 years old I'm not entirely sure they need a gallon of cows milk every day (despite what Cow and Gate try to tell us! ).

Orissiah · 14/08/2010 07:54

We do bath, bottle (in bedroom), teeth (in bedroom, no rinsing as I've also read it's best not to rinse), stories (in bedroom), bed. If DD gets a bit crossed with with the teeth bit (rare though as since she's turned 2 she loves having her teeth brushed) then the stories calm her down. The gap between milk and bed (stories last around 20 minutes) means enough saliva is produced before bed so I'm not worried. She goes to bed wide awake and self settles.

Orissiah · 14/08/2010 07:57

I have no problem her drinking milk before bed until she's an old lady :-) I love milk and drink loads of it. My milkman loves our family :-)

PrettyCandles · 14/08/2010 08:08

We never swapped. Neither did we brush teeth after milk. None of the dcs have any cavities. Various dcs have had cowsmilk formula, regular milk, breastmilk or Oatly (we wd probably have done things differently if using soya). Dentist has no objections, but has stressed to us and to the dc that after night-time toothbrushing they drink only milk or water, and never lying down.

They stopped having bedtime milk at 8, 7, and 3.

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

Isawthreeships · 14/08/2010 08:37

Cows milk contains a good source of tryptophan, which causes serotonin release in the brain which, in turn, makes us sleepy.

That may be why it's a common pre-sleep drink once bfing has stopped (not sure but assume bmilk has similar qualities as DS always passed out on it!).

As long as teeth are cleaned afterwards (we do in the bedroom too with DS 21mo), can't see that it's a problem. Don't 'get' all the worry about sleep associations - what's the big deal?

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