Much needed advice

[Taler]

My 14 month old DD has been refusing her milk on and off for a few weeks. There were about 5 days in a row a few weeks back where she refused her bedtime bottle, then she went back to it, but the past few days she's not only refused the bedtime one again but also the mid afternoon one too.

I'm thinking this could all be teethibg related as she's been dribbling lots and her hands are in her mouth loads.

Does sucking on a teat make it worse when they're teething? If the answer is 'yes' then how come she's fine sucking her dummy?

She's having very disturbed sleep too, waking several times through the night. Sometimes she'll just cry out the once but most times we need to go in and settle her.

Something is clearly not letting her have a peaceful nights sleep. Am sure if must be her teeth but also think her refusing her milk can't be helping either as that would help to settle her usually.

Well is she eating 3 meals a day? She should be at 14 months and if so, this is very normal. If you're worried about calcium you can sneak milk into your cooking. I would grab the bottle refusing in your shoes and use it to ditch the bottle altogether.

It can be very tricky later if they're reliant on their bedtime bottle. You can switch to a cup...

I have heard of sucking making teething worse, but, with your daughter's age I'd be inclined to agree with MrsTawdry. I'd use this as an opportunity to wean her off the bedtime bottle. Could you try giving her a cup of milk as part of bedtime routine instead?? I'm rather hoping my DS will naturally go off his bedtime bottle. He hasn't had a daytime bottle for a few months now, he's only just turned one. Give her lots of other calcium rich foods.
How many teeth does she have now? Have you tried the usual suspects; Calpol, Calgel, Anbesol...

I agree with the others, I'd take it as a cue to drop the bottle altogether and switch to a cup if she still wants some milk before bed. I just made sure I added cheese and yoghurts etc to my little ones meal times. I do think I remember him going through some sleep regression at 14 months, so could be that? If she likes a full tummy for bed (who doesn't) you could introduce supper?

Thanks for advice. She's been a bit slow with her teeth. She's had her bottom 2 for a number of months but only recently her top teeth have popped out.

We plan to try her on milk from a cup tomorrow as opposed to a bottle so will see how we get on. We've bought a new cup especially as tried this a few weeks back in the cup we give water to her in and I think she was just confused

A few friends have said what you have too that bedtime bottle can be hard for them to drop so maybe we're in a fortunate position then?!?

Definitely! My younger DD was a NIGHTMARE as she adored her bedtime bottle and I ended up with many sleepless nights when she was 2 years plus as she wailed for it!

I couldn't let her have it because of tooth decay...get rid while the ridding is good!

Ok, so 3rd night in a row she's refused her milk. But this time we tried it in her new cup. Let her hold it and play with it for a bit first and then when she took it to her mouth she obviously got a bit of the milk and was clearly surprised. If she could talk I'm sure she would've said "how'd that get in there?!?".

Any way cup or bottle she wasn't interested.

I acknowledge that the bottle should go but surely she should still have milk at bedtime no???

I think her daily milk intake should be around 400ml a day. She has around 200ml at the morning bottle, around 100ml in her porridge or weetabix, plus will have a yoghurt every day and sometimes cheese. She also has an afternoon bottle but for 2 days running she's refused that one too.

If she's refusing bottles because it hurts when she sucks then a) how does she know when she refuses without even trying; b) how comes she has a morning bottle; and c) why does sucking on a dummy not affect her???

I am one very confused mummy!

She'll get enough to make up for the 100ml with yogurt and cheese. Persevere with the cup for a few nights more but TBH I'd jump at the chance to easily drop the bottles, I suspect my DS will not go quietly! I certainly wouldn't try very hard to get her back on them, it sounds like a preference rather than pain, as you say she takes her morning one.

If she's just got her top two teeth maybe the bottles just feel a bit funny in her mouth?? Imagine waking up with extra teeth!!! Either way I think you should just take her lead and ditch the bottles while you can, give her an extra yogurt and a few cubes of cheese and be pleased your baby's read the NHS bottle guidelines!!!

She really doesn't "need" milk at any particular time....yes she needs the stuff IN milk but if she doesn't have it at bedtime it won't matter. Just ditch them as part of the bedtime routine. Offer her water or milk but don't sweat if she won't drink milk before bed.

She may not fancy it! When is her last meal before bedtime? She might be too full to drink milk.

She has her dinner between 5 and 5:30 when I'm with her and 3 days a week when she's at nursery she has dinner about 4:30. On the days she goes to nursery we'll give her a little snack between her dinner and bedtime bottle.

What time is bedtime?

7 ish

Well I really wouldn;t fret about it OP. She's probably still full from her dinner...and if she's eating and drinking well you have no worries. She's just expressing her needs at the moment...and they don't include a bedtime bottle.