would you say it was a bad thing for a 4yo, 3yo and 22mo to go to sleep at night drinking from a bottle?

[BeautifulBoysGalore]

ds1 - water (it was watered down juice for a while till his teeth scared me and i finally managed to convince him to take water for that reason a few omnths ago.)
ds2 - milk
ds3 - really watered down juice (well, less watered down tonight to mask the flavour of his medicine as he has a chest infection)

theyve always gone to sleep drinking - bm till about 6m each, then bottles of follow-on formula till 12m, then cows milk (and onto juice for ds1 and 3 who dont like milk)

ds2 is die hard milk bottle lover. will cure ANY ill/hurt/sadness/overtiredness instantly. is it cruel to take that away?

do you think making them all take water would be a good way to cut it down (less incentive to drink, but still allowing the comfort of a suck)?

what about switching the bottles to smaller bottles?

they are too old for bottles, clearly. but is it bad enough to do anything about it?

"ds2 is die hard milk bottle lover. will cure ANY ill/hurt/sadness/overtiredness instantly. is it cruel to take that away?"

Could say exactly the same about my ds who's only 18 mo. I can't even bear thinking about taking the bottle off him!

Will be interested in hearing other people's views.

Personally dont mind bottles if it isnt juice..so water and milk IMO are fine. However saying that I weaned ds and dd1 from a bottle by 18mths however for both of them there were other babies in the house/coming soon at the time.Also dd1 took quite easily to a beaker. DD2 has a bottle but she is only 10mths.

Bottles/beakers have always been a big part of our bedtime routine, they have their drink while having story. Ds was 4 last month and only came off his bedtime drink last month and now has his milk downstairs before bed.

Meant to add DD1 was a hardened bottle and dummy lover but was surprisingly not bothered by the swap when I thought it would be a huge drama.

Not sure really, have never had bottle lovers. DS2 has gone to bed with an avent sportster bottle full of water tonight. He was formula fed for a while but I switched to spouted non spill cups from 12 months. Do you know that they definitely wouldn't go for something similar or have you already tried?

i took my ds to choose big boys cup for his bedtime drink 22 mth ok but others maybe bit to old for bottle although i also am strong believer of having comfort at night my ds 2.6 still has hiis dummy i intend to take at about 3 no later than 4

but maybe take them to choose a big boy cup and send bottles to the small children that dont have any

my ds loves his new cup for milk at night and didnt make any fuss for not having bottle the longer you leave it the harder it will be to take them so just do the switch with a cup its the comfort of having it but not nessasarily the teat they like

i thought my ds would hate not having bottle but he absolutely loves his big boy cup worth a try good luck

Personally I think the 4yo and the 3yo should do without by now. I also don't think that there should be juice in it at all especially since you aren't cleaning their teeth after.

Hmm i would be taking the bottle off the older 2 especially the 4 yar old, i have a dd who 21 months & loves sucking her bottle too she does not have a dummy i think this is why.

I think it can effect there speech though when they are older.

Don't do jice in bottles as it rots there teeth.

i think i found getting rid of bottles harder than he did as i was letting go of the baby in him but he wasnt bothered i now like the fact he has big boy cup and dont miss cleaning bottles

Shouldn't be anything but water if you're not cleaning their teeth afterwards actually. I've tweaked BabyDragon's routine now to ensure she has her teeth cleaned after I've fed her at bedtime - we have milk, teeth then songs and into bed.

It will possibly interfere with the development of their teeth - ask a dentist

DD had milk in a bottle at bedtime until she was 4!

have tried millions of various types of sport bottle/cup/cup and straw combo int he daytime ... with varying degrees of failure success.

but when they want abottle, they wont settle for anything else.

And yes, I think even milk at this time will adversely affect their teeth - liquid lying in contact with teeth over a period of time is not a good thing

Will try and find some info

soupy - i know

have to admit, i am loathe to change a bedtime routine that 'works' iyswim. and that is easily as much for me as them

uh oh, chest infection boy is coughing... (monitor next to me)

2 of my dd had bottles with milk in until 5 ,they then realised that they were too old and that their school friends didnt do this and so then giving up was easy,up until the id tried everything.

OK have found these bits of info, by googling "tooth decay bottles". I haven't linked to the sites but can give you the refs if like - but there are some upsetting images of tooth decay on there.

"Decay occurs when sweetened liquids are given and are left clinging to an infant's teeth for long periods. Many sweet liquids cause problems, including milk, formula and fruit juice. Bacteria in the mouth use these sugars as food. They then produce acids that attack the teeth. Each time your child drinks these liquids, acids attack for 20 minutes or longer. After many attacks, the teeth can decay.

It's not just what you put in your child's bottle that causes decay, but how often ? and for how long a time. Giving your child a bottle of sweetened liquid many times a day isn't a good idea. Allowing your child to fall asleep with a bottle during naps or at night can also harm the child's teeth."

"Never put your child to bed with a bottle. By 7 or 8 months of age, most children no longer need feedings during the night. Children who drink bottles while lying down also may be more prone to getting ear infections."

"# If your infant has developed a bottle habit, continue to give him the bottle, but fill it only with water. Water cannot harm tooth enamel. Water is also boring and will help your child eventually give up the bottle. The bottle itself is not harmful. "

(I thought the last quote might make you feel a little better, BBG! )

Oh, I know. It's only in the last 2 months or so that I bit the bullet and switched BabyDragon about (she's 21 months. I think. Something like that anyway!)

She's been cr*p at sleeping so I was worried but it's been fine. However, replacing the feeding-to-sleep with songs (ending with a snuggly Twinkle Twinkle!) has worked well. I also think it's helped her (slightly) with settling in the middle of the night as she's rarely asleep when I put her into her cot now.

so what do i do?

ideal is:
somehow ditch bottles for cups with spouts (so as not to spill) with water in to have by beds for middle of night sips, and have bedtime drink downstairs instead, thereby having teeth brushing afterwards.

-but do i do that for all? is 22m too young to be made to give it up?

-if doing for some and not all, how do i pitch that?

-or is that too much to change at once?

[thinks about getting a night nanny in for 5 nights to do it all for me]

Night nanny is a fab idea

You may find that the 22 month old is a piece of cake. BabyDragon was - didn't bother her at all. Breastfed,, not a bottle though but I'm sure that makes no difference. I literally just fed her, roused her to do cleaning teeth and then went back into her room to sing songs,told her it was time for bed and put her in. I may have told her about it first.

They did this on Super Nanny not so long ago actually. I think they had bedtime drinks downstairs from sip cups or beakers as appropriate and then had water bottles by their beds like you said.

Even BabyDragon has a Magic Cup of water in her cot.The boys had these before switching to those bottles with the sports tops - maybe go out and choose one each with the older 2?

thanks miaou - yes, last one does help . interesting re the ear infections too, as ds1 has been prone and ds3 has one now (along witht he chest infection) hmmmm - now thats a good reason to give it up! not that the rotting teeth isnt

oh, i am such a shite mother. i dont even have pnd or overwork/tiredness to blame any more - i have a nanny! she is v young and started out more as a mothers help, but has taken over more and more in the day, esp now ds1&2 are out all day... and so i am a lady of leisure, please myself and the pnd has receded... and im still shite.

right. i WILL fix this.
somehow.
gulp. [wet cow!]

soupy, youre ace. that does sound do-able written out like that.

i guess ive been feeling so rubbish about it for so long ive lost sight of wood for trees (or some other such analogy which is actually relevent)

Oh, we're all shite mothers on the face of it. The children don't notice though

lol
gullible sods