What age to stop bedtime milk?

[Rockydog]

Hi, my dd is just about to turn 17 months and I read somewhere that she should be having water at bedtime now. She only drinks from cups (stopped bottles at 12 months). Her milk intake (all full fat cows milk) is milk on cereal at breakfast, yogurts, rice pudding etc and currently 5oz at teatime and 7oz at bedtime. Her shape seems to be completely changing - all her puppy fat is going and she is getting tall and slim (hv said she was height and weight of a 2yr old!). She eats like a horse! How much milk should she be having? We want to cut down on evening drinks as she keeps waking up wet (although she is teething - all back teeth, ow) and I also heard this was related to teeth. Also, because her shape is changing, nappies don't seem to fit quite so well. Sorry this is a bit rambling!

I loved milk as a child and drank it by the bucketload according to my num. I think I was still having a glass of milk before I went to bed in my teens - then it turned into milky coffee - mmmmmm

i meant mum of course

Rocky you havent offended at all. Thought i probably got confused with the dry at night thing.. my mind was full of my essay which i have now completed and am off to hand in.

Re nappies leaking.. i agree with you about shape changing. With ds I used to find i had to change brands.. altho after reading some threads on this site i think for the next one i might try cloth ones.

You sound like a lovely mum Rocky

mine still have it and they are 5 and 3

i still used to have a glass of milk before bed until i was 18!:o my mum insisted on it

Thanks Awenamanger for the compliment. You've made my day! Sometimes I feel a bit daft when I come on MN, like a complete fish out of water. Its hard having conversations in cyberspace and as I don't know many people its sometimes hard to know whether I'm saying the right thing 'by people' if you know what I mean. Its hard enough in the outside world, where I know even less people! I haven't got many 'mum' friends (all my friends were from work - not so friendly now I'm a SAHM) - I sound like a complete sad case now, just ignore me! Thanks to everyone for their help, advice and kind words. DD, DH and me apprieciate every word. Rocky xxx

Rocky, you are certainly not daft or a sad case! ((hugs))

My 7 1/2 year old still has a cup of warm milk at bedtime (and cleans her teeth after). I have no intetion of stopping it!!!!!!!!!

The crucial thing is teeth claning AFTER.

Thank you!

my ds still has milk at bedtime he won't go to bed without it (unless he's overtired) but i tend to give it to him whenhe's in his cot and he doses off drinking it but having read this thread i'm beginnig to think thaths wrong as i don't brush his teeth afterwards as that would wake him up and then i'd have to make another bottle i'm confused should he be drinking it brush teeth and then bed?

sorry ds is 21 months

Dev, yes he really shouldn't be having a bottle of milk in bed, because then it stays on his teeth all night doing all sorts of damage.

Having said that, I do live in the real world and understand that this might just be the only way to get him to sleep right now. But you should be working towards him not having any more milk (or food etc. obviously) after his teeth are brushed.

If he has a bottle of milk with you before bedtime, do you think he would be happy with a bottle of water in his cot?

My dd will be 2 on the 23rd and she still has 3 bottles of milk during the night. OMG I hear you all cry. I have absolutly no intentions of taking this off of her as I myself drink 4 pints of water during the night and always have done all of my life.

My DD has milk at bedtime, generally around 9oz, she's 2y 4m. Her routine look like this

BATH
DOWNSTAIRS FOR MILK AND BEAR IN THE BIG BLUE HOUSE
UPSTAIRS FOR TEETH BRUSHING & STORY
LIGHTS OUT

Sorry about caps lock ! Don't see how milk at night can be damaging so long as you brush their teeth before they go to sleep.

I love giving DS his bottle. He has 7oz in the morning 5oz mid morning and then 7oz at bed time. Its "OUR" time to cuddle and calm down.
My HV said that he should be having a pint of full fat milk a day and so im just following her advice. But any way he is only 17 months and we both enjoy his bottle time.

well i'll give it a try but i'm sure i read somewhere that milk and water are not damaging to teeth it's only juices and sugary drinks that damage teeth

Milk contains lactose, which is a sugar.

DH and I have a nice mug of hot milk every night.

I'm 36 ( well 37 in 3 weeks) and still have a cup of warm milk every night at 10:30 without fail every night which dh lovingly (or sometimes begrudgingly) gets for me.

yes, milk does contain a natural form of sugar, it's called lactose.

oops, message crossed.

DS is 27 months and bedtime bottle of milk is major part of routine. If it gives me 12 hours of peace from 7pm-7am I have no intention of stopping it just yet! Out of interest I live in Austria where is seems perfectly normal for children of much older than 2 to still use a bottle (as opposed to cup). I too have read I "should" have moved from bottle to cup at 12 months. Concerned over teeth cleaning though, we still can't achieve this without a battle under normal circumstances so certainly not willing to try between bottle & sleep just yet!

My HV told me children should have 1 pint of milk per day until they're 5 years

ahh well there you go shows how much i know lol ok well from now on i'll be brushing his teeth after milk i just hope i can get him to go to sleep without it :(

Feeding DS last bottle before morning as I write... fed up of staying up every night to do this. He's almost 16 months. Screams the house down if not fed. Any advice? Thanks.