18-month-old still being bf

[AppleOrchid]

Hi all,

I still give DD morning and bedtime milk feeds, but suddenly concerned about the bedtime feed. Basically, she always falls asleep on me, which is comforting for us both, but I'm worried about her teeth. Also, her night-time sleep is pretty disturbed of late. I think it's probably time to drop this feed but feel a bit reluctant in some respects and wouldn't mind some advice from others who have (or are) breastfeeding a similar aged toddler...

In an ideal world, I suppose I'd give her this last feed of the day before cleaning her teeth in the evening, but she always falls asleep on me. Beyond the whole teeth cleaning thing, I also wonder if she'd sleep better if not put down asleep (as all parenting books say). What do you think?

Thanks :)

Don't worry about her teeth - see here. Ds is 2 and feeds millions of times and the dentist just said his teeth were lovely.

I have to say I think some of them are just crap at sleeping. I have tried a lot of stuff with ds and given up interfering now. His sleep is slowly, slowly improving (going longer) on its own.

Kellymom has some info on tooth cleaning - basically, as long as the teeth are clean before having milk, breastmilk doesn't cause decay. However, studies show that bm + food on the teeth do cause decay.

You're in the middle of the 18 month sleep regression so that's likely to be a factor.

2.7 y.o. DS isn't a great sleeper and has always fed to sleep apart from during repeated phases when it's stopped working. When it's stopped working, getting him to sleep has been much more difficult, and he hasn't slept any better.

And he has had periods when his sleep has been much better - which hasn't conincided with him falling asleep not feeding. In fact, there's often been a negative correlation: feeding to sleep = better sleep; not feeding to sleep = worse sleep.

I'd keep going if you're happy with what you're doing. If you really are bothered, you could try feeding earlier in the evening instead. But whether that'll work will depend on the child - DS would have gone bonkers if I'd suggested that (up to the point when I was a month or two pg, when he started to lose a bit of interest in bf).

Thank you everyone. That's all really useful information. I'll stop worrying about teeth and carry on feeding at bedtime until it feels more right to stop. Also, that 18-month sleep regression thing makes total sense. Up this morning at 2.47am for over an hour-and-a-half. Am blurry eyed with tiredness!

Do you mind if I ask another question? Basically, I haven't yet spent a night away from DD but have arranged to go to see friends in London (200 miles from home - eek!) for a night. I'll be away from her for about 36 hours and she'll miss two milk feeds (bedtime and morning).

She'll be looked after my her daddy, who she adores, but I'm really worried about bedtime. Do you think she'll be okay without bedtime feed? I also hate the thought of being so far away. What if she misses me as much as I know I'll miss her? Am I being a big baby about this?

Is there anything I can do to prepare? Thank you, thank you :)