Milk after brushing

[LivelyMummy]

DS is now 18 months. From about 6 months we set the night routine - warm bath, teeth brushing, clean pjs, last feed and sleep. At 6 months he was having only breast milk and waking up in the night for a few more feeds. At about 12 months, we introduced cows milk as the last night feed and this keeps him going to the morning.
Are his teeth going to be ruined as we give him milk after brushing his teeth?

I'd try to flip it, it's not ideal.

Really should be brushing teeth if it's anything except breast milk. Just tweak the routine

I'd agree that it would be a really good idea to get milk in before teeth. I would do it gradually if you can.

-First I'd try to introduce a new 'last thing' before bed that is not milk. For example, a particular song.

• I'd then swap pjs and teeth so that teeth is just before milk (then song, then bed).
• When that is established I would then swap the milk with doing his teeth. So pjs, milk, teeth, song (or whatever) then bed.

Shouldn't take too much more than a week. Once you've got him used to a different last thing before than milk it should be fairly easy to swap milk and teeth round.

Thanks for all the advice. I've always been so careful taking care of his teeth. I have no idea how this never clicked! sandsnake thanks for the tip. I'm putting this in place from tomorrow. x

I had this issue but I just gave the milk before bath and bed (we brush teeth while bathing!). I did it at 12 months just after I'd switched to cow's milk and as I was getting rid of all bottles anyway, moving to cups. She wasn't too happy the first night about going into her cot instead of a feed on the chair with me so I tried to read a book when I went to her room instead. This works for some, but for DD it seems to get her more awake than ever, so eventually it has settled into a routine of dinner with milk, bath, bed and she has no problem with it now, goes straight to sleep. It only took a few days really for her to forget about having the last feed before bed. Just try switching it round and persevere if he's unsettled for a few days - it'll be fine, I'm sure!

Milk is full of sugar (diabetics are recommended to drink a glass of milk if their blood sugar needs to be raised). It would be better to have milk first, then get ready for bed, and brush last of all.

Thank you all for your input. DS is not keen on change so we'll see how it goes tonight. The plan is milk, brush in bath, pjs, for, book and (hopefully) sleep!

Mine had a cup of milk before bed (after brushing) until she was 4.5. Her teeth are perfect. We just don't give her loads of juice and sweets and we are very careful about brushing. The risk is mostly about sucking on milk all night at that age. It's the constant coating of the teeth with a sugary substance that causes tooth decay rather than having one drink and then off to bed. So the risk is more if you send them to bed with a bottle of milk or juice to suck on all night, which many people used to do, or if they are still bf and on the boob all night at that age.