Moving from baby bedtime routine to toddler routine

[completelyclueless1]

Hello

I'm just after some suggestions on how to tweak my toddler's bedtime routine.

He is nearly 15 months old and very very 'spritely' and opinionated - my mum and mother in law say they've never known a more difficult baby, BUT he is an excellent sleeper (I am very lucky in that regard I know).

Currently he has a bath at 6:15 while chewing his toothbrush, then into pyjamas and then a 7oz bottle with a very slow teat. This makes him super relaxed and I can then put him down in his cot, he'll chat to himself and fall asleep until 6am.

It took me from age 5-8 months to get to this point, it was a lot of work, but its so great now I'm scared of messing it up.

I'm quite an anxious person and feel so crap at parenting that I am always worrying. I know the ideal at his age might be more like the below:

Milk from a cup downstairs (he happily drinks from a cup in the day)
Bath
Story to relax him instead while chewing his toothbrush

The first thing I tried was a faster flow teat to test the water. He necked the bottle in seconds and then went ballistic.

I then tried his normal teat, but once he had finished passed him his toothbrush and tried to read to him. He again went ballistic.

I suppose I'm just worried about the effect the teat and the milk will be having on his teeth.

He has a dummy for whining in the daytime, but not for sleeping. I hope to get rid of the dummy just before he turns two (again just because of his teeth and worries about what people think of my parenting again!!). But perhaps that could be the key in the short term?

Perhaps I'm pushing him too hard and things are fine as they are for a few more months.

Any advice greatly appreciated, thank you for reading!

Stick with what's working!!

That's what I want to hear!!

Just a bit worried about his teeth, but I'm probably over thinking things, no one can judge me if I don't tell anyone I guess (except all of you ).

No judgement here, you are obviously a thoughtful and caring mother. Stick with what works, but teeth need doing after his bottle. Assuming you speak to your child and having a dummy doesn't affect his communication eg: he's not speaking with it in, you'll be OK. It's babies and toddlers that are permanently 'plugged in' that have dental and speach issues.

Virtually identical to ours at 16 months. Clean teeth and into bath at 6.15-6.30. Out, dried and into a nappy. Runs up and down the hall way like a lunatic. Cream, PJs, cup of milk (we've ditched the bottles) cuddle, story and bed. Not sure what else they think you should be doing...
I think my mum raises an eye a bit about us letting him run around before bed. But the second he's in his sleeping bag he's calm, and sleeps for almost 12 hours, so 🤷‍♀️

It's the use of a bottle bottle and brushing of his teeth before his milk that I know isn't ideal.

He wants to drinks his bottle slowly and then be put straight to bed. Anything else seems to disrupt his vibe and make him extremely cross with the world!

Our 14 month old has his bottle them I quickly get in there with his tooth brush straight afterwards. He's still drowsy but then is sleepy again as soon as I put the dummy in. He doesn't have one during the day, only for naps and sleep.

Any other thoughts?

I started putting more and more water in the bottle and then reduced the amount gradually so that she wasn't bothered by it in the end. Also, maybe read a short story after getting him ready for bed/before the bottle?

Ours was the same, and so we moved bottle to before bath, then into PJs, boom, teeth and bed.

Boom = book

In the same position. So sorry mo help !
My 15 month old has books bath bottle bed . He goes down awake and settles himself but the milk calms him down he is also v highly spirited!
I'm worried about his teeth too not that he really lets me brush them properly he goes crazy !want to move milk before bath but not sure get is ready .

I’d just change the routine. You might have a day or 2 of fuss, but he puts himself to sleep and sleeps well - he’ll be fine.

We do bath (or just pjs on if not bath day) then milk in a cup downstairs, (wondering about, sometimes reading book or playing. We have a 4 year old DS so it’s all a bit chaotic at that point, but you could do something like watching tv or reading a book while he drinks) then teeth, then into her room for 2 quick books then bed and she self settles. DD is 18m now. Bottles have been gone since 15m. The first night without them she was not happy, but after that she went back to normal. We already had teeth brushing after the bottle though so it was less of a routine change for her

If he doesn’t have the dummy at night nowadays and sleeps well then I wouldn’t introduce it. It’s just another thing you’ll have to take away at a later point

We just changed ours one day. The day after his first birthday I gave away all his bottles so he had nothing but sippy cups. Now he has cup of milk downstairs. Then the bedtime song as he’s going up the stairs. Then bath if it’s a bath day. Teeth. Story in his cot. Exit bedroom. Took about a week for him to get used to it. For the adjustment period where he got upset we would give him a few minutes to settle, go in, shush him/calm him down, leave, rinse and repeat. He soon got used to the new routine and doesn’t need shushing/calming now. Good luck.

Thank you everyone ! You have inspired me! I'm going to work on tooth brushing after the bottle for the time being - he drinks his one bottle a day so quickly that I guess its not really an issue for now.