Teeth brushing in bedtime routine?

[lancslass17]

My DS is 13 months and a late teether.
Our current bedtime routine is bath watching night garden (in baby bath in living room). Up to bedroom for bottle and a cuddle he is usually very drowsy after bottle if not asleep.

If you have a toddler still having a bedtime bottle when do you do teeth?
Ta x

Er, you need to stop the bedtime bottle. That is terrible for teeth.
Phase it out.
He can brush teeth before or after bath. You might want to stop the watching tv in a bath because that’s not sustainable...he can’t be doing that at age three in the living room.
I think you need to phase in new elements and phase out others gradually.
Like aim to watch midnight garden with a bottle, then bath in bathtub with bath toys & you, then brush teeth and in bed with another story or songs.

You need to start making a few changes to your bedtime routine. Teeth definitely need to be brushed after milk, so I would do a bottle whilst reading or watching tv, then upstairs for bath, teeth and bed. Or you could give a cup of milk with his evening meal.

Thanks but anyone advice who is still giving bedtime bottles?
We just transitioned to cows milk going to work on cups in the day next.

You will need to brush his teeth after his bottle last thing, you could bring a toothbrush into his bedroom and give them a brush when he's finished and it shouldn't disturb him too much.

I will get flamed for this but all 3 children took a bottle up to bed till about 3. I just made sure brushing teeth occurred at another time. None have had issues with their teeth. Regular dental checks were made. As they got older I just reduced the amount of milk given. I found they naturally just gave up the milk when they were ready. When they still wanted milk, (they all had phases of still waking in the night and wanting a bottle). I wouldn't have worried about them brushing their teeth in the middle of the night after a drink, so I figured it really was not worth stressing over the bedtime wind down routine!

My son got his first tooth at 8 months and had a night time bottle for a few months longer. I brushed his teeth before, because, like your toddler, he would get quite sleepy from the bottle. Sometimes he'd even fall asleep while drinking.

I think the panic about milkbottles is quite overexaggerated. It would even be normal for children that age to still breastfeed during the night, and obviously they wouldn't need to brush their teeth every time. So why shouldn't a bottle of milk be okay? What's damaging children's teeth certainly isn't drinking infant milk without brushing their teeth after, but general lack of dental hygiene as well teeth damaging nutrition, mainly drinks like juice and soda.

I agree, you need to be getting teeth brushing in after his bottle if you are insisting on continuing to do it.
You can get finger toothbrushes apparently so if you take one into his room, after his milk slide the brush onto your finger and give them a good brush .

We did bottle then teeth from about 10 months, then moved to a cup of milk followed by teeth at about 13-14 months. We had a couple of nights of upset but that was it.

Oh, something more about brushing teeth after eating/drinking. The dental enamel is softened by food and drinks and you should wait at least 30 minutes before brushing, since you can damage the teeth otherwise. Brushing right after the bottle is therefore in no way better for the teeth than brushing before.

Ours is only 10 months, but we do half a bottle, then bath, then rest of the bottle in her bedroom, then teeth, story and sleep!

the panic about milkbottles is quite overexaggerated. It would even be normal for children that age to still breastfeed during the night, and obviously they wouldn't need to brush their teeth every time. So why shouldn't a bottle of milk be okay?

It's to do with the way the milk pools on their mouths - there's a constant flow from a bottle, so if they are hanging onto it all night their teeth are constantly coated. That doesn't happen with breastmilk, as they need to be sucking for the milk to flow. That's the difference.

"It's to do with the way the milk pools on their mouths - there's a constant flow from a bottle, so if they are hanging onto it all night their teeth are constantly coated. That doesn't happen with breastmilk, as they need to be sucking for the milk to flow. That's the difference."

Sure. But the topic here isn't sucking on a milk bottle for hours. It's about drinking a bottle of milk as an evening meal.

If you give bedtime bottle and you're not willing to phase this out then teeth need brushing straight after bottle. Think ours was off nighttime bottle about 13 months

2 year-old, also a late teether....

7pm

Shower, Toilet, Pyjamas
Sit on Step while choosing a story and brushing teeth
Bed + Story

7:30pm - asleep.

I would give the bottle a bit earlier and then brush - brushing straight after eating/drinking isn’t great. We don’t have milk before bed, just some water.

But then to be fair I always had a glass of juice next to my bed when I was little no fillings yet, I’m in my late 20s now - so you probably can get away with it as long as they brush their teeth before.

We breastfeed, so not quite the same, but at 13 months:

• bath (in bathroom)
• nappy, pyjamas, teeth
• quiet play until sleepy if required
• into sleeping bag
• story
• milk
• cot

I would hand him the tooth brush in the bath. Then finish with you giving it a go. Sounds like a lovely bedtime ruteen. Xx

My DS still has a bottle (trying to work out how to get rid!) we do bath and then he has his bottle while we put his pjs on. Then teeth. Then into the cot for a story. It's so important to brush teeth after bottle. My boss is a dentist and she isn't concerned that we still do a bed time bottle as long as we're brushing teeth after

I'm still giving a bedtime bottle to my 21 month old (shock horror shoot me now!!).

I get him dressed for bed, he has his bottle whilst I read him a story. I brush his teeth in bed. Then we have a cuddle and I tell him everything great about him. Then he chats to himself for about 5 mins and drops off.

I know he is way too old for one now. But he drinks it very quickly so the milk doesn't sit on his teeth for too long!