What age did your DC drop their bedtime bottle?

[weltonn]

DS is almost 18 months and always has a bottle before bed. It settles him and makes him sleepy.

I've never thought about dropping the bottle until now. I have no idea how to and I think we would struggle to get him to sleep without it as it's been his routine for ages.

Should I continue or do we need to change the routine now? I'm a FTM so don't really have experience!

Do you brush his teeth before or after? The main consideration is the teeth I think so if you brush them after then no need to give it up.

My 20 month old still has a bottle before bed, but I make sure I brush his teeth after he’s finished the bottle

Have you thought about swapping the bottle for a cup? The milk will still make him sleepy but probably better for his teeth.

1. Nearly fucking killed me.

I wish to god I’d done it when he was 12mo.

Dd is 7 and still has her bedtime milk! 😂 in a cup now though and definitely teeth after... we went to a non spill 'cow cup' just before 3.

Yeah mine are 8 and 6 and still have a cup of bedtime milk but they brush their teeth after. Even adults have warm milk at bedtime? It's the teeth brushing that matters 😊

Same - 4 and 6 year old who have milk in a cup before bed still (& teeth after)

My 3 yr old just had her hot milk- we brush teeth after, and never had a dummy/ comforter or sucked her thumb so tbh I don’t see the issue. She’s also had the odd night without it with no fuss so I don’t really care.

DS was almost 3.5. He used to have about 1 oz in a bottle, so really not worth it but it comforted him and was part of his bedtime routine. Teeth were always cleaned afterwards. We tried a few times before but it wasn’t worth him getting so upset getting rid of it so we left it. One day he turned round and said he doesn’t need it anymore and threw the bottle away himself.

Went to a cup at 13/14 months with teeth brushed afterwards.

Mine stopped her night milk at about 14months but kept her morning milk.. she point blank refuses to drink any milk now 18mnths so use vitamin drops and lots of other dairy products .. I wish she would drink it but looks at me in disgust when I give it her.. in fairness I can't stand milk and hated it as a child too!!

Still going at 25 months.

Meant to cut down the 4 bottles a day my DC has (one milk, the rest 'tea') but kept going as had a temperature then covid!

Bottle is her fave thing so can't see us taking the night one away for a while!

Our nearly two year old still has hers. Would probably happily have it in a straw cup, but bedtimes are so easy at the moment I don’t fancy upsetting the apple cart.

We brush teeth before, but that’s on the advice of some dentists I know (lived next door to a house of dental students at uni) - apparently brushing afterwards should really be after a period of time and some water, otherwise you risk brushing sugars from the milk into teeth.

My 5 and 3 year olds still have milk before bed. In a cup and teeth brushed after. My 5 year old isn’t that fussed, 3 year old is obsessed.

Around 15 months we swapped from bottle to sippy cup. Took a couple of days of whining and then done forever with them. We’d done all the other bottles by 12 months ish

Binned then all at 12 months

We made sure before binning we spent 2 weeks getting the STRONGEST bedtime routine into place so he was under no illusion it was bedtime

Swapped bottle for cup of milk downstairs

Absolutely no fuss and was very easy

About 13 months we swapped to sippy cups/straw cups of milk before bed. At 2.5 we still do this.

Swapped to a cup at around 9 months but have no intention of stopping his cup of milk before bed.

My 2yo still has milk but out of a cup. My niece continued with her morning and evening mugs or warm milk well into primary school. As long as teeth are brushed before bed, it’s probably a really healthy habit to have.

That's interesting @uglyface - we brush (almost straight) after and our dentist said to make sure we brush after. Now I'm a bit concerned!

8 year old still has a cup of milk every night pre teeth whist having bedtime story

DC1 was around 20 months when we swapped for a cup and it was fucking painful.
DC’s 2 and 3 we got rid at 12 months and it was a million times easier. Straight swap for a cup with no issues.

10 months old, just wouldn't take it anymore and not been interested since

My eldest was a milk monster so she was 4! Perfect teeth now (12 yo) and we used to try to brush in her sleep lol 😆
Second not much better lol he was about 3

We stopped at 5yo for both dc because it was clearly the only way to get them dry at night. DD2 still has a bottle in the morning. She downs it in about 30 seconds, she'd never drink that much from a cup even if she nursed it for an hour and we brush her teeth.

Swapped from breast to a bottle at about 14/15 months (to wean off of feeding to sleep at bedtime). Replaced it with a sports bottle at about 18/19 months. Still has it at 25 months although gradually becoming less dependent on it. Drinks most of it downstairs but likes to take it upstairs and hold it. It’s not ideal but it works.