2 year old nighttime bottles

[Njbrookes]

My 2 year old who has cmpa (cows milk protein allergy) still has a bottle of oat milk at night to keep his calcium intake up but I’m struggling to swap the bottle for a cup/ other type of juice cup, I’ve tried transitioning bottles but he hates them and refuses to use them and screams all night. What bottles or cup have you tried? He can drink out normal cups and straws and pretty much any other cup but refuses them at night. I haven’t got a clue what else to try, any help would be appreciated ☺️

Watching with interest! Same with my little one. She can drink from more or less any kind of cup but doesn't want to part with her bottle at bed time. She's always been independent when it comes to feeding herself etc but had never even attempted to hold a bottle herself at bedtime. Obviously enjoys the comfort of it.

I don't think it's bad having a bottle at night age 2
Pretty sure mine did. Still babies and still need the comfort. I wouldn't worry too much at age 2 x

Wouldn’t worry at that age

switched the bottle for a cup at age 3- child turned nose up at it- bye bye nighttime milk!

My dd had oat milk at night for a while as she was intolerant to dairy. We used the munchkin 360 cup as she never really liked bottles but it seemed to give her a decent comfort and was easy for her to pick it up and drink out of by herself.

My little one will happily do it himself just refuses anything but a bottle for his nighttime milk. I’m a first time mum so not sure what is a normal age to get them to stop with bottles at night x

I’ll give this a go as we have some in the house and he’s used them during the day, thank you x

My 2.5 yr old DS was drinking 3/4 bottles of cows milk a night - waking 3 or 4 times for more milk, soaking nappies and not really eating a great deal of food as wanted milk al day long.

Literally this week between Christmas and new year in the middle of the night I very calmy said that we had no more milk and he moaned and whined and cried for about an hour and then fell asleep in my bed. In the morning I hid his bottles where he would normally see them in the kitchen abs put a last minute Christmas present in the cupboard.... told him the bottle fairy had come and left him something.

He's asked maybe 3 or 4 times for his bottles back from the fairy and I dostract ans change subject. He's got milk in a cup at bed times but he's not that fussed and he's slept through every night since which has never ever happened.

I'm amazed how he's just adapted to it. Plus he's eating loads more food and sleeping better. Win win

What’s your reason for wanting him to stop?

My 5 year old still has a bottle of milk before bed. Loves it. As long you clean their teeth afterwards there’s no problem. It’s the milk sitting on the teeth overnight that’s the problem, not the type of container they have their milk in before bed.

My DD likes the NUK toddler bottle. It's non spill but can be made free flowing, has a hard teat bit to suck so still gets some comfort from it. We gradually transitioned to having it free flowing then not at all to break the habits gradually.

Depends what you judge to be the higher priority, nutrition or risk to teeth with still using a bottle (no judgement, genuinely don't know the answer in your case).

Just to clarify I’m not wanting to stop the milk just to change from a bottle to another type of cup. I’m a first time mum and not sure when is normal to transition from a bottle to a cup all the information I seem to find online is conflicting and we’ve also had our health visitor say to stop bottles as ‘he’s too old’ but our dietitian say he still needs the milk, which he does as he’s reluctant to try any other dairy alternatives and needs calcium from somewhere. I appreciate all your advice maybe I’m just pushing for him to change from bottle to cup too early

My DS would not take milk from anything but a bottle until i got this cup. It has a soft tear like a
bottle but it’s free flowing. For £5 it might be worth a shot if you’ve not tried it already.

Mine had night time bottles at that age and for a good while longer, they enjoyed it and they naturally grew out of it. Why make things difficult for you both unnecessarily?

We just went straight from bottle to a normal silly cup. They didn't seem to mind not having a bottle.
If he won't drink the bedtime milk from a cup I would try giving the milk earlier in the evening maybe before bath time or half hour before usual pjs and Bedtime.

Can you break the bed time association and give him the milk in cup immediately before going to his room and then do the normal bedtime routine.

We tried these and he refused to use them 😭

Could you just give a cup of milk with breakfast or another earlier time instead? Ideally bottles shouldn't be used past 12 months but even if you switch to a cup, you need to be brushing teeth after it but not until 30 minutes after, so it becomes a bit of a minefield and is easier to just cut out night time milk.

I think mine was more like three before we stopped the nighttime bottle. No teeth issues

Drinking out of a bottle is comforting for children. Some give it up easily, some take longer. I really don’t understand why the guidance is to stop bottles at 12 months. It’s way too early for many and just puts unnecessary pressure on parents. As I said upthread, it’s not good to leave milk sitting on the teeth overnight, so I can see why it’s best to stop giving milk during the night if possible once they have a full set of teeth. But what the problem is with letting a child drink their milk from a bottle and have a lovely cuddle before they clean their teeth and go to bed, up until whatever age they’re ready to give it up, I don’t know.