Stopping Bedtime Milk

[KatMunky1]

Looking for advice on weaning my 20-month-old off bedtime milk, and middle-of-the-night wake milk. I don't need advice on teeth, or the sugar content etc, I know he needs to not have this - I am after practical advice. Did anyone water milk down or change from whole milk, where the sugar may not be so high?

He is 20 months old and has 7oz at bedtime, which he drinks in his bed and falls asleep and hands me the bottle. Then most nights will wake between 12-1.30, and milk is the only thing that gets him back off.

We have had an ongoing cough which is still being looked at my the doctor, so leaving him to cry is a challenge as we have vomiting issues from the coughing. Really would welcome any advice.

Wakes up most days 5-5.30am
One nap a day 60-90 mins
Bed at roughly 7pm

I'd probably explain to him that milk at night is finished because he needs his teeth to be strong and not have holes in so he can eat all his tasty food and so they don't get sore, and that he can have milk just before he does his teeth and as soon as he gets up in the morning. During the night it is now just water. This worked well for both of mine when we stopped night milk. They had a couple of nights of being pissed off but I cuddled them and offered water and when they had finished thrashing around we snuggled together and they went back to sleep.

Thank you - I think I need to make the break. I did add some water to his milk last night to make it less appealing, and he did also seem less claggy this morning. Its just so hard when you are surviving on compounded tiredness... my main aim is to try and get him and me back to sleep :(

Can you switch to a cup of milk before you brush his teeth? Ds is 7 and still has milk before bed, but in a cup and before his teeth are brushed

I think you just need to take the plunge and do it. Milk before teeth brushing and then only offer water when he wakes.

Hopefully, you'll find that he stops waking, if he stops getting milk at night.

You just need to change the routine. Milk first with cuddles and brush teeth. Heck, if you’re holding him, you can literally brush teeth while he’s pretty much asleep and then put him to bed.

Milk at bedtime is totally fine. Mine both had it til 3 & 4 years, respectively. Some nights we brushed teeth, some nights we didn’t. No issues with teeth.

The middle of the night just say no and figure out a new routine to get back to sleep. It will mean some disruption and lots of cuddles, but they do adjust.

Oh absolutely, I get it. The tiredness is relentless and makes it so hard to do anything. One broken night - fine. Many years worth - hideous. I think though as he's still waking and not sleeping it's worth a go to get rid of the milk as it will probably help his sleep and also his teeth (for me at this point less of a motivator but still a bonus!).

My two year old was obsessed with her bottle for far too long. In the end she chewed the teat and we showed her it was broken before throwing it away. She surprisingly just accepted this (she would scream and scream when we said no before that). Is there a way you can break the bottle/ cup so he can see it’s just not possible to have milk anymore.

Change to a cup of milk at bed time - I think my DS had a glass of milk before bed every night until he was about 10. We just brushed teeth afterwards. Then to stop the milk at night we changed to water and after about 10 nights he stopped crying and slept through

Is it milk in a bottle? I’d switch to a cup, that might partially solve the issue anyway as it’s not as soothing for them.

Cup of milk at bedtime while you’re reading a story or whatever, then teeth, then bedtime.

Is he old enough to have a cup of water available at night for him to help himself, or will it be tipped everywhere? Offer water only when he wakes in the night and hopefully it won’t be too awful a transition.

Mine are 8 and 10 now and had bedtime milk until not that long ago (thinks it’s been a few years to be fair), but in a cup as part of the evening routine and teeth brushed after. They have water bottles by their beds and have since being little toddlers