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Original poster

.How bad is this? Milk left overnight question

21 replies

taliac · 27/02/2009 11:39

DD2 (14m) wakes most mornings between 5.30 and 6am. Its hunger that gets her up, she's still pretty tired.

If I feed her and try and get her back to sleep it will occasionally work, but usually by the time shes cried long enough to wake me up and get me out of bed (its 5.30!) she's pretty awake so we start the day.

The only time recently that she slept though to 7am, I realised that I'd left a half full bottle of (cows) milk in her cot. Her sister had been fussing at bedtime and I'd put DD2 in her cot to finish her milk and she'd fallen asleep instead. At 7am the bottle was empty and right by her head, so I think she probably spotted it when she woke up at 5.30 and polished it off without complaint.

So my question is, how dodgy is milk thats been left in a bottle over night by the time it gets to morning? Will regularly leaving milk in her cot last thing at night for her to help herself to in the morning end up with an upset tummy?

Or is there a better tactic for getting us past the 5.30am hungries?

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llareggub · 27/02/2009 11:42

My DS has always woken up around this time, I'm afraid! I'm sure if the milk had been rancid she wouldn't have drunk it. Depends how warm your house is, though.

Original poster

taliac · 27/02/2009 11:45

SO do we think that if its not actually off then its okay?

I remember something from baby days about old milk and bacteria, thus the insane amounts of sterilising.

But I've not had a good nights sleep in months so my recall is pretty crummy.

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SoupDragon · 27/02/2009 11:49

I think it's a bad idea. It won't be good for her teeth if she's been drinking it in the night. What happens if you leave a non-spill beaker of water?

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llareggub · 27/02/2009 11:50

I'm sure she has had worse from the floor. If she starts vomiting or gets the runs seek advice, but I'm sure it is fine.

Original poster

taliac · 27/02/2009 11:50

Thats worth trying..

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llareggub · 27/02/2009 11:51

Just to clarify, I'm trying to reassure you as a one-off. I think you might just need to accept you have an early bird.

Original poster

taliac · 27/02/2009 11:52

She might indeed be an early bird, but she is very tired when she gets up that early - thats why I think its hunger..

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SoupDragon · 27/02/2009 11:53

DS1 once drank from a beaker of milk that had rolled under the sofa. It was rank. He was absolutely fine but I wouldn't recommend it

Original poster

taliac · 27/02/2009 11:59

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muppety · 01/03/2009 11:45

DS2 did this. I got fed up of getting up to him for milk in the night so just put a beaker of milk in instead. He still at 3.5 wakes for milk in the night. I can hear him drinking then he goes back off. So far no dodgy tummies.

PlumpRumpSoggyBaps · 01/03/2009 11:57

We've been pondering this too. We usually leave a bottle in a freezer bag in ds2's room and pop in to give it to him when we hear him waking in the wee small hours. My dh doesn't mind doing this if he hears him but I'd love a better solution as I'm a very bad sleeper and it takes forever to get back to sleep sometimes, which kind of ruins the point.

Also need to get a beaker instead of a bottle. I wonder if they do a sort of Thermos-y type beaker? Hmmm....

bubblagirl · 01/03/2009 11:59

probably a lot of things shouldn't be done or will be frowned apon but if it works for you then do it i did and ds settled well with his milk left with him i did used to freshen milk when i went to bed and pop it back in id do half bottle and then another half later on

SoupDragon · 01/03/2009 12:15

At 3.5, children shouldn't be waking "for milk". They may be thirsty but should only be having water at night at that age.

Morloth · 01/03/2009 13:34

Can't see a problem myself, if everyone gets a bit more sleep then it sounds perfect.

Given some of the stuff I have seen my kid put in his mouth - milk left overnight would be sweet nectar. I am always forgetting to put the milk back in the fridge and we drink it anyway.

SoupDragon there is not "should" or "shouldn't" when it comes down to this stuff, if everyone is happy then who gives a toss what other people do. People worry too much about all this shit these days.

My mother managed to raise 6 perfectly healthy, strapping, well balanced individuals and I would be amazed if she wasted a moment of that time wondering about all the shoulds and shouldn'ts that people seem to freak out about now.

Blondeshavemorefun · 01/03/2009 17:23

what time does your dd go to bed?

if early ie 6.30 can you delay an hour and make sure she has a good tea and milk 5mins before she goes to bed

i would personally water down the milk or give water but sure leaving milk in the cot is fine - if it works for you

Coldtits · 01/03/2009 17:28

Take the milk up when you go to bed, ice cold from the fridge. It probably won't even have got to room temperature but the time she wakes up 8 hours later!

DesperateHousewifeToo · 01/03/2009 17:47

Could you just try water instead of milk?

In the summer when the nights are boiling, the milk will definitely go rancid (used to happen to dd's milk overnight).

cilitbang · 01/03/2009 17:56

I've been leaving a bottle of milk by DS's (2) bedside for months now, he helps himself in the night and saves me getting up. He has pearly white teeth and is a great sleeper, never gets tummy ache from it he just loves his night time top up! I do exactly as you stated, take it up with me straight from the fridge when I go up to bed (around 10/11pm) and its fine. Don't know if it last the night during the summer though, if its really hot. Maybe you could get one of those wine cooler things that you put in the freezer and wrap it around the bottle.

SoupDragon · 01/03/2009 20:29

Actually, Morloth, yes there are such things as should and shouldn't with this stuff.

Cow's milk is slightly acidic
Cow's milk has 5.2g of sugar per 100ml (this is about 3/4 of a teaspoon)

Once they have teeth, there is no way they should be having milk in the middle of the night. Whether it is rancid or not is a side issue as far as I'm concerned.

My point was that they are most likely waking because they are thirsty and not because they need milk. Mine have always had a non-spill beaker of water in their bed/cot from about 1 or so and that stopped them waking thirsty in the night.

kitkat9 · 02/03/2009 16:28

I leave dd milk in bed most nights, although I'm now bringing those times to an end..

She was waking once on the night for more milk so I was getting up and giving it to her in her cot, ie leaving her there with it. Eventually I just started putting a cold bottle in her cot as I went to bed, about 10pm or so. She does drink it but never wakes us up any more, so it does the trick. She's just turned 2 btw. It's not whole milk, rather semi or fully skimmed.

As I said, I'll be weaning her off this soon, some nights now I don't leave her any and so far so good. She's still sleeping through. Also, it's never a full bottle, usually only 4 oz or thereabouts.

If it works for you, just do it. Her teeth are scruubed in the morning and are strong, white and healthy, so no problems there. You could always try putiing water in the bottle instead - I do this too and it's been fine.

Original poster

taliac · 03/03/2009 18:24

Sorry we've been through a few days of D&V here - though with DD1 so old milk in the bed is not the culprit!

Will try water and see what happens..

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