Inadvertently might have done the exact wrong thing to get my baby to sleep and I'm now reaping the consequences... any advice?!

[MotherofKitties]

Hi all,

I have a 5 month old DD who won’t go to sleep without a bottle in her mouth and I’ve been told that I’m doing exactly the wrong thing by doing this...!

She’s my first and I’ve just been focusing on getting her to sleep and to stay asleep as she doesn’t sleep through (usually sleeps 2-4 hours at a time); we have a set bedtime routine of a bottle, bath time and then bed, where she falls asleep with the bottle in her mouth (used to combo feed but she’ll only take a bottle now).

We do tend to leave it in there (supervised) until it falls out or she’s in a deep enough sleep for her not to realise we’ve taken it out of her mouth - there’s never been a time where we’ve been able to get her to sleep without ‘feeding her to sleep’ and she won’t take a pacifier.

To be honest it hadn’t even occurred to me that I might be setting a difficult precedent by settling her down with a bottle, but I’ve been told it’s bad for her teeth (she hasn’t got any yet), and I’m making a rod for my own back by having her associate sleep with having a bottle!

First of all, is now the right time to try and sort it out or is she too young to try and sleep train? Has anyone been in a similar situation and used any techniques that worked? Like I said she’s my first so I’d appreciate any advice on this! Xx

@marcine... avoided the question though really....

Google 'baby bottle mouth'.

Hippy, I read the advice, I wanted to follow it and it worked out for me. I honestly what you do. I don't know what you want to argue about?
Ideally, teeth are brushed before bed. Bottles aren't great for teeth. Milk in the night isn't great for teeth. If and how other parents follow advice is up to them.

It's a simple yes or no really?

Lovinglola: That's what I didn't realise and that's what I'm worried about!

DD doesn't have any teeth yet but I'd hate it if our bedtime routine led to any health issues!

Re PPs, out if curiosity when did you introduce water into your babies diets? Was it only at bedtime? Sounds like that could be a good alternative, bottle of water instead of milk, less teeth issues, baby less likely to demand bottle if she knows nighttime = water....

I offered water with solids. I didn't offer water in the night until we night weaned, so once they were eating really well in the day.

Water offered throughout the day, especially with meal. Water in the night before fully weaned is puting your own sleep needs ahead of your babies hunger...imo.

I introduced water in a cup alongside meals. I didn't use it at night in a bottle. I gradually reduced what i offered in the bottle in night feeds from 6 months. Ds stopped night feeds using this method at around 8 months. After that he got his teeth brushed after his bedtime feed.

Interesting... thank you all for your experiences!

We've just started weaning a couple of days ago, and DD is loving it so far which I'm so pleased about! I'll see how the weaning goes and then think about introducing a bit of water with her purées, and maybe introduce water at night when she's a bit older!

I also brushed my ds teeth after the last feed at night once he was weaned. I actually started brushing his gums with a bit of gauze before the teeth even came in. And yes when he was about 7 or 8 months and I knew he was eating enough in the day i started offering water if he woke in the night. Every baby is different but its good to be aware of looking after their teeth from a young age.

Op its tricky when they have a sleep dependency, and its up to you but at some point your DD preferably needs to learn to sleep without the bottle in her mouth.

Just read up on changing sleep associations. Personally I'd start letting her get drowsy on the bootle but not fall asleep.

It will take time but she will learn to fall asleep without sucking and possibly sleep longer overnight and she won't need to be ducking a bottle to get back to sleep.

Another option is to properly introduce a dummy but then they need to give that up and until they can find it in the cot and put in there own mouth they will wake you up for it!

Oh do you know what, we all parent differently and our parents probably all parented differently and guess what we all survived.
Do what is working for you. Sleep is important. My 1 year old still wakes for milk some nights (tends to be a growth spurt). I give it and don't wash her teeth but yes I do worry about her teeth.
However my parents fed me coke - yes Coca Cola (I don't believe it so I am sure you are all judging it) in my bottle and I had no cavities in my baby teeth and now only 2 filings in my mid 30's. My cousin had a bottle until 7 and has the most perfect straight teeth. I had dummies until 5 and have straight teeth with never a need for braces.
Basically what I'm saying is, yes better not to, but try not and stress, do what is working for you and you will all survive it
Also my LG used to always breast feed to sleep, then we moved to bottles and she fed to sleep or was rocked to sleep. Then for past few months she fed herself her bottle in cot and rolled over and went to sleep. This past few nights she has bottle in livingroom and goes down to sleep after.
Babies constantly change and I don't know no 18 year olds still taking a bottle to bed, well not of the milk variety anyway.
It's so stressful being a parent without second guessing yourself all the time. If I was to have my year over the advice I would give myself would be to relax and enjoy it, it all works out.