Milk at night, can it be stored in a thermos?

[Kardelen]

Hello dear mumsnet users,
so my toddler always wakes up for milk in the night. I can’t leave him to cry and go to the kitchen to warm milk as he throws a tantrum and loses his sleep.
so I have tried putting milk in a thermos overnight so I can quickly put it in his bottle. The milk is warm but I always have a funny feeling incase what I am doing is wrong.
he doesn’t drink cold milk, has to be warm which makes it tricky.
does anyone else use thermos or previously used it?

thank you

I wouldn't keep milk at warm, drinking temperature for more than an hour or two. I presume you are talking about cows milk, rather than formula in which case I would take a bottle of cold milk in an insulated bag to keep it cold up at bedtime and a flask of hot water and when they want the bottle just add a dash of hot water to the milk to warm it slightly.

Thank you dear. Is there a reason why you wouldn’t keep it warm for longer than 1-2 hours?

Didn't you already start a thread on this the other day and got lots of helpful suggestions?

Urmmm not that I am aware, this is my first post regarding this. Are you able to share that post with me?

Bacteria breeds quite quickly in warm milk and could make your child Ill.

take pre-made cartons up or as PP suggested, a flask of hot water to pour in to warm it up if your child wouldn’t mind the milk being watered down a bit.

Milk at night is incredibly bad for teeth.

Can you try replacing with warm water?

A toddler doesn’t need milk at night. That’s no inducement to sleep through, which is good for them. If you had someone making you a tasty warm treat during the night, you’d probably be keen to wake up for it too! If they are truly thirsty, offer room temp water. They will soon decide it’s just not worth it and start to sleep through. Hold firm, short term pain (and it will be painful until they realise you are not going to cave no matter how many tantrums they through or for how long), for long term gain.

You can't keep it warm/room temperature as bacteria will grow quickly at those temperatures.

That's why we keep milk in the fridge at under 5c, as that is too cold for bacteria.

If you keep it in a thermos it would need to be really hot, too hot to drink (over 65c I think) to prevent bacteria growth.

Personally I would just offer water in the night - you will have a few nights of tantrums but then you have solved your milk issue. Milk in the night is bad for his sleep and teeth.

Scrap the night time milk he's way to old for that and it's awful for their teeth.

I agree I would offer room temperature water and nothing else, maybe tell him tonight that this is the last time rather than just remove it without warning, but you'll need to stick with it and ride it out.

The logic is,

• He doesn't need it
• It's not good for his teeth
• It's not good for you to be getting up in the night, he needs to learn to settle.
• You don't need to be getting up and warming milk, you don't need to be a martyr, if it was medicine that's completely different.

That’s what I was thinking! But thought heating it would kill, but of course it may breed if it constantly stays warm then. Thank you

Used to breast feed him so only just stopped. So the only way to get him to sleep at the moment is milk 🥲
I do need to find an alternative way

Agree with PPs to offer water only. Maybe water down the milk for a couple of nights to transition.

In my experience, they'll stop waking for it.

Will defo try this today, thank you ♥️
just weaned him off breast milk, so this was like a substitute. Didn’t think of water! Maybe I should put it in a bottle?

Oh I didn’t realise it’s bad for sleep!
thank you so much for the explanation, makes sense.
would it be bad if he drank a lot of water then if I replace the milk with water?
i think he won’t he will probably throw a tantrum but just incase he does?

your right! Thank you. It’s just difficult as he throws mad tantrums and just stopped breast feeding, so was using milk as a substitute.
but water it is now!

Oh to mix water into milk?

Unless there are other issues, you can't tiptoe around a toddler in case they have a tantrum, he needs to learn to go to bed and sleep and self settle if he wakes up. Easier said than done but that's the goal.

The longer you continue to placate him with milk the harder it'll be to stop. I would give a last drink if that's milk then that first then, teeth cleaned in a dark bathroom, back into a dark bedroom and then it's bedtime.

Makes sense! Thank you

No to warm milk - if you must give milk give cold but it's bad for teeth.

Just deal with the tantrums, push through, move on. It’s best for them. Uninterrupted sleep is best for them and the secondary benefit of being best for their teeth.