Dropping before bed bottle feed

[SL80]

Hi everyone,

Our little one is near on 18 months now but we still use the before bed bottle feed to help her drift off. It's our first child so after some advice/opinions when we should start to wean off this feed, assuming a toddler doesn't really need it anymore, as having three meals a day/snacks plus a morning milk, but it's just 'routine'.

Should we just go cold turkey? In others experiences what has worked, and at what age?

Watching with interest! My daughter is also 18 months and we still give her a bottle before bed.

@SL80 You may want to ask for this to be moved to 'weaning' instead of 'dadsnet' you may get more replies 

Thanks - maybe I am blind but I can't find the 'weaning' chat thread, I've tried looking under the various drop down headings on the site!??

It is in topics as Weaning but lets see if @MNHQ can move it.

Hoping for some help on this too. My DD is over 2 now and still has a bottle of milk before bed.
We had her off it cold turkey for a few days a long time ago then she got poorly so we gave in and let her have a bottle. Then we had another baby, now we're trying to deal with the baby's sleeping routine etc and have just let the bottle issue slide. It's gone on too long now.
Problem is she's like the Duracell bunny and the bottle of milk is the only thing (almost) guaranteed to get her sleeping quickly.

Does it really matter? I'm not sure a bottle of milk before bed is a particular issue?

My 5yo DDstill has bedtime milk and I don’t think it is that uncommon so I’m not sure you need to drop the milk at all but I think the advice is to transition to a sippy cup instead around this point. Tbh we didn’t do it until she was about 2.5 and then her bottles “went to the babies” in exchange for a little gift

We didn't wean either of us off, our youngest we moved from a bottle to a cup (we use a 360). Our eldest is now 4 and sometimes has milk before bed sometimes doesn't wasn't a conscious choice just naturally happened.

Yes our little one is the same, seems to get a second wind after bathtime and wants to run around the bedroom and wrestle the pillows on our bed! The milk calms her. Reading other comments seems pretty common and so I am not too worried, suppose one way to look at it is loads of adults I know (me included) have a cup of tea, or a Horlicks or a glass of wine before bed to wind down!!

You could move to a cup if it is the bottle you want to get rid of rather than the milk.

The problem with a bottle just before bed is that it's not good for their teeth, do you brush her teeth after the bottle? Switching to a cup would be better (lower chance of tooth decay).

I used to have a cup of warm milk before bed until I was about 6-7. Could you transition to cup and straight up cows milk if it's currently bottle and formula?

I think the key thing is cleaning teeth after the milk, if I remember correctly.

I really don't understand the rush to get rid of the bedtime milk, I think it's the HV pushing it. My first son decided on the night of his 2nd birthday that he was a "big boy" and didn't need it anymore, but my second son is 17 months and I'm in no rush to get rid of it. He has it before his bath though, then teeth brushed in bath before bed. 18 months is still a baby, let him have the milk

We went cold turkey right on 12 months as recommended by the dentist. A few nights of needing extra cuddles etc to get to sleep and then they were fine.

I'm sure bottles are OK if they're having their teeth brushed after but mine were literally falling asleep with the teat still in their mouths, leaving all the sugar in the milk to start attacking their teeth.

(Now teenagers and neither have any cavities, if that motivates you!)

Yes to a cup of milk before bed, no reason why not. I actually can’t see the harm in a bedtime milky drink at any age.

It's the bottle that's the problem (in terms of tooth decay), not the milk in it.