Do you put your toddler to bed with a bottle?

Question

I put my 15 month old daughter to sleep with a bottle every night and she wakes up soak n wet. Just curious as to how many mothers are in habit of doing the same thing. Any suggestions of how to wean her off of needing a bottle before bed time?

Answer 1

Yes, we used to, and we're almost a week out from taking it away after I got tired of changing sheets and washing them everyday.(try huggies overnights, they have more padding and soak up more, if you don't quite want to give them up yet). It will change your bedtime routine, but do it now, my daughter is 20 months and it was hard. Start by telling her all day that her bottle went bye bye, or take all the nipples out and show her how they are "broke" and don't work anymore. Then throw them in the trash and make sure you take it out before bedtime, so you're not tempted. She will cry and whine at first. Horribly. I ended up sitting here and crying cause she was upset, but I knew I HAD to stay firm and not give in. She literally cried for 2 1/2 hours the first night, and I'd go in and check on her every half hour or so. It was all starts and stops type of crying, but with that horrible pitch, lol. We like to make sure she has a sippy cup of water available for when she's thirsty, but she tends not to really drink it, she tastes it and wails some more, but it's there is she wants it, and she doesn't have to use it if she don't, lol. Make sure she's eating a good dinner and will still be somewhat full before bed, and give her one last cup of milk about an hour before bedtime and tell her it's her bedtime drink. The hardest part is finding what method you want to use(research) and sticking with it. But it works in the long run, we're a week out of taking them away and last night she only whined for about 20 minutes and all cried for 5 min. Her nap today was only about 5 minutes worth of crying. Another important thing is to not let her get set in having you come try to soothe her all the time. I went in 4x the first night, none the next, 2x the next night, and every since we just call out to her and let her know we are here, but that it's bedtime and she needs to go to sleep. Evenutally they get tired and fall asleep, then they start learning how to get to sleep alone. I would always just brush her hair back, tell her softly it was nightime, hand her a teddy bear and tell her to sleep, then walk away. Add an I love you from the other side of the door, and go do your thing in another room, lol. At least, it worked for us, we didn't want to train her to need help everynight. We stick to the same bedtime ritual we have always had, and she whimpers a bit cause she knows it's bedtime soon, but I'm hoping she'll get over it soon. Just research! Good luck!  

Answer 2

not good habit. I never did that.  

Answer 3

No.  My DD was off the bottle by 13 months.  She will occasionally go to bed with a sippy cup of water, or need a drink in the middle of the night.

My daughter gets a cup of milk before bed, but I cuddle with her while she drinks it from her cup, then I put her to bed.  Try giving her a cup instead of the bottle, and don't put it in bed with her.

Answer 4

Not an eaasy task, but do not give the baby anything but formula in the bottle.  give juice and water in a sippy cup.  This giving the baby the bottle can be hard to break for you can be many nights of crying and screaming but worth breaking the bottle plus giving the bottle at bedtime can give the ebaby bottke mouth decay which leads to rotten teeth!  Good luck!

Answer 5

maybe you just give it to her before going to bed. It creates bad sleeping habits, it will provoke tooth decay & cavities, and she wakes up soak & wet from it. You need to stop it now. Don't take the bottle away, just don't let her go to bed with it. Does she use a sippy cup?? how about a sippy full of milk right before bed, then brush her teeth and she's good to go.

Answer 6

i never put my son to bed with a bottle its not a good idea to do that.

Answer 7

i used to put my second son to bed with a bottle, now we visit the dentist office quite often due to "bottle rot" and it's a major problem, he brushes his teeth every morning and night and is now 4 yrs old, but one of his teeth in the back is literally rotting out of his mouth, i would quickly take the bottle away at bed time. The first few nights will be difficult but believe me its for the best and eventually your baby will get used to falling asleep on his/her own.

p.s. i've learned with several children ( mine and relatives) that babies who need a pacifying source at bed time usually grow up with some level of separation anxiety and that is a very difficult thing to overcome for both the parent and the child. Best of luck to you

Answer 8

I only gave mine bottles in bed when they would drink the whole thing and throw it overboard right away.

Try giving her bedtime milk from a cup and put her to sleep with a special toy or something other than the bottle.She needs to have some thing to substitute for the bottle.

Good luck.

Answer 9

Just give your toddler a quick splash, just enough to nod off to sleep with. I got aaway from bottles around 12-18 months. I only used them at night for a while then I started reducing how much they got in the bottle. Every once in a while my kids would fuss at bed time so I would give to them from time to time. Now at 3 it is still just an occasional thing to have some water for bed.

Answer 10

Nope, I am sort of a neat freak when it comes to my kids.  Plus, I took away the bottle from her when she turned 1.  But what I do is put a Playtex STRAW cup in there with water and only water and it doesn't leak if you tighten it.  My kids transitioned to straw cups after the bottle because they loved to suck on the straw, they thought it was fun.

edit:  I forgot to say that you can use the straw cups and add water to the milk and slowly dilute it more and more til it's all water.

Answer 11

no i do not mine is not a toddler yet

Answer 12

I taught my son to fall asleep unaided at 4 months- a bottle is still part of his bed time routine so that he goes to sleep full, but he finishes it 45 minutes or so before he is tucked in. we will be starting potty training soon, but I dont expect to change the bottle until I expect a dry diaper through the night. if you have her potty trained, she shouldn't be getting liquids within an hour of bed and she should be using the toilet before going to bed.

Answer 13

nope never,its quite a bad habit 2 get them out of when it comes 2 potty training at night and there is also the teeth issue

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