Too old for bedtime bottle at 21 months?
We give our toddler a warm bottle of milk before bed and she goes right to sleep. She drinks it after brushing her teeth so I'm a bit worried about cavities. Have any of you heard of teeth problems from this habit.
posted June 5, 2007 - 6:44pm
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My son will be 2 this weekend and he still relies on a bottle to drink his milk. We did however take it away from him in bed. We give him dinner and sometimes a dessert or snack, and then he gets his bottle of milk. After he finishes his milk, he brushes his teeth, uses the potty, and gets in his bed with some books. We expected him to fight us tooth and nail when we first took the bed time bottle away, but it was a lot easier than we thought. I'm guessing it will be the same for you. We did have to help him fall asleep for the first couple of nights and stayed with him until he was out. After that, he was fine. We do let him take something to bed with him. Some kids have an attachment to a doll or bear or blanket, our son has an attachment to a Little People dog this week, so that's what he takes to bed. This object he needs for his comfort has been a Lego block, a car, a xylophone mallet...you name it. We also keep a sippy cup of water at the corner of his bed so he knows he can have a drink if he gets thirsty. That being said, we have tried every trick in the book to get him to give up the bottle completely with no luck. He will drink water, juice, and anything else out of a sippy cup or a regular cup or drink bottle, but he refuses to drink milk out of anything except his bottle. If your daughter talks (our son doesn't talk yet), you could try to just talk to her about not having milk in bed anymore. But reassure her that she can still sleep w/o it. If you want to transition her, I would start by giving her cold milk in the bottle instead of warm. Maybe that will turn her off from it. Or you could try reducing the amount she gets every night until there is none, and then try to take it away. What worked for us was cold turkey and after a few days, he forgot all about needing it fall asleep.
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PermalinkI worked for a dentist for 7 years. The sugar and enzimes in milk can cause cavities and pitting when left in their mouths during the night. Dentist call this kind of tooth damage "Bottle Rot". Give her her last "drink" of milk before brushing her teeth. Then if she still needs a bottle to settle for bed, give her water. Giving water may also help you wean her off the bottle too.
Smile, it increases your face value!
Jodi
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PermalinkMy friend continued giving her older baby a bottle before bedtime as well. When the boy was around two years old, his front teeth on top and bottom rotted out. It could not be fixed. The dentist called it baby bottle mouth. It can also come from letting your child drink soda or juice from a bottle. My daughter was easy to wean from the bottle, my son was a nightmare. I tried everything, nothing worked. Eventually I just cut him off cold turkey, threw away all the bottles and replaced it with sippie cups. I told him he was a big boy and big boys used sippie cups. I had problems for a few days, but by the end of that week he was adjusted and not complaining.
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Permalinki don't really see a problem; it's up to you. My lil 3 yr old girl still gets a bottle of milk before bedtime & wen she wakes up. But she also brushes her teeth after each meal or everytime a after she eats.
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PermalinkI worked for a dentist and trust me you do not want to even chance baby bottle mouth...its horrilbe! My son is 19 months and he has been completely off the bottle since he was 12 months!!! I know all children are different, but it really wasn't hard taking it from him...we just quit the bottle "cold turkey." My son does have a sippy cup of milk before bed but we always brush his teeth afterward and he still falls asleep...it may take some time adjusting but in the end its worth it...I mean just think about it would you rather have a few rough nights adjusting to not having a bottle or several rough days and night of your daughter screaming because her teeth are hurting her!
Good Luck!!
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Permalinki think that when kids a yr old they should be off of the bottle and pacifiers. that is when my kids threw away that stuff themselfs without help from me or the daddy.
we just treat them as big kids all the time and when they see other big kids without that stuff they dont want it eighther
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