Weaning Milk Before Sleep Time

Why do you want to wean her from having a bottle of milk before sleeping? My almost 5 year old son still drinks warm milk before bed. I remember having a glass of warm milk before bed up to the age of 7 or 8. I still drink a cup of herbal tea in the evening to help relax before bedtime. It's relaxing, it's not addictive, what's wrong with it? I seriously don't understand why you think this is a bad habit.

Hi!
Go to the bookstore and find the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" It will help you sleep train your child. It will probably be the hardest thing you've ever done, especially since you are starting at one year old, but you will be happy in the end. She will go down when she is supposed to, mostly without a fight, and the whole family will be happier. Having proper sleep habits is good for her mental, emotional and physical development. As for weening her off the milk, you don't have to, make sure it is a sippy cup and not a bottle, and then make sure you have a good nap and bedtime routine with story time being last. Once you have her sleep trained things will be great.

This may or may not be helpful, yet here goes...

After raising 5 kids, I have noticed, at least with my first kids that sometimes I would do things that kind of put off facing their side that resisted my influence. So sometimes they would get pacified into habits that were energy zapping for me or counter productive for them. I mean, at least for me, it was kind of shocking to realize my child could protest, be tempermental, or would actually choose to reject the healthy, good practices I was trying to teach them.

Finally I came across a book that basically said kids will up the resistance 3xs to see if you really plan to stick to what you are teaching them. It said if parents can stick to their resolve respectfully, with a good example, validate, and praise every good step toward the goal then the prize at the end will be won.

Hi K.,
I really don't think you need to wean her right now. One year-old is too young. My four year-old still drinks milk before bed and then brushes her teeth. Maybe you could try that. Let her drink milk and then gently brush her teeth. Afterwards, try rocking her to sleep. That's what I did with my daughter. If it makes you feel better, my daughter didn't completely wean from the bottle until about 3 1/2. Don't worry about what the books or doctors say. Children on the bottle until three or four has been going on for generations and they are fine. Good luck.

why stop? If its just before sleep why not allow the gentle sucking to let her relax? My near 2 year old still has bottle before resting and if I were breast feeding him still, I suppose I would still do it before resting. The sucking is what they need and if your baby doesn't have anything else they are attached to I would allow the bottle a little longer. Just my opinion!

I say choose your battles, it's really not a big deal. I promise you that its not going to hurt her and she will grow up just as normal as anyone else, honestly, let it go, in the big picture, its a zero deal, like I said, try to choose your battles, and wanting or needing something to sooth her to go to sleep is a wonderful thing, its not a bad thing at all.
L.
A proud mommy of 3 beautiful little girls.

I think it's okay to still have milk at bed till at least two. Why not? It's a nice little ritual with Mom. I would keep it for a while and not stress too much. Good luck

I know of one thing some Mom's try and that is progressively watering down the contents of the bottle so it would slowly become unpalatable. If you are also reading stories, you can have the bottle, then read the story, then to nap/bed. That uncouples the bottle from sleep and makes stories the precursor to sleep. After a time, you may be able to only read. We did this with our son when he was about 1 yr old, for a slightly different reason. We were having stories, then breastfeeding, then sleep. He would wake up in the night and could get himself to sleep, but we weren't sleeping through his waking. Our Pediatrician suggested we reverse the order of things-breastfeeding then story. He slept through the first night (I'm not kidding-it was the first night we tried this), and not long after that, he was weaned because he was not associating sleep with breastfeeding anymore and could go to sleep with a story instead. Good luck!

My doctor suggested giving less and less in the cup each time. So eventually you're just giving a couple of drinks worth. It's going to be tough no matter what. Does the drink before sleep help her to sleep better at all? Or does it help her to wind down a bit? I'm just wondering why you're intent on breaking this habit. I know putting her down with the bottle is bad but does she drink it all before actually laying down? The only other thing I can think of is to change your whole sleep approach. I let my younger son cry it out. It took about 2 weeks but after that he would go to sleep without a problem when I laid him down in his crib for nap and bedtime. I'm not suggesting that you let your child cry it out if you're not comfortable with that but my point is that trying something new might take the focus off of the bottle.

I don't know any advice for you, except cold turkey, and just deal with the crying. But I do have a warning. My son just got $5,500 worth of dental work and the dentist said the most common reason for that level of dental work is having milk before sleep (which my son didn't do, but we think it is bad genetics). The dentist said 90% of the time cavities in little kids are from milk sitting in their mouth after teeth brushing. Good luck.

We gave our two girls just water before naps and bedtime. It was difficult at first, but we got through it. At 10 and 13, they still enjoy a cup of water on their night stands.

Dear K.,
My son is 5 and he still goes to bed with a cup of milk every night but he also has a cup of water. I think getting your kid to sleep is more important than worrying about the milk. I don't think it's a big deal at 1 year to go to bed with milk. However, if it really bothers you, try switching it to water. You can give her a non spillable sippy to take to bed with water and just leave it in her crib if she's thirsty.

Hope this helps.

L.

I have 3 boys and would never dream of taking their milk away. They all have turned out great. The ages are 18 months, 2 1/2 and 7. Just think of it this way if you were beast feeding you would be nursing before bed time. They are just little babies one time in their life and do whatever works. They will be fine. We travel a lot and giving the milk before bedtime gives them a sense of comfort when in a different crib/bed and time zone. So good luck and you'll know whats best for your baby. Cheers

She probably doesn't need the milk, and likes the sucking on the bottle more than what's in it. My suggestion is fill the bottle with water, (that's what we did, water is always a good thing) and on her first birthday make a big deal of getting rid of all her bottles and replacing them with sippy cups. We got a bag from Good Will and told our daughters that the poor babies need bottles and and placed all their bottle paraphernalia in the bag. We made it seem like that was what everyone did on their first birthday. For our first child we just packed it up, but for the second child, which seemed to be more difficult, we actually got in the car and took her to Good Will. She got her sippy cup with water at nap time and bead time and never looked back at her bottle. We did the same with her pacifier. The trick is to stick to it. She may cry for a few nights. Also, it's helpful to make bed time a routine. What I mean is to always do the same things before she goes to bed. Our routine was bath, brush teeth, story then bed. You would be surprised how well a routine helps with bed time.