Ever since my son was born we have had a bedtime routine established where I give him a warm bath, change into PJ's and then a bottle of formula. My son is now 10 months old and is starting to have a few teeth come in, so I want to stop giving him a bottle of formula before bed. But the problem I am having is that my son is so used to sucking on a bottle as part of the bedtime routine, that when I try to put him to bed without one, he refuses to fall asleep! I have tried to give him a pacifier instead but he must be the only baby in the world that does not like pacifiers! Tonight I tried giving him a bottle with water in it instead of formula before bed and it worked, he fell right to sleep after the bottle, but now I am concerned that a 10 month old should not be drinking that much water (about 6 oz). Am I doing my baby harm by giving him water before bed? How can I transition him off wanting a bottle before bed?
If the water works, I'd stick with it, I don't think there's anything wrong with giving kids water, except you might have a very soggy diaper by morning. What about trying a sippy cup instead of the bottle? It will still give him the sucking that he's used to, it just won't be the bottle. I know when my son was that age and we started taking the bottle away, he didn't care what he was drinking out of, as long as he was drinking something.
Hi,
I thought about the same things with my daughter, who is now 14 months old. When she started to get teeth, i was concerned about the formula causing decay of the teeth if i gave it to her before bed. So i started to water it down, finally ending up with a water bottle before bed, just like you. The thing is, she would always wake up with a very wet diaper about 4 am, which i would change, then have to give her another bottle to get her back to bed. At about 13 months, one night, for no apparent reason, she just fell asleep on my husband without the bottle. Since that nite we have not given her the bottle at all, and she goes to sleep without any problem. I can only assume she grew out of it. so, maybe the same thing will happen for you!
Our pediatrician and our dentist recommended that we do exactly what you are doing....transition your baby from formula /milk to water at bed time, to protect his teeth. We've tried to do it , but he still wants his milk (he is now 14 mos). I think you're doing great, especially if your son is willing to take the water instead of formula!
Ask your doctor if that much water is good or not, I can't imagine it doing any harm do to the fact that water is so good for your body and 80% of you is water, but just to make sure ask to DR. I think you can try to transition him off the bottle by giving less and less water/ or formula each night, start one night with the normal 6 oz or whatever it is and gradually cut it down to 5 and then 4 and so on...
I found this method to be and excellent way to cut out night feedings. I did this when my son was 6 months old at the night feeding he had, I gradually cut it down and he was soon sleeping through the night.
Hopefully, soon your baby will not even remember that he needs the bottle to go to sleep.
There is a book out there about getting your child to sleep - Solve your Child's Sleep Problesm - by Richard Ferber. Amazon has it. I used it for my two daughters and it's wonderful. I used to rock my daughter to sleep every night with a bottle - but she would wake up every night and I would have to rock her back. The book basically says - put them in the crib and say night night. I am sure there will be crying involved - on both parts. Wait 5 minutes and go in and comfort but don't take the baby out of the crib - say night night and leave the room again - wait 10 minutes - then 15 minutes then 20 minutes - do not let the baby cry longer than 20 minutes without going in - I did 3 minutes - 6 minutes - 12 minutes and 20 minutes......anyway - hope this helps
As long as he is getting the right amount of formula throughout the day a night time bottle of formula isn't necessary if he can fall asleep with the water. I forgot the exact amount a 10 month old needs but you can easily find out.
Water is good for babies too, as long as it does not interfere with the amount of formula he takes.
What we did was prerpared a toothbrush (the kind you put on your finger) with infant toothpaste and had it ready next to the rocking chair in the nursery where we gave the bottle at night. After the bottle was gone we brushed the baby's teeth quickly but thoroughly. Then we'd rock them until it was time to put them in the crib. This worked for all 3 of my kids.
So if the water doesn't work justbrush his teeth afterwards.
A.
your not hurting him by giving him water....eventually he will either give it up on his own or you will start potty training and you can explain to him one sip before bed....if you are really worried just give him a little less each week and phase it out...4 out of my 5 took water before bed...they still do...a sip before bed, it's not a horrible habbit.
Both of my boys hated pacifiers too.
I would stick with the water. You said he's drinking 6 oz...maybe every week cut it down a half or a whole ounce. Ideally you want him to fall asleep without anything. My oldest was the same. He first started out with a bottle of breast milk...then it was watered down juice...stupid mistake on my part. Then it was just water. But when we were potty training all that drinking was not good, for obvious reasons. Sooner or later you wind up having to wean them. It's usually easier when they're smaller. anyway...just a thought to cut it down VERY gradually. Hopefully that will be the least traumatic...for everyone! :)
God bless.
What we did was gave the water and then every week we decreased the amount of water given till he went to bed with 1 oz of water.
After a while we were ok without the bottle.
i dont think its harmful to give him water
alot of babies have trouble with water it makes them choke. but if he seems to be doing fine then see what happens. water is thinner so if he wakes up hungry in the night you know why. i really dont see any harm with what you are doing. all kids have thier thing they want before bed. my kids have all been different
A.
The water won't hurt, just make his diaper wetter! The sucking seems to be just a comfort thing for him, and since he won't take the pacificer, water is your only option that won't ruin his newly forming teeth. If you are that concerned, slowly taper off the amount of water until he can get to a point where very little "sucking" is needed. good luck! And fear not, this too shall pass!
Hi, D. - I have a three year old and twins that are just 1 yr. None of them take pacifiers. That aside - to break the bottle before bed time - don't fight it... instead, let him finish his bottle / sippy cup and then swab his teeth fast with a baby tooth brush or the finger brushes if he doesn't have that many teeth. It won't wake him up (if he's fallen asleep) and it'll set a great trend for when he's got more teeth and they need to be brushed right before bed!! ;)
Good luck,
C.
I was wondering if you tried different types of pacifiers, my baby takes anything but I have a friend who went through several different types before she could find one her baby would take!! It was the hard soothies I believe they are called that ended up working. What did your pediatrician say about the water - if they give the ok then stick with that.
hi D.,
we still give our son a small bottle before bedtime & he is almost 2. i like that routine & feel it is comforting to him. when i wanted to wean him off the middle of the night botte alot of moms suggested to slowly decrease the milk volume over time so it's not so drastic. others also said to dilute the milk with water & gradually decrease. personnaly i see no harm in giving a bottle before bedtime. Our son sucks his thumb & never wanted a pacifier either!
Water is healthy at any age. That's great that he'll drink the water. I wouldn't be concerned about him having too much of that.
Hi D.,
He may well be too young to stop that bottle before bed. My son is almost 2 and still has one right before going to sleep, and his teeth are fine--he brushes at least twice a day including right before the bedtime routine, and we haven't had problems. Babies your son's age especially need to "tank up" to sleep through the night. He needs those calories and as long as you're instilling good oral hygiene now that his teeth are coming in and not allowing him to fall asleep with the bottle in the crib (and therefore nursing it through the night and letting milk pool and sit in his mouth, which CAN cause tooth decay), you'll be fine. Don't deprive him of the calories and the comfort so young. It's not necessary or worth the other costs--not sleeping through the night, throwing off his daytime eating & sleeping routines, etc.
BTW we found Tracy Hogg's book "The Baby Whisperer Solves All your Problems (By Teaching you HOw to Ask the Right Questions) very helpful with sleep & eating issues. We actually "dream fed" our son until he was around 1--that is, went into his room around 11pm and gave him a bottle IN HIS SLEEP to give him the calories he needed to sleep through the night--and like I said above, no oral hygiene problems. And BTW, now he sleeps like a champion 11-12 hours a night and hardly ever needs help to get back to sleep when he wakes during the night, so these practices will not interfere with good sleep hygiene either, if you do them right.
Good luck!
K.
As long as you brush his teeth after he has the bottle and you don't let him fall asleep in the crib with the bottle in his mouth, I think you can give him the bottle of formula before bed. 10 months is still pretty young. If he needs the bottle in his mouth to fall asleep and he has had enough formula for the day, 6oz of water isn't going to hurt him. You can cut that back to 4oz. after a little while, too.
Let me preface this with the fact that I am too a first time mom with a 13 month old, but in my opinion (take it or leave it) - I am not sure I would be so concerned right now about the formula before bed. As long as you are not giving him the bottle in the crib to suck on all night long, it really isn't going to affect the teeth anymore than a normal feeding would. I think that getting formula or milk is fine before bed - babies need to be full to sleep. But maybe ask your Dr. Especially about the water. As for weaning - if you want, try giving him less and less each time until eventually it is only a few ounces. And then make it weaker and weaker and by then he will be on Milk and no formula and you will be ready to wean from bottles altogether.
Nothing wrong with water, if you want to stop the bottle try a sippy cup with a soft top to start.
1st, my daughter didn't like pacifiers either (not until her teeth came in, then she used them to chew on..that's it!) 2nd water is not bad for a 10 month old...especially only 6oz...my daughter's pediatrician told me to try and give her 8oz of water around that age, whether it be in 1 bottle, or a couple oz throughout the day...so i'm sure it's fine to put him to bed w/ the bottle of water, just double check w/ his ped.! as for weaning...my daughter too still drinks a bottle to go to sleep, both nap and bed (and she's nearly 2 yrs old). what i do (and have done since she was on formula last yr) is water the milk down. she's now to the point of having 2-4oz milk, and all rest (6-8 oz) water...then i fill the bottle up with just warm (not hot or cold) water once she's done with her milk bottle just so that she's still got something to drink in the middle of her sleep (i still do it myself, but i wake up to drink from my water bottle or glass, so i can't blame her wanting something in the middle of the night lol). i just make sure that she has enough dairy throughout the day, and i make sure i have her brush her teeth (which is just starting to be done somewhat right...after 1 yr of trying) just take the time to wipe down teeth once he wakes up (or gums if that's all he has now) and everything should be good.
