Bottle During the Night?

The main reason why they don't want children slleping with the bottle is because the milk will pool around the gums all night and might cause cavities. So yes she/he can sleep with water. BUt I let my son fall asleep with his bottle at night a few times and his teeth are just fine.

My baby is just 11 weeks old, but I can already sympathize with you. My pediatrician told me to let her cry it out at 2 weeks of age. I strongly disagreed with her and did not do that. Sometimes the parenting philosophies of the doctors don't match ours and it is our responsibility to decide what works best for us as parents. Give her the bottle, if you feel it is best. I hate thinking that my baby is hungry for even a moment.

I gave my son a milk bottle during the night when he was that age. You shouldn't send her to bed with it, because the milk (or water) can go into the ears and cause ear infections, but you can hold her and give her a milk bottle before putting her down.

When my son was that age and he woke up during the night, I would hold him and give him another milk bottle then too. Is your baby eatting solids yet? When I noticed my son was waking up frequently hungry at night, I would feed him a small bowl of oatmeal (Gerber oatmeal cereal) an hour or so before I was ready to put him down.

My son is 2 and I still give him milk (in a cup now) before I put him to bed. The doctors will tell you a lot of things, a lot of the time they are right, but sometimes their suggestions aren't right for your child. (An example, my doctors told me not to let my son take 2 hr naps, only 45 min to an hour. I know my son requires a lot of sleep, and if I wake him up there will be hell to pay all day!!) You know your child and what she needs.

i dont see anything wrong with just water. if she has teeth the milk is what is bad, but juice and water should be fine.

Hi A.,

I have a 13 month old baby girl and when I stopped nursing her at the 12 month point, I started to give her a sippy cup with milk to make the transition a bit smoother. Thankfully, it has worked and she is able to fall asleep without much fuss. AT this point, we have decided that it is okay to let her fall asleep with her sippy cup. My advise to you is to do what is best for you and your family. As you know each child is different. I hope this helps.

I think that if you feed "on demand" throughout the day, in other words, make sure that she eats quite a bit all day long, she should be satisfied with water at night. Maybe some rice cereal or oatmeal right before she goes to bed? My kids would get ear infections if I let them fall asleep with anything but water.

I give my son a bottle an hour before bed. But he's used to it. He's 10 month's old. If your baby demands the bottle at night, ween him till before bedtime slowly. I heard laying down with a bottle can cause ear infections.

A.,

If you don't mind giving her the bottle then by all means. However, if you want to be able to sleep through the night you can break her habit. All you do is start feeding her less and less. For instance, if you give her 5 oz. of water, the first night, do 4oz, the second night give 3 oz, the third night, give 2oz, and by the fourth night your baby will probably not need it anymore. If you want to do that, you may have to use the "cry it out" method, which in a lot of cases only takes three nights before it works.

Good luck!

water is ok in the bottle at night the reason the docs say no milk is cause it rots the teeth an cause it can cause ear infections. i was told by the docs at cooks childrens hospital in fort worth that a bottle a night is ok cause it clears out the mouth an ears of milk not that the milk get directly in the ear but the area that cause the infections. my daughter is 2 my son is 7 an that is what i did with them i put them to bed when they had almost finished there milk then when they went to sleep in there bed with the milk i emptied there bottle an put water in it. just make sure you baby doesn't choak on water easy. that is how i got my son off the bottle to he didn't want the water after a few nights. good luck

I have a 9 month old son and worried about the same thing. From what I've read, they don't get hungry at night, just like us. I make sure to feed my son as big a baby food dinner as he will eat about 45-60 minutes before bed, and I don't feed him again until 5-6am. I'm considering trying to push him another hour or so. We'll see how that goes. He is still waking every 3 hours, but I don't feel it's due to hunger.

I have three children oldest son 9, daughter 6, and youngest 1 years old. I have never put a bottle in their mouth when I wasn't holding them during the night just out of paranoa on my part. The effects of the bottle at night are devastating to the teeth that are forming under or above the gums. There is also a higher risk of choking. Not to mention ear problems. Babies are more prone to earaches and infections that sometimes leads to tubes having to be placed in their ears. My advice....Just don't take the risk of any of these results occuring. Use yor better judgement as a parent. I know if they stir in the night and don't go back to sleep that there are other ways to sooth the baby and sometimes they just need to know you are nearby and aren't hungry at all. If they eat a good dinner then they shouldn't be hungry all night. Try playing music while your child sleeps. Baby Eistein makes some great CD's that still help my littlest one to sleep at 18 months old. You need to feel comfortable with the decisions that you make for your children.

My doctor told my husband and I that we shouldn't fill our daughter up with "empty calories" when we feed her.... Example: water. (During the day we do water/juice, but not at night) He said it's important to fill them and feed them with things their body can use to help them grow. If she's acting hungry, I would feed her if it was me. I did with my daughter (she's 13 months now...) and still do some nights. I would call the nurse at your doctor's office and see if they have any other suggestions... that's what they're there for!

I'm sorry I still give my daughter a bottle at night. After she is done we just take the bottle from her. We also wipe her teeth with a wet cloth.
L.

is she really hungry or does she just want to suck? If so you could try offering a pacifier instead, that would be better.

well hi im J. i ahve a4 yr old and i gave her a bottle after she went to bed at night after the doctor told me not to and now she had to get surgery for silver cap and white cap in her mouth and she got a decay tooth that had to get pulled just the doctor knows what best for ur 10 month old