Anything wrong with 12 month old falling asleep w/ a bottle?

Gold Member Joined: Jul 21 2010 Posts: 1728

My baby likes to fall asleep drinking a milk bottle. She never used to want it only now. Should I not let her have it in which case it will be hard for her and take much longer for her to fall asleep. Most nights I put her in with a paci but she cries so I go give her a bottle and she calms down and falls right asleep. Should I not be giving her a bottle? Please advise Thanks!

Posted: Thu, Jul 29 2010, 8:08 pm Post subject:

one of the problems is that the older they get the harder it is for them to fall asleep with out a bottle. and also when she wakes up during the night she will want another bottle. I am tying to wean my 3 year old now.

I dont see wat the problem is, if your baby is hungry/thirsty shes entitled to a bottle! milk is healthy anyway and the sucking reflex helps babies fall asleep
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Diamond Member Joined: Nov 11 2007 Posts: 3789

I don't think there is anything wrong with letting a baby fall asleep while drinking a bottle - same idea as nursing a baby to sleep - but I think there is a problem if you leave the baby with the bottle in his/her mouth in the crib after falling asleep. I remember hearing something about the milk pooling in the child's mouth and causing dental problems. I would just switch the bottle for a paci once he's out.

Platinum Member Joined: Jan 01 2006 Posts: 48152

Speak to your dr. You have several issues here. One is dental problems. Another is the child not being able to put himself to sleep.

A one year old can give up the bottle anyway. He or she can transition to a cup.

Diamond Member Joined: May 20 2007 Posts: 2838

As others said, milk in the mouth at night causes dental problems. My kids fall asleep with water bottles. Although that in itself is also a problem because now I want to wean them from all bottles and I am so scared they will have trouble falling asleep.

Definitely try to wean off of the habit, it can cause bad dental issues (decay) from the natural sugars in the milk staying on the teeth all night. At that age we introduced a cup into their bed in warm months with water only for if they were thirsty and they had their dummy (pacifier) if they just wanted to suck. They don't use it in winter we find so we don't bother but they do drink it in summer.
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Diamond Member Joined: Nov 12 2005 Posts: 2715

Definitely not a good idea. Milk is for daytime. It's best to teach little ones not to need to suck to fall asleep, because then they start waking up frequently at night and needing to have a bottle to sleep again. But if you must, please use water in the bottle. Here's a picture of baby bottle mouth syndrome -- what teeth can look like when babies are allowed to fall asleep while drinking a milk bottle:

Posted: Fri, Jul 30 2010, 3:57 am Post subject:

its not the fact that the kid falls asleep sucking a bottle, if after they have finished in five mins they chuck it away its the fact that some kids keep the bottle in their mouths most of the night and keep sucking which then causes the teeth to rot. I worked as a dental nurse for many years and saw many awful kids teeth because of sugars in the bottles. saying that I give my 17 month old daughter a bottle when she goes to bed but as soon as she has had enough she chucks it away.
and yes maybe I should be stopping the bottle but I dont because she doesnt have enough milk over the day and she drinks everything else but milk from a cup.

Posted: Fri, Jul 30 2010, 4:40 am Post subject:

Only water is allowed in bed at night in this house, and it's always been that way. When they got too old for bottles we moved to sippy cups for bed (so they don't spill). Maybe it's different, because my kids never nursed to sleep either (occasionally they'd fall asleep at the breast, but they woke every time I moved them off anyway).
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