You survived the first year. Congratulations! Navigating your child’s various developmental stages during the first year can be both rewarding and challenging. One milestone that parents encounter at this age is eliminating the bedtime bottle altogether. In this blog post I’ll share when to dop it, why, and two options for making this a smooth transition. 

When?

Most families eliminate the bedtime bottle between 12 and 18 months. Before removing it, you want to make sure weight gain is going well and your child is consuming enough calories throughout the day. If you’re unsure, have a conversation with your pediatrician or family doctor. 

Why?

There are two big reasons for dropping the bedtime bottle. One of them being for dental health reasons. Prolonged bottle use right before bed can contribute to tooth decay as the natural sugars in milk and formula pool around the gums and teeth during the night. One way to get around this if your child is not quite ready to drop that bottle is to brush teeth after the bottle is consumed. 

The other reason is so you can continue to promote healthy sleep hygiene with your child as they grow and develop, so it is important to eliminate the bottle by 18 months. Over the years I have found when a bottle continues to be a part of the bedtime routine as a child gets closer to age 2, it can start to cause problems with sleep. Even if the child is not using the bottle as a way to fall asleep, it still is associated with going to bed and can cause night wakes, early wakes, and sometimes issues with the nap. 

Before You Start…

Once you and your doctor have determined that your child is gaining weight well and eating enough throughout the day to drop the bottle, there is one other very important aspect to eliminating the bottle successfully. You must make sure your child is not relying on the bottle to fall asleep. If the bottle is the THING that puts your child to sleep, it will be almost impossible to remove it. 

Your first step then would be to teach your child to sleep independently. If you need help with sleep training, schedule a Free Discovery Call so we can chat. 

How to Drop the Bottle

If you are ready to get rid of the bottle, there are two ways you can go about it. 

Option 1: Go Cold Turkey 

Simply remove the bottle from the bedtime routine sequence. Do not replace it with water or juice, and there is no need to offer less and less. Just don’t offer it. Again, as long as your child has not relied on the bottle TO FALL ASLEEP it should be fine. The most important thing to remember is consistency is key so once the bottle is gone, it’s gone. There is no going back. 

Option 2: Gradual Movement 

Instead of offering the bottle of milk in your child’s bedroom as part of the bedtime routine, offer it BEFORE the bath, in another room, and as a separate event before bed prep starts. A good location for this would be in the living room or kitchen instead of the child’s bedroom. 

What tends to happen quite often is the child will naturally start drinking less milk, because it is being consumed so close to dinner and the child is still full from eating their meal. 

You can use this to your advantage and once the child is down to a few ounces being consumed, just drop it altogether. The other choice is to keep moving the bottle closer and closer to dinner until one day you proclaim, “No more bottle of milk after dinner. Now we drink our milk in a cup WITH dinner.” Then no more milk is offered after the last meal of the day. 

Once milk is no longer part of the bedtime routine, other drinks or food should not replace it. Try not to get into the habit of offering a snack during the routine because that too can cause sleep disturbances. Trust that your child can go all night long without eating or drinking (because they can!) and hold firm on those boundaries. 

Transitioning away from a bedtime bottle is a significant step in your child’s development. If you need help with this big change or with sleep training in general, I’d love to help. Send me a message by clicking HERE.