Bottle Question.....

[Picture.Of.Obedience]

my son sometimes cries like he is hungry, i try his binky, to hold him off, but he acts like he is starving, so i get a bottle and he sucks a few times and goes to sleep. i think he just needs it at night to get back to sleep. how annoying. can i stop it? am i right in my thinking. i just hate wasting a whole bottle.

 

[andiesmama]

Sounds to me like he's using his bottle as a comfort thing. We had that problem with Andie, too. Is he finishing his whole bottle at the prior feeding? If he's polishing that off with no problem, try increasing it an ounce or two. If you're sure he's not hungry, like if you're seeing a pattern emerge here, then (in my opinion) it's safe to say he's not hungry for the bottle, just comfort.

It'll take awhile to get him UN-used to the bottle, just stick with it! I know it was hard to get Andie away from using the bottle as a comfort thing, to put herself to sleep, you know?

 

[Redguard]

The feeling of nice warm milk can knock you out.

I put my 2.5 yr old in her crib with a warm bottle and I know she'll be out like a light as soon as she's done.

 

[andiesmama]

The feeling of nice warm milk can knock you out.

Maybe I should try that when I can't sleep!!

 

[Redguard]

Maybe I should try that when I can't sleep!!

I do it sometimes. I suffer from insomnia every now and then.

Some warm milk with some nutmeg, or cinnamon, and it helps a lot.

 

[Leanna]

Yuck the idea of warm milk is grossss.... !

 

[andiesmama]

Some warm milk with some nutmeg, or cinnamon, and it helps a lot.

...rum??....

 

[Princessperky]

Yuck the idea of warm milk is grossss.... !

I'm with you on that one!

But infants seem to like it, good thing since milk is naturally 98.6 degrees (give or take) .

Actually I think it might be a security thing, knowing that milk and mom are there if you need it makes sleep easier to find.

 

[Redguard]

For those of you who don't like warm milk, does that also mean you don't like hot chocolate?

 

[dews]

I always gave my kids cold formula. Cold formula is better for some babies because the molecules are smaller and they are able to eat more and less often too.
Let your baby cry himself to sleep. He sounds tired. I've seen these baby heating pads in the store that have a fleece around them. The tag says that they are soothing to babies. I guess you can try that.

 

[Princessperky]

For those of you who don't like warm milk, does that also mean you don't like hot chocolate?

Course not, hot chocolate is a winter staple! It is chocolate, that is completly different from milk .

 

[Redguard]

Course not, hot chocolate is a winter staple! It is chocolate, that is completly different from milk .

But hot chocolate is made with milk... unless we live on different planets...

 

[Princessperky]

So, drown it in chocolate it it is all good Actually, and sadly to me, lots of hot choolate is made with powder and water , but I make mine with milk. (and chocolate!)

Do you by any chance eat butter mixed with flour, sugar, riser, and an egg? Prolly not, but I bet you would eat the cake it turns into . Same ingredients but skip one and you wont have a cake. So hot chocolate without the chocolate is not the same thing.

Anyway, it is a taste thing, no big if you like one way or another, I don't have to drink it . (and I wont ask you to eat Peanut butter mixed with coconut, if you don't ask me to drink warm milk .)

BTW appologies to the OP we are certainly a bit off topic!

 

[Leanna]

.... I'm gonna say it. Don't soothe your baby to sleep with a bottle now or it'll be a hard habit to break later. Its bad for teeth to be laid down with a bottle (for an older baby) and also bad for teeth/jaw to have a bottle until too late. I would much rather teach a baby to learn how to sleep without a bottle than a toddler....

As for chocolate milk, at home, I would make this with water. When I go out to a place that makes hot chocolate for me I just don't think about it being warm milk. I have a weird thing about milk products though.... like yogurt....

 

[Redguard]

I pity the fool that makes their hot chocolate with water.

Yuck!

When my daughter turned about... 15 months, that's when I started putting her in her crib with a warm bottle of milk at night right before bed.

I've heard the argument of it being bad for teeth, but I can't help but to think of two rebuttals for that.

1. I brush her teeth every morning before breakfast, so it can't make her teeth any worse than mine.

2. She's going to grow a new set of teeth anyway.

 

[Leanna]

On other thoughts, considering how my son loves to experiment with upside down bottles and throwing them across the room I certainly don't think this is something I am going to try. He has a snack 30 minutes before bed, at the beginning of his bedtime routine and thats the way he's used to it. When he was a tiny tot I would give him this bottle right before changing his diaper and laying him straight down, but bottle was never directly before bed. Makes it nice. Also, we plan on phasing out the bottle by the time he is 18 months probably.... no hurry, but that's the plan.....

 

[andiesmama]

2. She's going to grow a new set of teeth anyway.

I don't know if this was halfway joking, but I gotta say that I learned when Andie deadened her front tooth & had her root canal, whatever happens to baby teeth can affect the permanent ones.

Baby teeth can get cavities, if they're not taken care of then it may affect the health & growth of the permanent ones.

ok...off my soapbox now...

 

[LynnMcG]

When my daughter turned about... 15 months, that's when I started putting her in her crib with a warm bottle of milk at night right before bed.

I've heard the argument of it being bad for teeth, but I can't help but to think of two rebuttals for that.

1. I brush her teeth every morning before breakfast, so it can't make her teeth any worse than mine.

2. She's going to grow a new set of teeth anyway.

WOAH! 2.5 and she gets a bottle of milk in bed?! Redguard! My kids were off the bottle at a year. Send her to bed with a sippy cup of water. She's operating out of habit (your habit) at this point. You CANNOT correct the damage you're doing to her teeth by brushing in the morning. It's too late by then. Her teeth have been soaking in milk sugars all night.

AND not only can she ruin those beautiful baby teeth, but you may find yourselves in a pediatric dentist office having to have them pulled. THEN adult teeth sometimes don't come in for years. My nephew was toothless in the front for 3 years for that reason. Can you imagine your sweet baby girl going from kindergarten to the 2nd grade with no front teeth?!!

Oh, and sometimes, pediatric dentists put in fake teeth to help promote the growth of those adult teeth. Those second teeth develop behind the baby teeth and are stimiluated to grow with the loss of those first teeth. If she has to have her teeth pulled too young, that won't happen. So the fake teeth sometimes do that job. Talk about expensive!

Basically, you're giving her a bottle at night because it's easier for you. I understand, but totally disagree. Parenting is rarely easy. And doing what works for us, isn't always what's best for them. You're supposed to be teaching her how to fall asleep on her own and you're not. She should be able to put herself to sleep by 2.5 without a bottle.

Try changing her bedtime routine. Give her water in a sippy cup after she brushes her teeth and gets in her pajamas. Maybe get her a toddler bed and start pushing her big girl status. Toddler beds are the same size as a crib and very inexpensive. It might take a little while, but DO NOT CAVE! Be consistent. Be consistent. Let her know who's boss (not her!). Yeah, you might lose a little sleep. But pray. God's grace is sufficient. Even if you don't sleep all night, he'll give you the ability to get through your day.

 

[Redguard]

I'm so embarassed...

You're right, I guess I am doing this for my own simplicity and it is a bad habit.

I never stopped to think that the bottles had to be gone already since they still give them to the kids in her class at her daycare before the afternoon nap.

She's also still addicted to having her pacifier while she's asleep, and that's something I'm currently trying to break out of her habit.

Her crib is convertable, so I may change it up into the final 'bed' stage when I get home tonight.

It's hard... I honestly feel like I'm doing this whole parenting thing by myself and I try to act like I got it all down-packed.

 

[andiesmama]

I'm so embarassed...

You're right, I guess I am doing this for my own simplicity and it is a bad habit.

I never stopped to think that the bottles had to be gone already since they still give them to the kids in her class at her daycare before the afternoon nap.

She's also still addicted to having her pacifier while she's asleep, and that's something I'm currently trying to break out of her habit.

Her crib is convertable, so I may change it up into the final 'bed' stage when I get home tonight.

It's hard... I honestly feel like I'm doing this whole parenting thing by myself and I try to act like I got it all down-packed.

awwww....don't feel bad! It's hard to break a habit, either ours OR our kids!

Probably wouldn't do to make too many changes at once, getting rid of the bottle AND the crib. She feels secure with those, changing out her security TWICE would probably be a recipe for disaster!

The bottle is the bigger "evil", you might want to think about how to start working on getting rid of that right away...like tonight, seeing as it's the weekend & all...Then once that hurdle's been cleared, you can move her up into the big girl bed.

Hang in there, you know as well as the rest of us that parenting doesn't come easy!! lol