Bottle Weening and Sleeping

l5mazade

We are in the transition of trying to get our 10 month old off of bottles and unfortunately she has become very dependent of her morning bottle and her bedtime bottle in which she fall asleep most of the time in her dad's arms while getting it (GASP!). We used to be able to put her in her crib awake and she would fall asleep on her own but as soon as she learned to sit up and stand on her own it has become soooo hard to get her down. My husband and i both work full time and when she would fall asleep with her bedtime bottle we were so excited that we were able to put her down without hours of her fussing and standing up in the crib but obviously now its become a very BAD HABIT. 

Do any of you have advice on how we should go about doing this? Rip the bed time bottle like a band aid? We are trying to transition all the daytime bottles to sippys now though shes not taking it very well but we're still working everyday on it. 

Bigboobsmcgee

You don't have to transition a 10 month old off bottles right now so no, I wouldn't take away her bedtime bottle just yet. Are you still giving formula/BM? 

I don't believe in the "drowsy but awake" theory or that it's necessary to put a baby down awake. This is just based of my personal experiences. Both of my kids have fallen asleep while drinking bottles and it has never caused problems for us. My 12 month old still gets her bottle before bed but I've realized now with my second kid that there isn't a rush to ditch bottles so I'm not in any hurry.

Anytime they learn a new skill such as crawling, standing, walking, etc sleep will get messed up. That's just the way it goes. I prefer sleep training over taking a bottle away cold turkey. If she's crying at bedtime after she's had her bottle (or cup of milk), leave her. Check on her in 10 minutes, or whichever interval of time you would like.

Just my 2 cents.

leela02

Maybe she's just not ready to give up the bottle? I mean 10 months is pretty early. A lot of kids won't give up the bedtime bottle until they're toddlers. I think it is only bad if you actually leave the bottle in bed with her. My DD has been drinking water from a sippy or a straw since around 9 months but she usually won't take formula/milk that way (she just turned 1). She also used to fall asleep right after her bedtime bottle, but not anymore (this just happened on its own, we weren't trying to stop it). For now we've relaxed trying to transition her because she's been out of sorts from a cold and cutting a molar. If it doesn't seem like you're making much progress maybe take a couple of days off and then try again.

WillyBean

Maybe work on her sleep routine first and then worry about switching off of a bottle in a couple months? We changed our kiddos sleep routine so the last thing before bedtime was not a bottle and they quickly caught on. Example: meal with bottle, bath, pajamas, story, bed. This gives them separation between that last bottle and bedtime. It also gave us an opportunity to brush teeth. If switching your routine up a little helps with bedtime, then switching away from bottles should be a lot easier.

I know your pain though. My son cried and cried for his bottle and after only a couple meals, he was fine with the sippy cup. Good luck!

maddison94

We started transitioning our son when he was 10 months, but he gave them up easily. He'll take his formula in a sippy cup in the morning and night.