Baby needs bottle to fall asleep

&SR102514

My son will only fall asleep taking a bottle, this includes bed time and naps! He will be 5 months in a couple days, is this something I need to be worried about?! 

Escheffler34

Not sure just wanted to let you know you're not alone, my baby needs to nurse to sleep for naps and night time 

Ceridwen77

My DD needs to be held, rocked, and sung to/white noise to fall asleep and she's almost 5mo. I don't think you should be worried about the bottle. I think it's still to early to create bad habits if that's what you're worried about. The bottle is obviously comforting to him so I'd let him have it. But you can always get your pedi's advice if you have concerns. 

AmoLovesAud

Mine needs to nurse to sleep, too.  I'm trying to help her get back to sleep without a comfort nurse, but for the time being, I'm not gonna worry about it.  If/when it becomes a problem, I'll fix it then.

Going to bed with a bottle specifically is only a problem with tooth decay, when they start getting teeth.  A ped could explain it better than my tired brain at 5am, though.

Saramore10

Your LO probably finds the comfort in it. You could always try to start a routine with baby that includes feeding, a little activity time. Even if it is just a diaper change. And then rock him/her to sleep. My LO love to fall asleep while nursing but I can also get him to sleep without it. It may take up to 30 minutes some times but he eventually falls asleep. Even though it's still early, he's 4 1/2 months, I think it teaches him to self sooth. He either needs to be rocked or eat. He's not the one where you lay him down and he falls asleep on his own. 

rachswi

Nursing to sleep at bedtime is what works for us. My little man only wakes up twice at night to eat then he's back to sleep. He isn't waking up unnecessarily because he needs me to soothe him and put him back to sleep (he always eats a full meal at those wake ups so I know he's hungry and needs to eat). 

As for it being bad once they have teeth, I'm still confused about this. I'm fairly certain that LO will be popping his teeth sooner rather than later, and he will likely still be waking up in the middle of the night at least once to eat. So am I supposed to wake him up and brush his teeth when he falls back asleep while nursing in the middle of the night because otherwise it'll sit on his teeth? That really doesn't make sense to me... 

kdoak2015

&SR102514 said:

My son will only fall asleep taking a bottle, this includes bed time and naps! He will be 5 months in a couple days, is this something I need to be worried about?! 

Same, I allow her to because it's easier than fighting for while she rocks.

GoogleMD

rachswi said:

Nursing to sleep at bedtime is what works for us. My little man only wakes up twice at night to eat then he's back to sleep. He isn't waking up unnecessarily because he needs me to soothe him and put him back to sleep (he always eats a full meal at those wake ups so I know he's hungry and needs to eat). 

As for it being bad once they have teeth, I'm still confused about this. I'm fairly certain that LO will be popping his teeth sooner rather than later, and he will likely still be waking up in the middle of the night at least once to eat. So am I supposed to wake him up and brush his teeth when he falls back asleep while nursing in the middle of the night because otherwise it'll sit on his teeth? That really doesn't make sense to me... 

No, it is an issue when the child is given a bottle to drink by themselves in bed.

&SR102514

Glad to know I am not the only one! He will drink 8 oz and if he still isn't asleep will fight it until I give him another bottle but generally only drinks an ounce or 2 of the second bottle 

helsbels222

Mine needs to nurse for 3-4 hours straight before falling a sleep. The bottle works only sometimes. 

rachswi

GoogleMD said:

rachswi said:

Nursing to sleep at bedtime is what works for us. My little man only wakes up twice at night to eat then he's back to sleep. He isn't waking up unnecessarily because he needs me to soothe him and put him back to sleep (he always eats a full meal at those wake ups so I know he's hungry and needs to eat). 

As for it being bad once they have teeth, I'm still confused about this. I'm fairly certain that LO will be popping his teeth sooner rather than later, and he will likely still be waking up in the middle of the night at least once to eat. So am I supposed to wake him up and brush his teeth when he falls back asleep while nursing in the middle of the night because otherwise it'll sit on his teeth? That really doesn't make sense to me... 

No, it is an issue when the child is given a bottle to drink by themselves in bed.

Ohhhh. That makes so much more sense. I've been wondering about that for a while now lol