How bad is it that my son sometimes needs a bottle to fall asleep?

norman25 · July 2010

Sometimes he falls asleep great with no help in his crib. Other times, he wails until he gets a bottle, takes a few drinks and passes out. I don't want this to become a long term habit because it will become problematic once he has teeth, but he is literally inconsolable. Any tips on how to break this habit??

mrs.vanderwall · July 2010

I don't know, but if it makes you feel better, DD needs a boob to calm down and fall asleep.

kimandjared · July 2010

Have you tried a pacifier? Maybe he just needs to suck to help soothe himself.

BrainySmurfette · July 2010

Once he gets old enough for water, just switch out the milk for water at bedtime.

ldoo · July 2010

How long between his last nap and bed time? Maybe he's overtired and that's why he can't easily settle.

norman25 · July 2010

kimandjared:
Have you tried a pacifier? Maybe he just needs to suck to help soothe himself.

We use the pacifier. It is the times when he absolutely refuses the paci that he needs the bottle.

rmaxim · July 2010

Are you leaving the bottle with him, or just giving him a bottle before he goes to sleep? As I understand it, leaving the bottle with them / in their mouths is the problem because it causes bad tooth decay (and bad baby teeth beget bad adult teeth). But just topping him off to get him to sleep seems to be pretty common/normal to me. I let DS nurse to sleep a lot because he almost always falls asleep nursing anyway, and I want to feed him close to bedtime to get him to sleep as long as possible. I'm not worried because he falls asleep pretty well on his own - sometimes he's still awake after nursing but he'll just lay there relaxed until he passes out. The whole "feed to wake" idea is nice in theory but not very practical.

norman25 · July 2010

I don't leave him alone with the bottle. He will start to drink it and pass out halfway through.

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