Ending milk at bedtime

kristennd · April 2013

We want to start phasing out the bottle of milk that LO has immediately before bed. There are no issues with sippy cups and drinking water during the day.

The two main techniques I've heard of are switching out the milk with water for a period, or giving the milk earlier in the evening instead of right at bedtime.

Which did people have more success with?

memali26 · April 2013

If you want to keep the milk, I'd just switch to a sippy.

If you want to drop it completely, I'm not sure. Both of my girls (3yo and 18mo) get a cup of milk while we snuggle before bed. It's part of their routine and I don't see any reason

dragon_chica · April 2013

With DD we started giving it at dinnertime. We have yet to do anything with DS.

olechka · April 2013

we switched to sippy during book time, then brushing teeth then bed. We were lucky, DD didn't even care about the bottle, she just wants her milk.

RachieTK · April 2013

olechka:
we switched to sippy during book time, then brushing teeth then bed. We were lucky, DD didn't even care about t

quidditchcapn1120 · April 2013

We dropped it cold turkey at age 1. Whatever method you use, please please brush teeth after the milk!

TriciaandSean · April 2013

Even as a baby we never did the bottle right before bed, it was always before bath. We got rid of the bottle cold turkey at 15 months and just did water or milk at meals.

sschwege · April 2013

We ended the bottles early, but DD still got a sippy of milk till about 18 months. We had to stop because her diapers were leaking. So if she asked we would offer water, but no milk. She did fine with it, I think the earlier you make the

Heidi2004 · April 2013

I switched the milk bottle to a sippy cup about 1 hour before bedtime... I still warm it up a little but this has worked well since she knows bedtime is soon after. She doesn't drink as much anymore also... maybe a cup.