Naps sans bottles

emmylou78 · October 2014

What do nap times look like for you? Bottles for us have been a sleep and nap time crutch. I think we are both lost without them

. The past 2 days I've tried nap without them, and she refuses the sippy, even though she takes it other times just fine. Give her a bottle and Bam! Right to sleep.

Any tips?

sleepy33 · October 2014

I have luckily been able to avoid needing bottle/boob to get him to go to sleep, BUT we have had to transition from LOTS and lots of different sleep crutches over the last year (having to bounce him to sleep, sleeping only in the RNP, napping only while being held, sleeping in the crib with the towel under the sheet, only being able to put him down sound asleep, etc, etc). The only answer to any sleep crutch seems to be time and patience. I always start every big change with bedtime, because by then they are tired enough that you know *eventually* they will get tired and go to sleep. Naptime, you could be at it for hours and they might not ever get tired enough to admit defeat and go to sleep. Usually, the first bedtime is the worst, naptime the next day is better, and the third night is a breeze.

ksimo6 · October 2014

We are in the same boat. Damnit.

Jalee85 · October 2014

Is it really necessary to stop bottles right this second? I was thinking about trying once she ran out of our last can of formula, but she takes in so little from the sippy and seems to hate cold milk, but loves ice water. I don't think a bottle is a crutch for us for sleep but to get milk in her much more so.

muffyvonmuff · October 2014

We ditched milk in the bottle for water first. It took about 2 weeks but the freak outs have gotten signifigantly better. He still cries a bit before his naps but we recently had a few where he went straight to bed with no crying and no bottle of water either. Time and consistency is my only advice.

emmylou78 · October 2014

I was planning on keeping the morning and evening bottles to ditch last, but naps went so bad that I wasn't sure if I should just go cold turkey.

So do you guys just do the sleepy but awake, straight into the crib? When is last bottle (or milk sippy)?

Our routine was that we laid down together in my bed, she had her bottle and falls asleep, then I move her into her crib.

Amjoy25 · October 2014

Eh Willa still gets nap time bottles and night time bottles. I'm not too worried about it. Kid just turned one! I'll give her a break about getting too old for now.

stephl3055 · October 2014

Right now we only give a bottle before bed, and daycare gives a bottle before naps. We don't give any bottles before naps at home. The other night I tried milk in a straw cup. Epic fail. She took one sip, let it run out of her mouth, and then refused to drink anymore. We eventually switched back to her bottle.

So the next few weekends we will be working on drinking milk from her straw cup during the day so that she becomes more comfortable with it. She drinks water just fine out of her straw cup, so it's an attachment to the bottle I think.

sleepy33 · October 2014

Heather6789 said:

I was planning on keeping the morning and evening bottles to ditch last, but naps went so bad that I wasn't sure if I should just go cold turkey. So do you guys just do the sleepy but awake, straight into the crib? When is last bottle (or milk sippy)? Our routine was that we laid down together in my bed, she had her bottle and falls asleep, then I move her into her crib.

He gets a sippy of milk around 10 or 11 am, and nap usually begins around noon (one nap a day, about 2.5 hours long). Night time routine: dinner at 6 (with water to drink in a sippy), bath, pjs, sippy of milk (6 oz) while sitting next to me on the couch, then he walks around, plays for about 5 minutes, and then I brush his teeth and carry him upstairs to his room. I rock him until he sighs and just barely closes his eyes, then lay him in the crib and stand there for about 5 min until he's breathing heavily then walk out.

TBH, it seems to me that you've got several sleep crutches here. One is falling asleep in your arms/next to you, one is the bottle, and one is being put into the crib totally asleep. My two cents is I would address one of those at a time and not try to do them all at once. Unless your kid is a magic sleep unicorn, she will probably be very confused and upset to totally change her routine like that (or mine would be, anyway).

sleepy33 · October 2014

Heather6789 said:

I was planning on keeping the morning and evening bottles to ditch last, but naps went so bad that I wasn't sure if I should just go cold turkey. So do you guys just do the sleepy but awake, straight into the crib? When is last bottle (or milk sippy)? Our routine was that we laid down together in my bed, she had her bottle and falls asleep, then I move her into her crib.

He gets a sippy of milk around 10 or 11 am, and nap usually begins around noon (one nap a day, about 2.5 hours long). Night time routine: dinner at 6 (with water to drink in a sippy), bath, pjs, sippy of milk (6 oz) while sitting next to me on the couch, then he walks around, plays for about 5 minutes, and then I brush his teeth and carry him upstairs to his room. I rock him until he sighs and just barely closes his eyes, then lay him in the crib and stand there for about 5 min until he's breathing heavily then walk out.

TBH, it seems to me that you've got several sleep crutches here. One is falling asleep in your arms/next to you, one is the bottle, and one is being put into the crib totally asleep. My two cents is I would address one of those at a time and not try to do them all at once. Unless your kid is a magic sleep unicorn, she will probably be very confused and upset to totally change her routine like that (or mine would be, anyway).

emmylou78 · October 2014

How do I request the next one to be a magic sleep unicorn?

emmylou78 · October 2014

Yea, they are probably multiple crutches, but it was working well for us. Which do you think would be easiest to break first?

I tried laying with her in bed without a bottle and she just plays. Or cries.

Maybe I need to freshen up on some sleep books.

sleepy33 · October 2014

Heather6789 said:

Yea, they are probably multiple crutches, but it was working well for us. Which do you think would be easiest to break first? I tried laying with her in bed without a bottle and she just plays. Or cries. Maybe I need to freshen up on some sleep books.

Oh, I'm definitely not judging or anything! Like I said, I have used and gotten rid of a LOT of different crutches, just none of them happened to be a bottle (he also didn't take a paci, though I tried and wanted him to, so I think he just doesn't find that sucking action to be all that soothing).

If I were in your position, I would probably start with putting her down not totally asleep. Maybe start out giving her the bottle with her mostly sitting up (do you have a rocker/glider in her room? maybe sitting there?), then when she's done, lay her in the crib. Then you can eventually space the two things out farther and farther, until she's *full* from having had the bottle not long ago, but not actually nursing to sleep on the bottle, if that makes sense? And at that point, it probably wouldn't be too hard to transition her from the bottle to the sippy pre-nap/bed, because she really won't be tying the two things together in her mind? I am totally just spit-balling here, it's just how I'd probably approach it if it were me. I am *certainly* no expert.

I would imagine, somewhere along the line, you are going to reach the point where the time that elapses between bottle/sippy and going to bed is long enough that she's no longer really groggy from the milk, and you'll probably have to deal with teaching her to put herself to sleep or figure out a new routine that works for both of you. For example, I totally realize that me rocking Cam until he's drowsy is absolutely still a sleep crutch, BUT it's one that works for both of us for now, and I like the cuddles, so I'm fine with it. If it starts to become a problem for either of us, I'll have to teach him a new way to go to sleep, so I'll cross that bridge when I have to.

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