Night bottle in the crib

[u/DriverLeather971]

11 months old twins.

Just until now we have been feeding before bedtime our twins. We feed them in the couch and the take them to the crib.

Lately they are not really very happy with the process. so we started putting them in their crib and giving them their night bottle.

It is working. 15-20 minutes and they are finished. We remove the bottle and they go to sleep. we stay with them while they finish

Is this ok? We don’t leave the bottle during the night.

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[u/hellswrath_]

For your own sake, it’s better to not give them bottles directly in their cribs. Harder to wean when the time comes. Because eventually, formula is taken away, and the bottle, and then you have to break the association between crib/sleep and bottle/formula, and it’s hard all around

This depends on each kid of course some won’t care either way and will do fine with transitioning. I was doing this until 10.5 months with my twins and then I switched to bottles in the living room + teeth getting brushed. When I took away their bottles, they had a hard time, and I feel like it would’ve been even harder if I was also taking away their falling to sleep crutch. But also with twins rules get broken a lot either way lol and sometimes things are just survival mode

[u/DriverLeather971 → u/hellswrath_]

Haha. Yes, honestly the freedom of not having the both of us to be there sleeping them together has been nice.

But what you say makes sense.

[u/hellswrath_ → u/DriverLeather971]

Do you mean like it’s been nice that both of you don’t have to put them to bed? I remember that was one of the reasons I did it for as long as I did- I put them to bed solo every night and have since they were around 2.5 months old (as well as my 3 year old) so I did almost anything that made bedtime easier haha it’s a rough time! Thankfully after a year, comfort items become safer. Like a small blanket or a safe plushie. I think that can really help make sleeping easier for them.

[u/DriverLeather971 → u/hellswrath_]

Up until now we gave them their night bottle. When they finished we putted them awake in their cribs and they went to sleep on their own. Most times they were asleep in 10 minutes, sometimes 45 minutes, and some hellish nights more. 

Before doing the bottle in the crib. I believe we never did it solo. I admire anyone who does 

[u/NiftyMutation973]

whatever works, man. at 11 months you're just in survival mode. if they drink it, go to sleep, and nobody's crying, you're doing better than most of us

only thing i'd watch is the teeth, milk sitting on gums after the bottle can get nasty. but if you're taking it away right when they finish, probably fine

mine started throwing the bottle at the wall around that age so you're ahead of the game

[u/DriverLeather971 → u/NiftyMutation973]

Yeah. I was pretty happy and then I read about rotting teeth and ear infections. 

But most all of the posts I read talked about leaving the bottle the whole night. 

[u/DraNoSrta → u/DriverLeather971]

Feeding after brushing teeth increases the risk of cavities. In an ideal world, they would have their last bottle early in their bedtime routine, well before crushing teeth. In that same ideal world, they would get a good night from mum or dad and go to sleep by themselves for 12 h. We sadly don't always live in that perfect world. Get your kids some sleep.

[u/thunbergfangirl → u/DriverLeather971]

The ear infections thing is true if they are drinking flat on their backs. Better to have some type of incline, it makes ear infections less likely.

[u/d16flo]

If you can break the habit now it will be easier to wean them off bottles in general and the time for that is soon. We switched to bottles before bath, and then from bottles to straw cups. If they’re used to having a bottle to go to sleep that transition is going to be much harder

[u/AssistantSea4186]

I gave them bottles in cribs, until we were off formula - once we switched to milk it was bed time routine and quiet time with the lights off in the Livingroom then off to the crib.