Nighttime Bottle – To Give or Not to Give?

To give or not to give a bottle at night – that is the question. Experts agree that if the baby is under 6 months of age, it is necessary to feed them whenever they wake up at night.

But, once they have passed the 6-month mark, the ideal is not to associate feeding the baby with them going to sleep. The goal is to separate feeding from sleep, so that if the baby wakes up, they will not need the breast or a bottle at night to go back to sleep.

At this age, both breastfed babies and those who receive formula have already started with complementary feeding, so their daytime nutrition is enough to make it unnecessary for them to feed at night¹.

Does the Nighttime Bottle Disrupt Sleep?

Various problems in the sleep routine are more likely if the mother continues breastfeeding or giving a bottle when the child wakes up at night.

If the child has trouble falling asleep or wakes up frequently during the night, it’s easy to get into the habit of using food or a bottle at night to soothe them, but at this age, children do not need overfeeding during the night, so this practice is not recommended.

How to Stop Giving the Bottle at Night?

Any parent who has witnessed the love affair between their baby and the bottle knows that security is the main appeal for asking for one. Pediatricians recommend weaning from the bottle completely during the first year, or at most by 18 months. As soon as the child learns to drink from a cup, they no longer need a bottle.

However, we are not talking about complete weaning; the baby is able to distinguish between day and night routines, so you don’t need to fully wean your baby for them to stop requesting the nighttime bottle, since it makes a huge difference in both the child’s sleep quality and consequently their parents’ sleep².

Main Tips

The first step to succeed in this task is:

Focus on daytime nutrition – When the baby feeds at night, they naturally consume fewer calories during the day. This becomes a vicious cycle, making them feel hungry in the early hours. To stop the nighttime bottle, it’s important to ensure your baby is well fed during the day, so parents will feel more reassured when the baby asks for milk and doesn’t get it.

But how to break this cycle? A good option is to dilute the nighttime bottle over the course of a few weeks. Gradually add more water and less milk, so the baby keeps drinking the same amount of liquid but is taking in fewer calories at night, which will help them eat better during the day.

Help your baby relax as much as possible before bedtime – give them a nice bath, a massage, and keep the routine. This may naturally stop them from waking up at night, which will end the nighttime bottle.

Swap the comfort object – for younger children, it might just be a small cloth or blankie; for older ones, a soft toy. Having a comfort object gives the baby security, which helps with weaning off the nighttime bottle because they can soothe themselves more easily without the breast or bottle.

Gradually remove the bottle – Cutting out the less important bottles can make the process easier. Usually, you start with the bottles during the day, then next is the nighttime bottle, and finally, the morning bottle, since that is often part of breakfast.

Even if the child asks for a bottle and seems to drink it out of thirst, the nighttime bottle is a way to feel secure and not actually to satisfy hunger.

Accept your child’s pace – For a child who is deeply attached to their bottle as a comfort object, a gradual approach may feel agonizing because they might have already associated the nighttime bottle with going back to sleep. A sudden withdrawal can be painful for everyone but could be the most effective method.

Some experts in child education and behavior say that if your child cries only for a short while, let them cry until they fall asleep. After a few nights, it’s likely they will completely forget about the nighttime bottle – but if after this experience the child does not calm down, it is important to talk to a pediatrician and review the child’s sleep habits.

There’s nothing wrong with giving your child a drink or something to eat before bed. In fact, this can help them fall asleep. If they still use a bottle, parents can replace it with a training cup at this stage.

The nighttime bottle can have its advantages such as calming the child in the most delicate hours of the night, but there are disadvantages too, as it prevents the child from learning to fall asleep on their own.

Take care of little teeth – Another disadvantage of the nighttime bottle is cavities. However, this is not usually an issue for children under one year old, when the baby only has a few teeth (roughly eight teeth appear between six and twelve months, four upper front teeth and four lower front teeth, which are the easiest to brush).

Most “bottle tooth decay” occurs in children between one and two years old who refuse to give up their bottle at night.

It’s at this age that parents need to become more vigilant about dental hygiene. By two years old, the baby will have about 18 teeth and by two and a half, they’ll have a full set of 24 teeth³.

Weaning your child off the nighttime bottle usually involves some trial and error, and often tears as well. But here’s the good news: once you decide on a plan and stick to it, you will see results.

Important: The content here should be considered as opinion only. It is necessary to seek direct advice from your own doctor about any issues or problems that may affect your own health or the health of others.