ToddlerGuide

Sleep

Night bottles after 12 months

After the first birthday, most children can take their milk in the day. Your job is to move calories to meals and keep night boring.

A toddler in a cream henley cruises along a wooden cabinet on a light wood floor while an adult sits on the rug behind them and smiles.

A toddler in a cream henley cruises along a wooden cabinet on a light wood floor while an adult sits on the rug behind them and smiles.

AAP healthy beverage guide and Bright Futures notes treat milk as a daytime drink after 12 months for most children: about 16 to 24 ounces of plain whole milk a day until age 2, depending on solid food. That range is easier to hit at the table than in a dark crib.

A bottle in bed is also a teeth problem. Milk sitting on teeth overnight is a reason dentists and pediatricians both get brief. If you still offer milk at bedtime, finish it before teeth, then do the books.

Drop one night feed at a time. Replace it with the same dull check you would use for any waking. If the child is hungry in a real way, the day menu needs more food, not a forever 2 a.m. bottle. {CITE['feed']} reminds you that appetite jumps. Look at the week.

Try this

  1. Move one night bottle to a sit-down milk at dinner or a planned snack.
  2. Keep water available if the child is thirsty. Thirst and habit are different.
  3. Brush after the last milk of the evening.
  4. Change the last feed first or the middle feed first. Do not change all of them on a Friday.
  5. Tell every caregiver the new plan so nights do not undo days.

Childcare and grandparents need the same numbers. A child who drinks 12 ounces at 10 a.m. and 12 at 2 p.m. may refuse dinner and then demand a bottle at 11. That is a math problem. It is also a kindness problem. The child is full of milk and still wants the comfort of the bottle.

Comfort can move to a person and a phrase. It does not have to stay in a nipple. If stopping feels too hard, ask the clinician for a two-week plan. You do not have to invent one at 1 a.m.

In the house this month

Teeth do not care that the bottle is comforting. Milk in a mouth that then sleeps is a dentist problem you can prevent. If you need a comfort feed, finish it, brush, then do the books.

A child who drinks a large bottle at 10 p.m. may not be hungry at 1 a.m. They may be thirsty or lonely or in the habit. Try water in a cup first on one of the wakings. Keep the rest of the visit the same.

If growth has been slow, do not freelance this. Ask the clinician how many ounces belong in the day before you remove a night feed. This site is not looking at the chart.

Caregivers who were handed a bottle as the only tool will need a new tool. Give them the phrase and the order. Do not give them a speech about independence. Give them a script.

What you can skip

Skip removing every night feed on a Friday. Skip milk in the crib after teeth.

Skip a growth experiment without the clinician if the chart has been a worry.

Keep the range in view

Most children can take milk in the day after 12 months. Change one feed at a time. Brush after the last milk. Ask the clinician first if growth has been a worry. Comfort can move to a person and a phrase.

Check in if

Ask your pediatrician before you drop a night feed if growth is a concern, if the child was born early, or if you have been told to keep night calories. This page is not a weaning plan for every child.

Related ages: 12-18 months, 18-24 months. Pillars: Sleep, Food.

Sources

  1. American Academy of Pediatrics. Healthy beverage quick reference. AAP PDF
  2. American Academy of Pediatrics. Bright Futures information for parents: 18 month visit. aap.org
  3. CDC. How much and how often to feed. cdc.gov
  4. AAP endorsement of AASM pediatric sleep duration recommendations. Pediatrics. 2016;138(2):e20161601. publications.aap.org