Do we give our 4 year old a bottle

[Fish the Mod]

Oliver is nearly four and no longer has a bottle, in fact he dismissed this at an early age. The problem is that he wakes up at about 4 am most mornings requesting his dbottle ( it must be milk). My wife spends about 15 minutes saying no and his cries get louder and louder to the extent that I will soon fall asleep at the wheel or my neigbours will be contacting the Council. I would just get him the bottle so I could fall back to sleep but my wife says we have to fight it, I dread going to bed each night. Am I right

 

[Joe's Mum]

My son is 4 and we give him milk in a cup with a lid, he still has one when I am reading him a story at night and one during the night, infact I take this up when i go to bed and leave it on his bedside table and we are not disturbed at all. Is it the fact that it is in a bottle or that he is wanting a drink at night? Milk is good for them and I will get my son to drink as much as he can as it it is better than juice or fizzy pop.

[Milly48]

My sons both wake up wanting juice each night, so we also take the juice & leave it on a windowsill for when they wake up. Also They like to bed swap I slept in 3 different beds last night. In the day I try to be firm with them & don't let them always get their own way, but at night it's different. We need our sleep!

[Fish the Mod]

Thanks Joe'Mum, I think he likes the bottle simply for that fact he can sleep and drink at the time.

[FP]

I would let him have his bottle. My son finished with a bottle really, really young (like 8 months) and preferred one of those feeder cups. He wanted that feeder cup at night with milk and honey until he was about 6, just from the comfort point of view and it had to be the same feeder cup with a very much chewed spout. Suddenly he decided that he didn't want it any more. Oliver will make his own decision when he doesn't need the bottle. Your sleep is important and his development will not suffer!!!! It's not as if Oliver is walking about during the day with a feeding bottle. I must admit I do hate to see that. Night time is different as Millie says.

[MrsCheeks]

I have to agree with your wife BUT compromising with a feeder cup will encourage him to be more "grown up". The last thing you want is for your son to be wanting a bottle when he goes to school. What has changed in the household for him to start wanting a bottle again? It might be worthwhile seeing if he will give up the bottle to Santa in exchange for a "big boy's toy". Hugs to ya. xxx

[fordka]

I had this problem with my son whom is now 15. I found the answer by gradually reducing the amount of milk in his bottle, after a couple of week's it worked not sure why but it did the trick.

[Kingaroo]

Lying in bed with a bottle of juice or milk, falling asleep with a mouth half full, can lead to TERRIBLE tooth decay problems! The sugars in the milk or juice will stick to the tooth and eat away at it. Just one more thing to worry about.....

[zgma]

Yes, Kingaroo is right. How about a bottle of water by the bed - would he go for that? If not, a bottle that is 3/4 water and 1/4 milk, and reduce the milk slowly until it's just water. I don't see a problem with the bottle itself though - most likely he'll give it up when he notices that kids a little older than him don't use one.