cow's milk vs formula for 16mo??

Dawn Lawson wrote:



HollyLewis wrote:

In any case, I'm not interested in spending 3 hours a night tryiing
to get him to go to sleep if a few ounces of "outside" milk will let
him drift off peacefully and quickly.



Well, I agree there's no reason to use formula rather than cow's milk
for him.

But I would caution you about feeding him milk at bedtime -- nursing
to sleep
isn't too likely to cause tooth decay because the milk doesn't tend to
contact
the teeth much and because of breastmilk's antibacterial properties, but
drinking any other form of milk does.


following on myself (lost Holly's post) sorry

I did a very quick google, and it occured to me...are we talking about
drinking milk to sleep, like nursing to sleep? Because he drinks the
milk, takes his soother, snuggles into the breast, clutching the shield
and falls asleep. He doesn't fall asleep with the sippy cup in his
mouth and he only gets water if he wakes in the night wanting a drnk
(whihc he seems to have stopped doing as soon as I offered the milk)

Dawn

I can totally understand that if your choice is peaceful bedtime now vs. an
unknown risk of tooth decay in the future you might choose bedtime. :-) But
it's something to be aware of, because kids who get used to drinking a cup of
milk at bedtime tend to spend a lot of time in dentists' chairs.

Certainly something to be aware off. FWIW I gave Hunter a sippy cup
of milk before naps and bedtime when we were in the weaning phase
(milk drying up). He was around 19-20mos. He only needed that for a
couple months and then we switched to water. At that point he pretty
much just wanted the sippy cup itself (turned into a sort of comfort
thing) and wasn't so concerned about the milk. He held it more then
drank from it. So this wasn't a long term habit thing for us. Luke
was older when he weaned so we didn't need the sippy of milk at all.

Hunter eats substantial snacks in the evening (sometimes the actual
supper meal) so he didn't really need the milk right before bed. This
is a solution to this problem but also a routine that some people
don't want to fiddle with (I mean the habit of always snacking before
bed). We brush teeth right before bed. I suppose you could also do
the milk, then teeth, then bed as well.

They both drink water right before bed and always have. Occasionally
they will get up and drink in the middle of the night. I used sippies
for middle of the night drinking up until we moved. We now have
access to a sink on the same level as the bed so I just use regular
cups (and also they will go get their own now).

--

nikki

"Dawn Lawson" wrote in message
I just reread my posts from early Oct 2002, and had myself a little
sniffle. Wah! I want a do-over. A friend said to me the other day
that she didn't know how I managed thru crises and struggles all on my
own. You manage by putting off the "wallowing" til later, when you can
indulge in a bit of weakness, ime. Trouble is, doing it "after the
fact" makes people think you are "not getting on with your life", and
it's still a lonely thing.

(((hugs))) to you Dawn. Sometimes a little bit of wallowing can be a healthy
thing, so don't feel bad about needing a few tissues lately.

--
Em
mama to L-baby, 3.5 months

I can totally understand that if your choice is peaceful bedtime now vs. an
unknown risk of tooth decay in the future you might choose bedtime. :-)

Any suggestions to get around this?

Most people I know have used a bottle or sippy cup of water, rather than milk.
If the child won't take the water, they start by diluting the milk and
gradually increase the water:milk ratio until it's all water.

Or you could let him drink the milk, but brush his teeth afterwards. Of
course, the teeth brushing may wake him back up, but it works for some kids.

Holly
Mom to Camden, almost 3
EDD #2 6/8/04