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While I am not ashamed nor feel bad for saying all my 6 children have taken a drink, either milk or juice to bed with them – in a bottle. Quick shock horror, this is so wrong for so many reasons I know but … I like my babies to sleep. There is such a huge fuss over sending babies and young children to bed with a bottle.
As soon as mine have been old enough to safely hold and hold their own bottle they have been given one to take to bed with, along with their dummy and favorite teddy, the bedtime bottle is indeed part of our bedtime routine.
One professional suggested rather than rewarding a baby who refused to sleep with a comforter such as a bottle to use a nice soft little pediatric toothbrush so they have something to chew and suck on them that is good for them.
A pediatric toothbrush? How the hell is flipping toothbrush going to get my 3 young children to sleep?
I have a 1, 2 and 3 year old and bedtime battles are hard enough without any sleep at all, if I get 6 hours I am delighted. If it means giving them a bedtime bottle then so be it. I even re fill their bottles/juice cups before I go to bed so if they wake they have a drink to hand.
Does this make me a bad or irresponsible parent? To be honest without sleep I think I would be more prone to becoming a bad parent as I need sleep, without it I would not function enough to do the simplest of tasks, let alone parent 6.
We all know that sucking on bottles are not good for our babies teeth,
Dr Sears tells us; Bottles should not be giving to a baby who is lying down flat on his back, as he would be at bedtime. When bottle-feeding in the lying-down position, formula may travel from the back of the baby’s throat up through the eustachian tube into the middle ear, causing ear infections.
In a new study published in the Journal of Pediatrics, researchers analyzed thousands of children, identifying those that were still using a bottle at age 2 as their primary drink container, and/or were put to bed with a bottle with a calorie-containing beverage (milk, formula, juice, etc). Maternity Net reveals.
So my dear readers I ask you – Does giving your child a bottle at bedtime make you an irresponsible parent? Leave me a comment to let me know your views.
A Debate Corner Post By The Real Supermum
