Last bottle was last night... :(

Last night was the boys last bottle! I actually cried as I fed BOTH of them their bottle. How crazy is that?? I think to me it was like I was giving up their babyhood with no more bottles. Crazy, I know. Especially seeing how I will be (possibly) bottle feeding another infant in 6 months! We successfully got rid of the bottles at wake up and before nap. They now get that milk with breakfast and lunch. The last bottle was before bed. So, now I will give that milk-with their dinner. At other times throughout the day-they get water. There have been times where Nicholas has fussed with the water-and he wants milk instead. They LOVE milk.

So my question now is-what have you/did you do before bedtime to replace that bottle? Did you even do anything? Do you give a sippy of water and a snack? Or just a drink? Do you wind down with a drink/snack/book and then bed? Tonight we actually had a late dinner(6pm) so they had dinner, milk and then after we read books and went to bed.

I was just wondering what others did. I remember my nephew getting a snack before bed-cheerios or the like. Thanks for any help!

 

How long between dinner and bed? My boys don't need a snack before bed (we eat around 6 and they go to bed around 7:45), although I sometimes offer Cheerios if they've had a particularly terrible dinner. I also offered a sippy of milk while the boys were having their stories for a long time, but usually they aren't bothered with it so I don't offer it much anymore.

 

:Clap: hooray you did it...no more bottles! :hug: but hugs to you for being sad about them growing up! I was sooo happy the last day the boys were on bottles ~ life is much easier now! We feed the boys at 6:00pm & they have their milk with dinner. 7pm is bedtime for them so it works out well! Good luck to you & congrats on being of the bottle little ones!!! Good job momma!

 

Ours eat at 6 (they have water with dinner) and then have a bath. They watch their only tv of the day at 7pm when we all sit on the couch and have a snuggle and watch Thomas and NOddy on Sprout (Noggin). They get a sippy of milk at this time. Jack usually drinks both his and Lily's! They go to bed at 7:30pm.

 

QUOTE(CHJH @ Jan 1 2009, 08:01 PM) [snapback]1129345[/snapback]
How long between dinner and bed? My boys don't need a snack before bed (we eat around 6 and they go to bed around 7:45), although I sometimes offer Cheerios if they've had a particularly terrible dinner. I also offered a sippy of milk while the boys were having their stories for a long time, but usually they aren't bothered with it so I don't offer it much anymore.


Dinner is USUALLY around 5/5:30pm. That's what I strive for at least. It's also usually hit or miss. Tonight was grilled cheese(they split it) and Anthony essentially ate one quarter and then tore apart the other quarter! Nicholas was a bit better, but I saw the dog got quite a few bites for herself, which explains the weight gain on HER! LOL!

I think it was the snuggle time I was missing/going to miss, as that was the one time during the day(before bed) that I could cuddle with them one on one. I know I can do it other times, and do, throughout the day, I just don't know. LOL!

My boys, especially Nicholas, are HUGE HUGE fans on Jack's Big Music Show on Noggin. Obsession is an understatement! I mention Jack-and he immediately starts to giggle/laugh and if he's fussing-he immediately stops. The crazy thing? They see the menu pop up on the TV for me to get to the show(it's recorded), they BOTH start to giggle and smile with excitement! I'm in trouble!

Thanks for the tips ladies!

 

I always give sippies of milk and water before bed. I usually just fill 2 sippy cups, 1 with milk and 1 with water and leave them out on the coffee table. My girls are grazers and just will take a few sips from one or the other when they notice them, and then throw them on the floor. Some days they eat dinner really early b/c they're "starving" at 3:30 or 4 pm so on those days I put some toast or fruit on a paper plate next to the sippies. Or if they didn't eat very much at dinner I will put out a snack. But most nights it's sippies only and they just drink them when they want them.

 

My daughter usually gives either pudding or yogurt to her boys before they go to bed. And they have a sippy cup of water to drink from. It't part of the bedtime routine. Sometimes she gives them a banana. Usually she gives it after they have their bath and get their pajamas on, before reading their bedtime stories. That way, if they didn't get a good dinner, she knows they aren't going to bed hungry.

 

We do dinner around 5:30pm and only water after that. We do read and sing songs adn rock at bedtime but no food/drink besides water after dinner.

 

I give my girls a sippy of milk before bed. We snuggle up on the couch, drink milk, and watch backyardigans, then they go the bed.
My girls have dinner at 5ish, then take a bath/jammie time, then we go to the couch around 630.

Yay for no more bottles!

 

All 3 of my kids get a small snack and some milk before bed, it's part of our bedtime routine.

 

We just replaced the bedtime bottle with a bedtime sippy instead (we just give them their sippy from dinner again). We have dinner around 6 -- at 1 year they went to bed at 7. Now it's more like 8-8:30, but we still don't give them more food after dinner, just milk.

 

We usually eat around 6:30pm, so that's when they have their last milk.

 

We do sippies with milk while doing jammies and reading stories. part of our routine...

 

Mine get a whole sippy cup with milk right before bed. It's a routine. I have no idea how many oz they get per day but I know that it's plenty AND if they didn't eat well, it just makes me feel better that they're getting that milk right before bed.

 

I would still have them drink a sippy of milk before bed. They still need quite a bit of milk. More than what I thought and what I was giving. My girls still get a full 8 ozs before bed.

You can still snuggle with them while they take the sippy!!

 

I took photos of our last night with bottles! It was sad for me too. My first and last babies.

Mon-Fri we eat at 6:30. Halfway through the meal I give them sippies with milk. Then after bath and pyjama time they get whatever was left. If you want a snuggle, get down on the floor with them. If I'm on the couch or trying to clean up they ignore me, but the second I'm on the floor they are all over me and I love it. Bedtime is shorly before 8pm.

On weekends we often have an earlier supper (5:30 or 6). At those times I give them water with the meal and then a full sippy of milk after bath and pyjama time.

Like you I worried about the ritual of milk, then bed so I'm planning on continuing it for a while.

 

We do dinner around 5/5:30 and then a sippy with milk and a snack (goldfish/cheerios/etc.) after their bath while they watch their bedtime dvd (around 6:45/7ish). Depending on how much they ate at dinner they don't always drink very much but it makes me feel better to offer it. I have grazers too so it's a sip/bite here and there. I did find though that they actually started sleeping 30-45 later in the morning right after we dropped the bottle, my theory is b/c their diapers weren't quite as wet so they are more comfy longer.