Reply To: Bottle feeding during sleep routine

[Emma H]

Hi Harish,

I’m so glad you liked the course!

It’s great to hear that your six-month-old has been sleeping well. Feeding her to sleep doesn’t seem problematic at this point, especially since she only wakes once a night for a feed and her naps are going well.

There are potential issues that can arise from using a bottle as a sleep association. These include:

1. Frequent Night Wakings: Some babies who are fed to sleep might wake more often during the night. They may wake up every sleep cycle needing the bottle to fall back to sleep, or they might have a solid stretch of sleep at the beginning of the night and then wake every two hours from the middle of the night onwards.

2. Short Naps: Feeding to sleep can sometimes lead to short naps. Babies may only sleep for one sleep cycle (30-45 minutes) during the day and struggle to link sleep cycles for longer naps.

3. Dental Health: Going to sleep with a bottle can increase the risk of tooth decay.

If you notice these changes, you might want to start offering the bottle earlier in the bedtime routine so she doesn’t fall asleep with it.

I hope this helps!

Emma

• This reply was modified 6 months, 2 weeks ago by  Emma H.