Babies are soothed by their bottles and will normally want to go to bed with a bottle in their mouth. Allowing your baby to settle down with a bottle is okay, but you should never let them sleep with it.
There are all sorts of side effects that could come from a baby sleeping with a bottle.
Laying in bed with a bottle
If your baby falls asleep in their bed with a bottle, the milk can drain down into their ear. This can cause major ear infections. Always feed them their milk before you let them fall asleep.
If they still want the comfort of sucking on something, try a pacifier. It is a good alternative and will not lead to ear infections.
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Teething
If your baby is teething, you should never let them fall asleep in the bed with a bottle. This will cause tooth decay in your baby’s mouth. Always make sure to clean your baby’s teeth before you let them fall asleep. Overnight, the bacteria can build up and do some real damage to their young teeth.
Skin rashes
Leaving the baby all night in the bed with a bottle that has something in it, can irritate the skin. Bottles will leak during the night, and that liquid will normally leak down the baby’s cheek. This means that the baby will be laying in bed all night with wet liquid against their skin. This can cause skin irritation and rashes.
Choking hazards
Baby bottles will leak, even if the baby is not sucking on them. If the nipple is still in the baby’s mouth, this liquid could drain into their throat and cause them to choke. This could lead to death. This can be very dangerous, and so, no baby should ever be put to sleep with a bottle in their mouth, in our opinion.
Letting your baby go to bed with a bottle can be harmful in several ways. | Image courtesy: stock image
Lung problems
The human throat has two different paths going down. One path is for air to come in and out of your lungs, while the other is for food and liquid to go directly to your stomach.
If a baby is in bed with a bottle sleeping, then the pathway to the lungs is completely open for air to pass. Small amounts of liquid could find their way down the air path and settle in the lungs. This could cause pneumonia and other lung problems for your baby.
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Any doctor you talk to will advise you not to put your baby to bed with a bottle of milk to fall asleep. There are just too many things that can go wrong.
Always feed your baby before they go to sleep. It is not even advised to use a water bottle to let your baby fall asleep with. The dangers are just to much to even let it happen.
Did these tips help you? If so, how? Tell us about it. We’d love to hear. For more on how safe baby bottles are, watch this video:
Also read: Wash baby bottles: How to keep your baby’s bottles clean at home