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I don't personally believe this rush to get kids totally off bottles at 12 mo is as important as people make it seem. If giving him a bottle then brushing his teeth helps him sleep longer at night I'd do that. Maybe up until he was 2 or so if necessary.

I would just do milk in a cup. I was adamant that we cut bottles completely at 12 months. I think the longer a child uses them, the harder they become to get rid of. So I would just offer a cup of milk close to bed time to help him fill up his tummy. Then brush teeth and go to bed. Even if he's not drinking the same quantity, it will probably help at least a bit with sleeping longer.

@JennyPenny: we do a straw cup of milk while we read stories before bed and then brush teeth. My LO didn't take nearly the volume of milk from a cup as she did a bottle at first, but once she got used to it, it evened out.

We didn't do bedtime bottles but we had a hard time finding a cup that LO liked. She wasn't attached to the bottle (she was still nursing) but since I didn't produce much the only way to really get WCM in her was with a bottle. I wasn't going to be a Nazi about it and deprive her of the milk she needed to force her to a cup.

We just kept trying cups and would also let her have a bottle or two per day. Eventually around 14 months we did strike gold with Playtex straw cups and the switch was fairly painless.

Even now at 2 she will drink a cup of milk while we read books and sing and then brush her teeth before bed. I would just get in a habit of teeth brushing after the bottle, and keep trying with cups.

If it were me, I would move toward it slowly. First I would institute brushing teeth after the milk and then I would start towards a cup. I take less issue with the bottle then the not brushing teeth before bed thing. I think tons of sippy cups are almost exactly like bottles, so I don't really get the whole "no bottles" thing.

For what it's worth, I don't think the bottle of water will actually extend the sleep. I would be more inclined to say the extra sleep is from the WCM calories and not from just the bottle habit. Have you experimented with giving him more milk at dinner? What's the spread in time between dinner and bedtime?

@JennyPenny: we use the munchkin weighted straw cups and their click lock cups. When she was your LO's age, I preferred the weighted straw ones because the flow through the straw was slower.

Why would this be a habit that needs to be cut out? My son is almost 5 and drinks milk in a cup before bed while we look at books. Teeth are brushed afterwards, he uses the toilet and into bed.

Are you concerned about the bottle/nipple or the milk itself?

@JennyPenny: we just started using the same Munchkin straw cup that @Lbee: and @Madison43: use - literally yesterday - and it seems like we finally have a winner! Highly recommend!!

@JennyPenny: Then what I would do is to continue giving milk, in a bottle at night, but not in the crib.

We didn't begin consistently brushing teeth as part of the night time routine (after milk) until my son was more along 2 years old, probably bad, I know...but at age 5 we have zero cavities.