Why a bottle of formula in the night (if your little one isn't breastfeeding) can be helpful right throughout the first year of life, or even longer

A bottle can make the nights easiest and bring comfort to your small child right throughout the first year of life, and even beyond. Families of non-breastfed babies up to 12 months of age might use ready-to-drink formula bottles in the night, or store pre-prepared formula in a cool pack by the bed.

A bottle in the night provides

• Milk in the tummy (resulting in sleepiness and hormones of satiety)

• The dialling down effect of sucking on the sympathetic nervous system

• The dialling down effect of sensory motor nourishment provided by physical contact.

Is it true that baby's don't need milk in the night after six months of age?

You might be advised that your baby doesn't need milk in the night from six months of age. But this advice wrongly assumes that

• The only reason babies feed in the night is to receive milk

• Baby wakes in the night because of the habit of wanting a bottle (but it's normal for babies to wake in the night, right into toddlerhood)

• Baby can be taught to self-soothe back to sleep without calling out for your help (but efforts like this to train babies' sleep actually don't make babies wake less often in the night).

When you've decided it's time to teach your baby something new in the night

There might come a time when you decide you're ready to teach your baby something new in the night, which is that there is no milk or sucking from the bottle in the night anymore. You can read about how to wean from the bottle here.

My job is make sure that you are receiving accurate, science-based information, because it can be hard if you've decided to stop the bottle in the night, and yet your baby continues with normal night waking. You no longer have your superpower of milk and sucking to dial him down. You'll be relying entirely on your other superpower, of sensory motor nourishment, which comes with cuddling and sometimes rocking or walking in the night.

My hope is that you're able to avoid sleep battles night after night, which are miserable for everyone. You don't need to rush stopping bottles in the night, and it can be easier to make this change once the first year of life is over. But only you know what's right for your unique family.

• You can find out about how much milk is too much for your baby here.

• Sometimes parents use both bottles of formula with a pacifier or dummy in the night. You can find out about pacifiers or dummies here.

• You can find out about bottle feeding and your little one's teeth here.

Recommended resources

World Health Organisation: Infant and young child feeding - key facts

Selected references

Veile A, Miller V. Duration of breast feeding in ancestral environments. Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-3-319-19650-3_818: Springer, Cham.; 2021.