Milk is necessary for nutrition...not the bottle! And, if the child will not take milk in a cup, he/she can still have the bottle before going to bed; that's what I do with those who are on bottles...I give it to them after lunch and then they go for their naps. From a parental point of view, I can understand wanting the child to have the bottle if he won't drink from a cup (I was in this position with my middle son and was thankful that his daycare provider was fine with me sending bottles as I wanted him to have the amount of milk my doctor was recommending). However, I can't understand why they are so insistent about him having it in bed with him, especially if they are aware that this is bad for his teeth (this has been pretty common knowledge for quite some time...I remember it from when my first son was a baby almost 17 years ago).