We just stopped giving Noah a bottle at 12months and we were amazed when there was no fuss or even asking for "bot bot"
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We just stopped giving Noah a bottle at 12months and we were amazed when there was no fuss or even asking for "bot bot"
Choc hun, I agree 3 is too old for a bottle - it's purely a habit and not a soother/comforter for him, watch the juice too - try watering it down, they never know ;).:
My first 2 same as Missy - and they wont touch soft drink either LOL and now that is their choice and not my doing IYKWIM.
Zander wont take a bottle so is taking some feed from a cup (only one a day) ...
My Son is just over 3 and still has his bottle of a night when he turned 3 we talked to him about being a big boy now and he came up with " i have no bot bot , no nummies and no nappies i'm big " he collected all his dummies i gave away all his bottles and he tried ever so hard no to have a night nappy ( he just wasn't ready for the no night nappy and is slowly getting there) but then he got ill and wouldn't eat or drink anything we had to revert back to a bottle just so he would take some fluids it was a huge set back as we are now finding it extremely difficult to get him back to where he was . I don't agree with just turfing the things he loves dearly out to satisfy the stigma of what a 3 year old should or should not have .... every child is different and playing it by ear works for us ... good luck with what ever you decide on
Can I ask (maybe a dumb question) why we need to get rid of the bottle? Is there actually a medical/health reason, or is it more because they can't be 20 and drinking milk from a bottle, so at some point you have to phase it out?
Someone mentioned teeth- At some point soon-ish I will make sure DS has his teeth brushed after his bed-time bottle, so I'm not concerned about decay from milk sitting on them, but is there another teeth issue regarding bottles?
Sorry if this is a silly question!!
Hun I dont think it is about satisfying any stigma's - it is about helping them develop. It takes different actions to use a cup than it does a bottle, and helps prepare them to use a cup without lids etc. Every child is different, but there does come a time when they really dont need what they want if that makes sense.:
I suppose my opinion really is if they can drink from a cup and take appropriate amount of fluids - why are they having a bottle still when it is not for any nutritional or medical reason?
Sami, I understand where you're coming from, but it IS a comfort thing, for my child anyway. He gets comfort from plenty of other sources too, but he does love his bottle. I feel that taking it away from him right now would only lead to distress and sleep disturbance. I wouldn't take my boobs, or his teddy away and leave him to cry, so why would I take his bottle? I also have guilt issues (mostly resolved ;)) about him having a bottle at all in the first place, so I feel extra mean to take it away from him. I do understand there is a line, that it will need to go at some point, but I don't feel WE have reached that line yet.
He eats well, is still BF, drinks water out of any sort of cup or drink bottle, so I don't think one bottle at night is going to hinder his development at this point ;). As I said earlier, I would much prefer that he didn't have it, but I would prefer lots of things that I don't get (like a full night's sleep :lol:), but I just have to suck it up. Each time we've dropped a bottle, it's just been getting to the point where I feel I need to intervene, and then he just gives it up on his own. Which makes me feel so much better. Sometimes playing it by ear can be a good thing.
Having said all that, my inner dental nurse would just like to warn everyone that bottles should only be for milk and water ;). And even milk has sugars, so you still need to be careful with that one, little teeth are so easily damaged.
Janie - DS was having a bottle up until a few months ago and easily changed (without distress or anything :o) to a Playtex insulation sippy cup. It has a moon on it and as we are mildly obsessed with the cow jumping over the moon ;) he took to it quite easily for his night milk. Not sure if that is a path you want to take or not though :dunno:
Janie - sorry I was responding to the OP's post - I understand the comfort thing and did say in my first post if he didnt use it as a soother or for comfort, which I read OPs son did not.
I understand entirely about not wanting to take it away from him, my DD had a dummy for a lot longer than I would like - for comfort, different thread though ;)
Sorry Sami, misunderstood, thought you were responding to a post on this page. All good ;).
Michelle, sounds good, it's a path I would love to take! Will give it another go someday.......he has never been interested in drinking milk out of anything but a bottle, whatever the time of day. He obviously has a very strong association between milk and bottle :doh:. I might have a look for that Playtex cup though, where did you get it from?
Just the supermarket - Coles I think. His is purple plus I got another cup at the baby expo so there was a back up ;) DS was very attached to the bottle too and he only ever had milk in the bottle (just water through the day) so I was surprised how easily the transition occurred. But it is worth a try!!
I switched DS to a sippy cup at 6months for both water and milk.
I had been comp feeding and he had had the boob and bottle.
He had no problems drinking fr a sippy cup at 6mths, and since then we've tried different types of sippy cups and he always seems to enjoy something different.
Now he has a water in a straw cup, milk from a kala cup and boob in the morning and night.