You would think as a mom of 3 that I would have it all figured out. Ahem.
The truth is, I need some advice. So please…help a sista out!
My Bottle Rant
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You would think as a mom of 3 that I would have it all figured out. Ahem.
The truth is, I need some advice. So please…help a sista out!
How cute are you. Great vblog. Honestly, I think it is fine for a 21 mnth old to have a bottle. Last year, I saw suri cruise with one at 5 yrs old. That is excessive! I really wouldnt take it away yet.
After 12 mos, I switched to the cuppies w/ the soft top. Feels like a bottle nipple but is shaped like a cuppy top. This helped get my babies ready for cuppies.
You look really great for having 3 kids! Kuddos momma! I wish I had good bottle advice but peebs was just like Parker and was all “no thank you” to bottles , milk and sippy cups. Loved the Vlog!
It is very difficult to take a bottle away from a toddler who has a younger sibling. Will & Brandyn are 13 months apart, and I could not get Will off the bottle or pacifier once Brandyn was here. He was two before I finally got rid of both. I can tell you that 11 years later, and $6,000 in braces that I wish that I would have just done it. That is one of the major reasons why it is not ok to continue with the bottle. It can lead to crooked teeth, overbite, and decaying of teeth. Even though there is milk in the bottle, and you would think that is good for their teeth, when it is in the bottle & they are drinking it slowly the sugar that is in the milk can slowly cause tooth decay. Try giving him milk in a sippy cup when he is tired, and before you lay him down for a nap. It’s not going to be easy, but I now wish I would have a lot sooner. Good Luck!
Just went through the same thing with my daughter who turned 2 in Aug. It was hard and she loves her milk as well. I brought the nuk sippy cup which have the nipple like a bottle. I figured that was at least a start. My son wanted nothing to do with the bottle once he hit 18 mos. He’s 8 now and only “drinks” milk when he’s eating cereal. Good Luck!
I hated washing bottles so I feel your pain. I honestly don’t think there’s anything wrong with it but each meal should really replace a bottle feeding. I had no issues with my daughter and taking the bottle away. I think that maybe since Bentley sees SJ with a bottle that he thinks it’s still okay for him to have it. Have you tried giving him fun and colorful cups to see if he’ll take them?
Maybe take him and let him pick out a special sippy cup to use that he only gets his milk in. Also the Nuk soft spout ones are great, really like a bottle. The milk is bad before sleep regardless of in a bottle or sippy cup. The sugar in it sits on their teeth and can lead to decay. Molly just turned one and I kind of just took them away and she had no choice if she wanted the milk it was in a sippy cup.
Hey Mandy, I love your blog, the vblog is great too! I was always told to never put the juice in a bottle to help transition to sippy cups. The only negative about the milk in bottle before bed times is what’s called “milk mouth” essentialy the milk stays in their mouth and leads to tooth decay. However, Riane, who lost interest in both breast feeding and a bottle around the same time; & will now only drink about 1/2 a cup of milk/day and she will drink it out of a cereal bowl. Our dr says it’s just important to get the calcium intake so, thank goodness for cheese and yogurt. I think my mom just got rid of all the bottles in the house when Mall refused to give them up. Idk if Bentley and Sloan use the same kind , cause then that wouldn’t work. Best of luck with whatever you decide.
Ok, here are my two cents. I don’t subscribe to the belief that babies need to stop drinking from a bottle at 12 months, just like I don’t subscribe to the belief that weaning at 12 months is necessary. One reason why is that at that age, many babies still have the need to suck, and breast or bottle fulfill that need. Sucking is comforting for babies (hence the attraction to pacifiers)
Also, I feel that there is no reason to rush kids. There is this cultural movement to turn babies into independent kids quickly, and sucking (bottle or breast) on my opinion is still a need at that point. Most kids will have braces, so I don’t find the argument against my point of view regarding bottles and pacifiers crooning teeth to be an issue. My daughter took a bottle until she was two. She eventually stopped needing it as much, gradually, and I weaned her off. My son breastfed until 2 so it was a bit different, but the need for comfort that he got from nursing, or that my daughter had from her bottle, did not begin to subside until after 2.
Doctors and nurses will always have opinions, but remember this isn’t a health issue. It’s a parenting issue, and you should feel empowered to do what YOU and your hubby feel is the best for your kids.
xx
Sorry for typos, on my iPhone!
I’m not sure why a bottle after the age of one is so taboo. My son loved his bottle as well, but his Dr. scared me so I took it away at 14 months. I agree with you that milk is healthy and to let them drink it.
We went cold turkey which was hard. The sippy I used to wean him off of his bottle is a Nuk Silicone Learning Pirate. He protested the first couple days, but finally gave decided to try it and we never went back.
Personally with my next child I will not be so strict.
You are a wonderful Mom and I wouldn’t stress about it.
Also I did break the rules and put my bottles (Dr. Brown’s) in the dishwasher. There are baskets for all the annoying parts and I used the sanitize feature. After washing bottles for months I gave up and went the easy route.
Good luck!
Teeth problems are the main reason to take it away after one. It can also lead to more ear infections if he is laying down with the bottle. Someone was telling me about tops you can screw onto a bottle but it is a sippy top. You might be able to try that and then move to the cups. Some of my friends that took away bottles said they just did it cold turkey, but since he sees the little one with a bottle that might be hard. Good luck!
P.S I just put my bottles in the dishwasher, do you wash them all by hand?
Mandy,
SUCH a hard struggle. I know with my kiddos, it wasn’t as much taboo as it was that I was DONE with wanting to deal with the bottles, much like you are now. They were both way over it and so easy to take the bottle away at 12 months. However, your issue seems more like a sucking or soothing issue than the actual bottle. I always tried to NOT have something my kids HAD to have especially at bedtime. Whether it was a bottle or rocking them. I always wanted to make sure they could put themself to sleep on their own without the use of any aides. However, my kids took a pacifier. So that was probably what aided them.
So, when we decided to take the pacifier away it was COLD TURKEY.
Tyler cried the first night for about 10 minutes and he fell asleep. Woke up once in the middle of the night…I kissed him and went back into my room. The next night he cried for like 3 minutes because night number one crying DID NOT WORK!!
It is ALWAYS harder on you than him and Bents totally knows that. 🙂 I would get rid of the bottle ASAP just so that he can become a better sleeper faster without relying on anything to help him fall asleep. I did not know that about milk being sugary either…guess it’s a good thing there are such smart mommas out there. BEST of luck 🙂
We’ve got him all next week end. Don’t even think about taking it away this week! Dad.
Umm, Liam is 21 months old and still takes his milk in a bottle (3x a day). In all honesty the only time he doesn’t take milk in a sippy is at night, but I have been lazy and just putting his milks in bottles. I did see someone the other day at Barnes and Noble and she had a bottle, but the top looked like a sippy cup. I want to say it was a Born Free bottle. What kind do you use? Perhaps you can go to the baby store and see if they have sippy cup tops for his bottles? My plan is to phase it out for Liam. I want to be 100% off of it before his 2nd birthday. My pediatrician just said to make sure at night, I wipe his mouth out to get the milk off of his gums and teeth. I don’t do that, but I try and push water. Good luck! I agree it might be hard with Sloan around getting bottles.
This is what she had. It’s called a trainer cup.
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2661896
Brandi
Hey Mandy,
I think this point has been hit on a couple of times but the main reasons they say that is due to teeth and mouth issues. You don’t want that milk just sitting in his mouth, also the shape of a bottle/or paci for that matter can cause major mouth issues such as an over bite and buck teeth. What we did was cut the amount of milk we gave Mia everyday in half, until she about didn’t get anything in their then only allowed her to have water in her bottle. She only got milk in her soft tipped sippy. It didn’t take her long to not want the bottle since it was only water. It did take me a bit to get her off the sippy at night though. My suggestion would be don’t ever let him take his sippy to bed then maybe you wont have the same troubles. Good luck!!
It’s true that extended bottle use leads to “baby bottle tooth decay”. What about only giving him water in his bottles ? He might lose interest then and water won’t harm his teeth. He might just want to pacify himself with sucking. Offer him the milk only in zippy cup and water in bottles. Then you will know if it’s the milk he wants or the sucking. As for washing bottles, try the Playtex drop ins! Disposable liners you just throw out! Good luck mama!
It really is just a teeth thing. H-Man lost interest in bottles at 7 months when I introduced a cup, and B-Baby doesn’t take a bottle. Haha. I lucked out.
I would put water (vs milk) in his bottle, and milk only in cups. That may get him to want the cup. Also, try the soft nuk cup or a straw cup! That worked for some people I know.
Good luck 🙂
awe… such a hard topic. I love all the comments you received.
Hang in there mamma!
Hey Mandy –
I had the same problem as you. AJ took his milk in a bottle until he was almost 2 too. Like several people have said, the problem is the teeth so I asked my pediatrician “what if I brushed his teeth after?” and she said that was fine. So we started that routine and he actually liked it. He got his milk, (good nutrition) and got to love brushing his teeth too since he was so relaxed when we did it. I just started with those ones you put on your finger and it worked like a charm. Eventually he grew out of the bottle on his own. Don’t worry about it : )
around my son’s first birthday, i began replacing his bottle with a sippy cup of milk.so for example he would have 3 bottles a day-morning, noon, & night.so i decided to replace his noon bottle first with the sippy.since morning & nighttime seemed like a more attatched time for it.did this for a few wks so he could get used to figuring out a sippy vs. a bottle.then i replaced the morning bottle with a sippy for a few wks. & finally the nighttime bottle. id say he was bottle free in about a month and a half.prior to weaning off the bottle, he wasnt a big pacy fan.but after we took the bottle away, he seemed to avert his attatchment to the pacy for awhile.but in a few months we were rid of that also.i liked the nuby sippy cups because i tried sev. cups (literally tried drinking out of them myself.lol) and they were actually diff. for me to drink from.so i could imagine how hard it was for a young child.the nuby’s were super easy tho & they are fairly inexpensive at wmart for only $2 or less.they even make some with straw tips.when you start teaching how to drink from a straw.my son turned 2 in july & we now use playtex sippies.i love the twist & lock lids cuz they dont allow leaks.i hope this helps.good luck!