stopping bottle feeding

[rabbitt]

My daughter is now 20 months old. She can use straws , beakers and drink from a cup. However I still give her milk ( cows ) morning and night from bottle with a teat. I do add Avent handles to this so she is infact feeding herself, but should I not be letting her use the teat anymore ? I know the health visitor would say NO but is it really doing her any harm as she really enjoys it this way ? Any one there to help ?

[starlover]

i don't think there's anything wrong with ti.

[rabbitt]

Thanks Starlover, this is my first time having one of these chats so really plesaed someone resp0nded so quickly. I dont think it hampers her development in anyway, but its one of those things when people seem to raise their eyebrows when I mention it !

[colditz]

Rabbitt, my ds had night time bottles until he was well into 2. He stopped them when we went on holiday and I forgot to pack them.

He has never drunk as much milk since.

[starlover]

well... don't tell them! my ds is only one, but i have got him onto one of those cup/bottle trainer htings for his milk in the day...

but i still let him have bottle at night because he enjoys a niec snuggle and the comfort of it.

don't think it'll do any harm... unless you want her to stop!

[Nemo1977]

think you have to do it when it is right for both of you. I encouraged ds to give up his bottle at 13mths but only because I was pregnant and didnt want 2 lots of bottles. He also wasnt attached in the same way as he never had dummies etc and didnt seem to need to suck to sooth/settle.

[rabbitt]

This is great- everyone is so helpful. I think I may try and change the morning one into a beaker but do feel the night time one should stay as I do think it helps as part of the wind down process for bed.

[lellybel]

Hi Rabbitt We were the same with our dd. Stopped her morning bottle at 19 months and night time one at about 21 months. We made a big fuss of going out and buying a "special" night time milk cup as ds was arriving soon after. Must admit though, be prepared for a sudden drop in milk intake. dd had been having 5 oz am and and 7oz pm. This quickly went to only about 2 -3 oz at night max as she just refused morning milk. Good luck !