rock'ard parents; AP parents... i want all sides comments pls... cant see wood for trees

[NappiesGalore]

right
all 3 ds's (15m, 2.10 and 3.11) go to sleep sucking on a bottle in bed. they each have a spare and if they wake in the night, they generally find it themselves and go back to sleep that way (with exceptionof littlest who rattles about whinging till we plonk it in his mouth for him)

i know its bad for their teeth and its a crutch and it means they wee at night more etc etc BUT t works and they sleep and they go to bed without a fuss at bedtime and boy am i attached to that.

i never intended for anyone to have a bottle past te age of 12m. and they were bf to 5, 6 and 8m respectively, so bottles should only have featured for sucha short time... (relevent? doubt it)

but theyre all so attached to their bottles now and i know that stopping it will be met with much upset. also, ds2 in partic is v attached to his bottle and whenever he is tired/hurt/upset in the day, he wails for a 'milky drink' and then is nstantly happy when e has one.

we are moving from guest accom to our own house again in about a month or less after a yea of building work... so a big change for them coming up

should i make a no more botles in the new house rule? or try to phase them out? (been tried and failed a number of times) or should i just not rock the boat and theyll stop when theyre ready?

also note ds1 voluntarily had his firs nappy free night the other night, successfully, so... am i making an issue out of notheing??

[gingerninja]

could you try with a newborn teat see if they get fed up sucking with nothing coming out or is it the act of sucking that they like? Is it really a big deal for their teeth? I hadn't heard but then my DD uses a dummy and I turn a blind eye to the problems.

[FrannyandZooey]

We have a cup with a pour out type spout and a flip top lid

as long as the lid gets flipped back into place in the middle of the night all is well, and it isn't bad for the teeth etc

worth a try perhaps for your eldest?

[NappiesGalore]

oh hi, morning!

ninja - they do use the slow teats, they get annoyed if they get fast ones! youre right, its the sucking they like. which makes me think that if it were water in there, theyd still be getting that out of it, without the (in all cases) risk to teeth and in ds's2&£'s cases calorie intake (meaning theres a reason to wake up and they dont eat as well in the day)... i have tried a gradual process of watering down in the past, and since ds1 wont touch milk anfd had juice instead, his is practically all watwer already...

you are right too Francoise, with ds1 i could play the 'youre a big boy now, not a baby' line which might work... doubt it but worth a try.

so, do either of you think its a bad thing that they have bottles? should i just leave well enough alone? and if not, should i do it gradually or short and sweet? in your opinions, that is (no guarantee i'll listen!! lol)

[FrannyandZooey]

Well being completely honest I don't think it is ideal that they have bottles, no (the teeth thing)

but given that they DO have them, I don't think a short sharp shock is the best thing

I would work towards gradually phasing them out

how the fk you do this I do not know

[FrannyandZooey]

oh yes, water

is there something about them not having bottles anyway because of the jaw formation thing? Or is it purely a tooth decay issue?

[gothicmama]

you could use the move as theopportunity to change things, it is not ideal using bottle to aid sleep and it is important for them to learn to sleep omn their own youmay be pleasantly surprised that after afew nights they settle on their own

[NappiesGalore]

i think the jaw formation thing is more a younger baby thing... oneof the sevenhundredandtwentytwo reasons i bf despite the first one's undiagnosed toungue-tie nearly killing me with pain!

[NappiesGalore]

yes gothic, thats what i was thinking but... but... why is it so bad? would it rteally do them any harm?

i sucked my thumb all the time when i was a kid, right up unil i got to secondary school when i stopped quick-smart for um, social reasons people lectured me and my mother all the sodding time about it, saying my teeth would be ruined and in actual fact i have a brilliant set of perfectly straight gnashers [humble]

[SoupDragon]

I don't think there's a problem with the bottles as such but they should contain only water. DSs both have beakers of water by their beds and always have done.

[SoupDragon]

They used to have non-spill Magic Cups but now (8 and 6!) have ordinary sports bottles.

[NappiesGalore]

hmmmm. i ditched all he magi cps coz they were too fiddly to clean etc, but they are easier to use than theanywayupcups which have never quite taken off round here...

i think i will think seriously about switching them rom bottles to magiccups (they drink lying down at atm so they need to be non-spill) and ONLY water in the 'new' house.if they also have fab ne beds i a fab new room with cute little nightlights each... then the focus isnt just on the bottle thing... or is that too much change at once??

[SoupDragon]

Why are they fiddly to clean? Just take them apart and stick the pieces in the dishwasher!

[CuriousSquid]

you could always say that you left the bottles in the old house/removal men lost the.... and just have milk in beakers in there at night. Mine both have drinks at night that they can reach if needed. Have to say at 15months, ds2 did still have a bottle at night but ds1 didn't.

[Mumpbump]

I have read about people having dummy fairies, in the same way that you have a tooth fairy. What about trying that ploy?

[mishw]

NG I did the same as you with DD1, the trouble was she would finish her milk and carry on sucking so ending up with a lot of wind. Either that or she would lose the bottle and wake me up crying for it! So although I had an easy bedtime routine, through the nights just got worse and worse so in the end we went cold turkey and although it was a hellish 2 weeks it was worth it. We did this when she was about 1, she's now 3 and sleeps fine, no problems at all. I will make sure I don;t make the same mistake with DD2.

Re what you should do - well its really your choice, you do have a good opputunity with moving house, but if you do ditch the bottles, you can;t go back to them, you have to stay strong, which can be really hard, especially if you're tired.

If I were you I would just ditch them rather than phase them out, maybe go and buy him something as a replacement - Dr Tanya (who is God in this house) did something similar a couple of years ago on Littel Angels. Taggies are quite good to chew/suck on, well DD2 loves hers!

Whatever you decide be consistant and good luck.

[colditz]

Swap them to sippy cups and ignore the moaning.

[NappiesGalore]

easier to drink from i mean

[mamma2kids]

I would leave well alone. Moving house might be the worst time to change as they might be unsettled anyway (plus you'll have enough to do and will need sleep).

I thought bottles were only bad if you put juice in them. Milks not bad for teeth.

[NKF]

You could water the milk down gradually until it's just plain water.

[colditz]

We left ds1's bottle behind when we went on holiday (he was two)

he was actually fine about is. We told him when we got back that it was moldy and have to go in the bin.

And when he pointed at bottles in shops we just said 'No'.

[FrannyandZooey]

Mamma2kids, milk is bad for teeth if you fall asleep with milk pooled in your mouth (the way you do if you fall asleep with a bottle in your mouth)

and a bottle means that the milk is in contact with the teeth a lot - is that right?

I did hear the Magic cups were implicated in incorrect jaw development as well

I am sorry, this is not v helpful, is it?

[mishw]

The magic cups are also bad for the teeth. Basically you still have to suck to get the fluid so it is like having a bottle. The only way to make them better is to remove the valve thingy which then makes it like any other cup where the fluid can leak out everywhere!

Juice is worse for teeth, however milk also contains sugars and can also be very damaging

[FiveFingeredFiend]

I am of the hard of nails variety ( stick them in the cellar should they make too much noise etc) but i rather think that sleep is just the most important think to being a decent mother.

I would personally bin then when they start nursery.

[NappiesGalore]

FFF - easier said than done when theres little more thasn a year between each. 2 of them are at nursery already.

i like the 'bottles got lost in the move' idea...

but if the sippy cups are not much better than bottles, is there a point?

i love Tanya Byron too. i saw that episode.

[FiveFingeredFiend]

i had 3 under 3, i know how it goes. I was trying to give you a chill vibe.