Is 2 too old to still be having a bottle??

[mishymoo]

My DS was 2 in July and he still has a bottle of milk before he goes to bed every night - does anyone think this is too old? I have tried giving him milk in a cup / beaker and he is not interested! Should I be worried?

[OrmIrian]

No. In what sense?

I'm afraid that my oldest 2 did this for ages. My youngest who was more exclusively bf never really took to one.

[mishymoo]

I don't want him to still want a bottle when he's 5 or 6! I'm hoping he will wean himself off it like he did with his morning bottle about 6 months ago! Maybe I am worrying unnecessarily?

[Tamdin]

mishy ds is 19m and still has one for bed. have friend who's dd still had one at 4 and gave it up very easily so i wouldn't worry too much about it

[Mumpbump]

Ds has a bottle at bedtime at 18 months. I wouldn't be too fussed about it, personally. On a different point, someone did tell me you'll never get them to go dry through the night until they stop having a bottle before bed which makes sense.

[fluffyanimal]

I expect he'll grow out of it when he's ready; or if you are that bothered, just go cold turkey. Would he not go to sleep / sleep through if he didn't have the milk? I.e. if he refused the milk or drank much less because it was in a cup, what difference would it make to him? Nutritionally he probably doesn't need the milk at bedtime - you can increase milk or dairy intake during the day.

[OrmIrian]

mishy - confession time DD still had one sometimes at breakfast time until she went to school. She had it in her hand one morning on the way to school and saw one of her classmates - at which point the bottle got chucked out of the way under DS#2's pram double quick Never touched it again.

[expatinscotland]

No.

My mum had a bottle till she was 4. She's a pretty stable, calm and normal person.

[Dropdeadfred]

My dd has a bottle of milk before bed and she sleeps 11 hrs through..then has a cup of milk in the morning and more often than not goes back down for another hour.
She's 2.3 and I have NO intention of rocking the boast right now by witholding that beloved bottle!!

[MrsFish]

Ds is 2:4 and still has his bedtime bottle, I intend to keep offering ithim until he isn't interested anymore. I can't see the harm in it to be honest

[mishymoo]

Thanks for all the advice - seems I am worrying about nothing reall!

Mumpbump - good point! Started potty training about 4 weeks ago but he is still in nappy at night! He wakes up with a very heavy wet nappy. Perhaps I will leave it for now until I am brave enough to put him to bed without nappy.

[Tiggerish]

My dd (2.3) still has a bottle in the morning and at night. As some of the others have said - what is the harm in it. She drinks from a cup at other times so there is no developmental problem.

btw there is no connection between bedtime drinks and wet nappies - night wetting is hormonal and not connected to how much they drink before bed. My ds (5.3) is still in nappies at night and rarely has an evening drink.

[LadyTophamHatt]

of course it isn't.

Ds3 will be 4 in afew weeks and I've just stopped using his spouted cups!

[Toothache]

My dd has just turned 3 and I used that as a marker for removing the bedtime bottle! I told her that now she was 3 she was FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR too grown up for a baby bottle and the fairies took it away.

..... now..... how do I get rid of the 5 dummies she takes to bed...

[LadyTophamHatt]

Hey, toothy!!

Lovely to see you

[EmsMum]

Isn't the main objection to bottles that they are not too good for teeth and that spouts are better as soon as they can manage?

But thats prob if they are sucking away for ages and don't get teeth cleaned after.

Presumably its a comfort thing and thats fine so long as teeth clean and healthy.

[Nip]

My DS is 16 mo and has one when he gets up and one before bed - both in a bottle.

Should he be having it out of a cup instead then? And what sort of cup...like a avent magic cup thing?

DS wakes up at 6.30 ish - and if he hasnt had bottle by 7 he cries.. so surely he needs this.. or should he have some breakfast? At the moment he is at nursery for 8 and has breakfast there? Oh i'm confused whats right or wrong

Sorry for partial hijack.

[HenriettaHippo]

Mishy, you've got years before he's 5 or 6!! Don't worry about it at the moment. He's still very wee, and when he's older and you can reason more with him, the Bottle Fairy can come and take it away, part of a rite of passage to being a "big boy".

On being dry at night, DS1 is 3.4, he has a beaker of milk at bedtime, and no signs whatsoever of being dry at night, although been potty trained in the day for over a year. Frankly, I don't worry about that either. There are more important things to worry over, imo.

[Nemo2007]

I wouldnt worry about it. Ds stopped at 18m but that was because I didnt want him confused when baby was born however he is 3.10 and still has spouted cup of milk at bed time. DD1 stopped a couple of weeks ago [she is 20mths] but only by accident as I put her to bed with a spouted cup instead of bottle and she didnt make a fuss so was good enough for me to clear out her bottles. Obviously DD2 is only 8mths so still on bottles.

[Nemo2007]

Meant to add in terms of night training it has never caused problems with ds he was dry in day at 2.2yrs and dry at night at 2.6yrs, he still has cup of milk for bed every night and just gets himself up to use the loo.

[Biglips]

i stopped giving DD bottles when she was 2.7 yrs old......i was too lazy to change it to beakers...since then she hardly have milk.

[mishymoo]

I guess you're all right! It's just that a friend of mine had terrible trouble getting her 3.5 year old off the bottle (also evenings only!) and I suppose I don't want WWIII to break out as he is very precious about his night-time bottle! Although, the little monkey does have milk from a beaker/cup at nursery but totally refuses it at home... perhaps Mummy's is a pushover!

Right, I'll stop worrying and just go with the flow! Thanks

[Biglips]

i just told my dd that i left both of her bottles at her ninnys (which i did) and will have to wait till we see her again. She was fine.