to want to wean my 12 mo from the bottle?

[tammymunday]

MIL says not to worry about it, it will happen naturally and it doesnt matter if they are walking down the street drinking milk from a bottle at 3.

AIBU to want to wean him off now to beakers and cups? Does it really matter?

My DD is 14months and the nurse has been telling me FOR MONTHS to get her off the bottle onto beaker. She flatly refuses to drink out of beaker, and I don't mind a bit. They won't be bringing the bottle to nightclubs so YABU.

YANBU, you got to do what works best for you. I found with ds2 that I kept offering cows milk in a beaker and in the end he stopped playing with it and started drinking it.
YABU with yourself to worry about this, just chill and go with the flow!

Maybe I am a tough mummy, but I just stopped offering the bottles and gave a tomme tipee cup. I may have been really lucky, but I didn't make it a choice. The few times she did ask I just said your a big girl now and use these cups.

It's up to you. My DS was weaned off at 12 mo but he took to a beaker really well.
But then I know parents who continue giving their DCs bottles.

It won't harm her either way. I just personally wanted him off the bottle before he got attached to it (my aunt was then finding it hard to wean her 4 year old off it)

I agree with Humpty, just go with it, she'll grasp it eventually.

On another note though, my DNiece is nearly 2 and can't drink sat up - she still has juice in a bottle and lies down! It drives me mad to see it

They do say it's better for the teeth to get them off the bottle.

My DS has drank water from a beaker since he was 4 months. He has a bottle for his milk though. And at 6 months he can pretty much drink himself!

A little unreasonable possibly, it depends how much it bothers you.

DS1 and DS2 both always had formula milk out of a bottle and water out of a cup/beaker. This was never a problem for me, they only had a couple of bottles a day over 1(from memory morning and before bed - possibly one mid afternoon) so they were not walking around with bottles hanging out of their mouths IYSWIM, they didn't have bottles on demand. So just do what you think is right, I'm sure it won't hurt them either way.

It's entirely up to you (special needs excepted) there is no 'need' for a baby to drink milk out of a bottle; personally I just didn't like seeing my child with a bottle so I gave him a sippy cup from about four months - like Lizcat - there was 'no choice'. It's your decision - some people don't like bottles, some people don't mind.

(My pet hate is seeing any child over eighteen months with a bottle - school-friends of my five year old son still used to have their bedtime milk in a bottle - all the other children used to laugh at them about it).

The only HV I had time for said that dentists want the children off bottles at 12 months, children decide to stop using them at 18 months...

She was right in our case; admittedly he'd been using a beaker for water from 6 months. :D

YANBU. Bottles are bad for teeth. I got rid at 9 months. No need once they're well weaned anyways. Think people are too soft about this sort of thing.

YANBU - its your DS.

Perhaps don't do what I did though, which is choose DS's first birthday to stop the bottle cold turkey (paranoid first time mother imagining buck teeth and bottle drinking until schooldays) and let him cry to himself to sleep. To be fair, it took 20 mins the first night, 15 the second, 5 the third and then that was it. No more bottles since and instead a beaker of milk before bath and cuddly stories before bed.

I have felt like a cruel mother ever since I think back to his first birthday though!

I did it at 13 months. Took 2 days of her being upset at milk time, then no problem. She's 17 months now and seen other childrens bottles and seems unsure what theyre for - forgotten already.

Funny that Stranded. I was told by a few dentists and dental nurses/hygienists to wait at least 1/2hr (preferably 1hr) after every meal/snack before brushing.

Chewing sugar-free gum (Extra/Orbit) with xylitol may encourage saliva production, which helps to neutralise acid that erodes teeth.

As for bottles, I'd gone to a dental show at my DC's school and the dentist showed pictures of teeth from children who were off bottles by 12m. The palates of the 12m'ers were a nice U-shape. The showed the palate of a child of 2yo (not yet weaned off bottles) and it was a very pronounced V-shape, which is not so good for speech.

all mine were off bottle by about 14 mths,ds2 we banned him from the bottle,little sod would push the teat in and tip it upside down!!!lol

Really appreciate all your feedback, thank you so much! Decided to go with the flow and try him on the beaker for milk feeds apart from bed from now on. Will worry about the night bottle by about 18 months! DMIL can have her opinion, i can have mine.
Take care, thanks again!

Hv told me no bottles after 12 mo.

That's interesting Cymar

Was that children who had all their drinks in bottles, or just nighttime milk? Because its hard to believe a bottle, which takes about 1 minute to drink can do that.

I think for optimal dental health 12 months is probably right but most babies are more likely to happily give them up closer to 18 months.

Dental health is the sum of its parts though really, there have to be other factors that influence it so if you do one thing "wrong" then best make sure the other things are being done right...