To still be giving 21 month old DD a bedtime bottle?

[BearsInMotion]

DD has always loved her milk, but I only realised recently that NHS guidelines are to stop bottles at 12 months . It's part of her bedtime routine and there would be major tantrums if she stopped. Problem is although she happily has water or juice from a sippy cup she refuses milk from one (and refuses cows milk outright). We do clean her teeth after her bottle, but how bad is it?!

I guess everybody already knows but if you enlarge the opening at the end of the test the sucking action is much less satisfying for the child - it's a passive way to get your toddler to stop using a bottle.

hettienne- is that certain about bf not damaging to teeth? my 10mth old still feeds a couple of the times in the night and seems to feed for ages- using me as a dummy I think! I've just begun to get concerned about her teeth so it will be a relief if its ok. sorry for thread hijack.

BearsinMotion- bit depressing that your DD still feeding one or twice in the night at 21mths- I was hoping that mine would drop the night time feeds soon!

The nipple is pulled to the back of the mouth when breastfeeding so milk doesn't pool at the front. Also as breastmilk is "living" and has anti-bacterial properties it actually protects against the bacteria that causes tooth decay.

DS1 kept going with a night-time bottle until 3. I tried several times to get him to give it up, but failed. He eventually gave the bottles to his (heavily pregnant) godmother at his third birthday party "for the new baby".

DS2 went on to cups for everything at about 9 months (also the time I stopped b/feeding, though the two weren't related) and was never interested in a bottle.

However, DS2 was/still is far more attached to his teddy than DS1 ever was - IME if it's not one thing it's another .

yanbu its fine.

two of mine bfed at bedtime till well over three yrs.

ds4had a bottle of milk before bed til 3yrs 4mths when we went on holiday and forgot it.

dd is three next month and has 5oz in a bottle before bed. i clean her teeth after, she drinks from a cup the rest iof the time etc. its fine :)

btw enlarging holes/cutting the ends of off teats/dummies is not recomended as it can make them a choke hazard.

toasted - yep! Every time we think she's dropping it, she'll get poorly and want to feed half the night! Am trying to persuade her to eat more during the day but it's a struggle!

It was a fair number of years ago now but all mine had bottles until they were much older to your dd. I did feel a bit embarrassed about it, but they so loved that bedtime bottle. It was a huge part of their bedtime routine and they were very very reluctant to give it up.

DD had a single bedtime bottle until the day before her 3rd birthday. She has perfectly straight teeth at 5 yo and no transition issues. Yes, I was a bit about it but it was just one of those things.

good grief no. my oldest loved his bottle and santa finally took it away and left gifts when he hit 4!!!

he's 23 now and quite normal!! sort of!!

22mo still has morning and night bottles, and on some days the afternoon milk is still a bottle. She really doesn't like milk in anything else. Like others say, pick your battles. Plus I think I'll cry when she gives up the baby snuggles with a bottle at bedtime

Plus I think I'll cry when she gives up the baby snuggles with a bottle at bedtime

Me too

MrsDeVere ^^ this. why the bloody rush to always be moving kids on.

My DD2 was still having a bottle at this age. We gave them away to the baby reindeer at Christmas and she had a tippy cup after that

Totally fine if you brush teeth afterwards.

DS is 2 next month and still has a bottle at bedtime, which I still give him, he won't give it to himself.
He occasionally has one in the night if he wakes up and asks for one. I was worried about it, but I'm sure he'll give it up when he's ready.

We were told by the dentist that the issue isn't with them having milk, it's the bottle they have it in. If they have milk from a bottle with a teat they drink differently from a sippy cup and the milk is spread around the teeth accelerating discolouration and the action of sucking a soft teat causes the teeth to move potentially affecting how straight the teeth are....

rosduk and if a toddler only drank from.a bottle and spent the day carrying a bottle round/sucking from it all day then yes it would be a problem.

but a toddler having a bottle at bedtime and then having teeth cleaned is fine.

its a huge comfort to them and this rush to get them off bottles/dummies etc is a peculiarly british thing as well.

Ds was still having a bottle at 2 and a half. Only reason we stopped was becuase the teat split and i didn't want to shell out for another but he wasn't actually that bothered (i thought he'd kick up a fuss).

If that hadn't happened i would probably have carried on. Why make life more difficult for yourself than it needs to be.

I remember my little cousins having bottles till at least 4 or 5 at night. They are now at university studying to be doctors and vets, are beautiful girls with lovely teeth so it obviously didn't do them any harm

My ds is two and a half and still has one for bedtime,he gives it back straight after finishing it and doesnt sleep with it in his mouth so to me how can that damage him?he doesnt have a dummy,i think id worry about that but not a bottle

DD does mess around with it for a while but never sleeps with it and her teeth are always cleaned. Looks like the anecdotal evidence is on our side

Sometimes you got to just thing really???
Takes him minutes to drink his bottle of essential calcium fuelled moo juice so i doubt hes going to be walking around poking people in the face with horizontal teeth when hes older.

Thing?THINK.

I bought a new bottle today for DS who is 4 in March. Meh, helps settle him down and signals 'bedtime', he'll stop when he is ready, just like his sister did.