What age should bottle of milk and dummy stop?

[susiesuelou]

My DD is 20 months old. She still has a bottle of milk (cows milk) on an evening before bedtime (the only thing that successfully gets her to sleep), and a dummy when she's either tired or upset (the only thing aside from a cuddle that will soothe her when she's upset - she sometimes even goes to the place in the kitchen where she knows the dummies are kept and reaches up for them when upset).

I know this can be a contentious issue that sparks a lot of debate... Just want to know general opinions on whether it's OK for me to continue both of these things until she turns 2, and then start to phase them out? As that was my plan.

Thanks.

In terms of the actual evidence, it is not going to cause any problems at all for your child to continue
a) the evening bottle until whenever as long as you brush her teeth afterwards
b) dummies are only associated with orthodontic issues age 4+

you can absolutely wait until age 3 and then tell her as there are only a finite number of bottles and dummies in the world she needs to send hers on to a new baby, but she can get whatever big girl toy she likes instead

Mine still has a bottle before bed (followed by brushing teeth) and a dummy for sleep, and he's 2 and a half. We plan to take him off both in a few months, before he is 3. Same as my eldest son - he was 3 when we stopped his dummy at night time (I think he stopped his bottle before that though). Asked a dentist about it with my first, and he didn't seem the slightest bit concerned, as long as we brushed teeth after bottle. He also said dummy is far better than them getting into the thumb-sucking habit.

The 'dummy fairy' is how we got it off my eldest - he was perfectly willing to give it up and it was very easy.

My DD (almost 4.5) still has a bottle of milk before bed. She just won’t ditch it and at the moment I don’t have the energy for the battle. We clean her teeth afterwards. We’ve tried all manner of cups (she uses a normal cup fine in the day) but she won’t entertain anything except for a bottle in the evening.

Whenever you like! Milk and a dummy won't do a child any long term harm if it's led by the child. As in as long as you're not sticking a dummy in a 5 year olds mouth and telling them to shut up 😅 other than that, you're fine!

@Reugny have you heard of a Thumbsie? I got one for my thumb sucking son when he was in reception and he kicked the habit with ease within a week or so

My DC never had bottles but the younger two had/have dummies.

Youngest is 2.5 and loves his so I wouldn't dream of taking it away cold turkey. He can have it for as long as he wants, I really don't care.
Only rule I have is that he takes it out when talking.
I find as they get older they have it less and less anyway and most dummies are orthodontic so I don't worry about his teeth.