To give nearly 3 yo drink in a (baby) bottle?

[TheThenandnow]

My DS really doesn’t drink anything like enough. Yesterday I couldn’t find his cup and gave him water in a bottle and he downed it. I’m wondering if I should just do this from now on?

My dd was the same and even got constipated. We give her dilute juice sometimes, and also the sippy cups.

Dehydration is a way more urgent problem than a vague possible risk of wonky teeth imo.

A few hours between drinks is fine . How much is he actually drinking over the whole day ? That's more important than how often he takes a drink.

Not a baby bottle- bad for teeth forms a habit and nursery/school won't be able to give that, he would also be singled out by other children.

Just get him to pick a drinks bottle himself at almost 3. Over 1 shouldn't really have baby bottles.

I wouldn't use baby bottles with teats, no. It's not good for him.

But I FAR prefer to drink water out of a plastic bottle than a drinking glass, I'd try a few different ones to see what works. Personally I prefer the single use bottles, like highland soring 500ml just treat them as reusable. They're lighter & more comfortable to carry when I'm out & about as well.

Bone dry nappies but you won't give him a small amount of squash to get him drinking?

Have you any idea how dangerous dehydration can be?

@TheThenandnow

cross posted with you.

what does he do when you refill the fruit shoot bottle?

Have you tried taking him out and letting him chose a drinks cup/bottle? Might be worth a try! It worked for my dd.

Also the bone dry nappies might not be at all related to the not drinking and instead a sign he's able to hold his wee for an extended period of time and ready to potty train.

Also squash. But will probably get flamed for this

My two and half year old still has water out of her baby bottle occasionally. I don’t think it’s that big a deal! It’s only in her mouth for 10 mins or so, it only water not juice or anything! She can and will drink out of a cup bit when she’s tired or feeling snuggly some times it’s just easier for her to drink from a bottle. If she was wandering about with it in her mouth the whole time I would be concerned about the teeth alignment issues. So many toddler seem to have a dummy in their mouth or a thumb almost constantly- it’s just a few minutes occasionally. They’ll grow out of it sooner or later I’m sure! When it’s hot and their getting dehydrated it’s better than nothing. I wouldn’t worry yourself.

Unless there are special needs, 3 is way too big for a bottle. Mine were both off bottles by about 13 months. Get him a cup with a straw or something

I'm sure his speech development will be fine, it's not the same as a dummy, presumably he will have a drink and put it down, not be sucking on it all day and night

I think people get confused about the dummy thing. It's not the shape of the dummy teat that affects speech development primarily. It's that it's impossible to talk when you're sucking on one. It keeps them quiet for hours, like a muzzle.

Kids with good speech development attain that by chatting away for hours everyday

I love how people say ‘get this, get that!’ like you haven’t thought of it!

I am sure he would choose a bottle with a train or whatever on it but he wouldn’t drink out of it! He’d just carry it around.

I don’t want to go down the squash or fizzy drink route no. And he drinks fine at nursery - awkward sod. He doesn’t seem constipated so maybe he’s fine, but he does have a good amount of milk in the morning and at night.

I think maybe you are over worrying if he isn’t having any issues due to not drinking? None of mine drank much when they were small, never as much as experts advise but they had no ill effect and drink more now they are older.

What cup is he using for milk in the mornings/night?

I don’t want to go down the squash or fizzy drink route no. And he drinks fine at nursery - awkward sod. He doesn’t seem constipated so maybe he’s fine,

Bone dry nappies are not an indicator of a child who is 'fine'

I'm not sure why you don't want to go down the squash route, a tiny bit of flavour could make all the difference here. It's not a hill to die on when the risk to your child's health is greater by dehydration than it ever could be with a bit of flavour.

@Thesearmsofmine you’re probably right. I do try to offer him lots of food with high water content so maybe he’s OK. Just worries me when his nappy appears to have practically no pee in it!

One of mine didn’t take to sippy cups at all, so we varied between a bottle and an open cup. His teeth are perfect and meanwhile I’m paying thousands for orthodontics for the breastfed one.

I wouldn’t limit him to the bottle, but if it’s getting fluids in, I would go with it for a while.

Sometimes it’s the novelty rather than the actual object that makes a difference. I used to find that using a water dispenser would be a big hit for a while but then taper off. So I’d produce a jug and cups. Or a tea pot.

If you don't want to use cordial, you could dilute some orange juice or pressed and strained raspberries etc (add a bit of honey for sweetness if needed)?

My eldest went through a phase of not drinking, and I switched to cordial within about five seconds (exaggeration, but, you know). Now she can have one cup of cordial per day, otherwise it's milk or water. I'm happy, she's happy, she's drinking. 🤷🏻‍♀️

If you don't want to give him squash try diluting some fruit juice, or if he likes cucumber you can infuse water with cucumber, with or without mint. In fact you can infuse water with any fruit, just let it soak long enough to flavour the water. I did watermelon for DGS this summer and he loves it.

@TheThenandnow you can guarantee that asking this question on AIBU will bring the exact responses you’ve had. Just do what works for you. The odd baby bottle of water isn’t going to harm him and will get some fluids down him. It won’t last long I assure you before he realises it’s babyish.

Both my DC used dummies and or bottles for comfort for far longer than recommended but just at home at times they really needed that comfort. Both grew and developed perfectly normally.

In short you don’t need permission here to parent your child as you wish.