to re-introduce a bottle at 21mo

[EricNorthmansmistress]

DS used to have two full bottles of milk a day, until the HV suggested we get rid of them a few months ago. I started giving milk in a beaker which he wasn't enthusiatic about but drunk, about 1/2 what he had before. Since then his milk consumption has dropped and dropped, tried all kinds of cup, open, straws, you name it. He now just will not touch milk full stop. He's still only little and I think he should have milk. I gave a bottle last night and this morning and he drunk it all up.

He's not much for comforters or anything, he has a dummy but not very attached to it, so I'm not hugely worried about having a battle to get off the bottles again (he wasn't upset tha last time or anything) and he has his milk before brushing teeth. AIBU? DH agrees with me, as we both think having milk is better than not having milk....

He doesn't really need milk now, because he will likely be getting the nutrients (calcium etc) from other sources by now. Things like other dairy products - butter, yoghurt, cheese - and calcium is also found in green veg like broccoli and other sources which I can't remember right now!

But I do give my 20 month old a small bottle of cow's milk occasionally (I am still breastfeeding though so more often he has milk direct from source). I don't think there's anything wrong with it if you restrict it to certain times and before he has his teeth brushed.

yanbu
why not just try again in a few more months with the milk in a beaker and see if he drinks it any better that time, atleast he is having it before brushing his teeth

I really wouldn't if it were me. As Bertie said he will be getting his calcium from other sources. Will he eat yogurt? if so give him some of that daily.

You can get some calcium enriched cereals too

How about smoothies/milkshakes made with milk?

II really dont think you should stress about the bottle or milk intake now, he is almost 2 it's high time he was done with bottles by now.

He has yoghurt every day. I might try a smoothie - that's a good idea. He does have a limited diet though as he won't actually eat anything green it's basically bread, pasta, cheese, eggs, yoghurt, bananas, kiwis and baked beans.......

Kiwis are green!

My 2.8 year old still has a nightime bottle so I don't see anything wrong with it, necessarily but if you've managed to get your DS off the bottle, I wouldn't give it back to him.

My son is like yours, will not drink milk from anything other than a bottle. Frustrating isn't it?!

I made smoothies this morning. I buy those bags of mixed frozen berries and use them either straight from the freezer or let them defrost first. Then add a banana, some yoghurt and some juice or milk to thin it down so DS can drink it through a straw.

Have you tried hot chocolate or chocolate/strawberry milk too?

my 2.5 year old has a bottle with breakfast and one at night

love the way that its OK to breasfeed till they are ten but somehow unacceptable to give them a bottle, why!!!!!

do what you want but they do still need milk I think

I kind of agree porca - what is the difference between sucking from a breast (ok aged 2+) and from a bottle (not ok past 1)? I know the teeth issue but he brushes after, and if he wants to drink milk from a teat maybe that means he needs to, rather than a cup?

I'm not too bothered about getting him off it again, he's quite easy like that, but I will try smoothies to up the milk without going back on bottles fully.

NAH i dont but that bottles are not "ok" past one. says who? god? nipple yes, bottle no? seems silly

Meh. Its one of those, whatever, does it matter things isn't it?
I always think, when he's interviewing for Trinity or Oxford, will anyone care if he had milk in a bottle until he was 3? Or that he didn't walk until 16 months...or whatever.

Do what works for you, it matters not.

DS is 2.5 and has a bottle morning and night. 8oz in the morning and 10-15oz at night. He eats three meals a day plus snacks and is as healthy as an ox.

He's your DS - you do what you think is right for him. If he wants a bottle then why not let him have one? As long as he's not wandering through town with a ribena-filled bottle hanging from his mouth what's the problem?

Isn't it just the teeth/propping issue that's behind the guidance, ie leaving a baby to fall asleep on the bottle, which allows milk to pool in the mouth?

BertieBotts advice sounds sensible - bottles with meals or immediately before brushing teeth - then go with the flow and drop them when your DS is ready.

Have you thought about the possibility that he doesn't like milk? When my mother stopped insisting on giving me a bottle and started me on cups of milk, aged about 18 months, I refused to drink the stuff ever again. I HATE milk! It makes me feel nauseous, even though I'm not lactose intolerant.

There's plenty of calcium in yoghurt, cheese, etc. If he doesn't want to drink milk, don't make him.

Yes, but he likes milk, in a bottle! He will guzzle down half a pint from a bottle. If he didn't like it I would not make him drink it (as if I could) of course. It's more that I think he should drink some milk, and he refuses to drink it from a cup. If he has a bottle it would be with breakfast (then brush teeth) and before bed (then brush teeth).

I think I will. He has a very little appetite anyway so it's good to get calories in him. He eats like a bird yet is still tubby

I weaned my daughter from the breast at 15 months, but at nearing-on-19 months she still won't drink milk from anything but bottles. Like yours, she'll drink a bit, but not much, and if you hand her a bottle she'll guzzle it.

She still drinks a LOT of milk - about a litre a day - and since she's thriving, healthy, has a varied appetite and eats family meals with us daily, this is just not a battle worth fighting, for now.

So if yours takes a bottle happily, give him a bottle. It's obviously fulfilling a need.

Eric, he is only little do what you feel is best, yes I totally agree, why is it fine for babies to have milk from the breast and not expressed into a cup or beaker, but if a baby over 1 is having milk from a bottle . My dd 3.3 years loves milk but only took it from a bottle until she kept chewing the teats and it got expensive at 2.11 years, then I gave her a sports bottle with milk in so she drinks it from that. DD will not drink milk any other way, its one of her little habits I guess and same for your ds.

DD only came off the bottle when she was old enough to understand that bottles are for babies and that she is a big girl now and has to drink her milk in a big girls bottle (sports bottle with peppa pig on). Before then she did not understand and resulted in tantrums so just stuck with the bottle.

plus two Avent teats at £3.50+ a throw is not cheap, so she had to be weaned really for my poor pocket

as long as you dont call it a Bockle

Oh and it had to be an Avent bottle nothing else would do, dd was that fussy and still is.

My DS was drinking a bottle in the evening until nearly 3!

He liked it for comfort, he only drank at home if he hadn't eaten much that day. If I felt he'd had enough calcium etc through yoghurt and cheese etc I didn't give it to him.

It was comfort to him, it filled him up before bedtime and so he had a fitful sleep.

It was one bottle and took 10 mins. It's not as if he was wondering round with the teat hanging out of his mouth.

We didn't make a fuss and he stopped the bottle when he stopped needing so much milk.

Just brush his teeth thoroughly.

Can't believe there are now bottle nazis

Bockle!

Don't forget boc bocs!

bleeeeee eric that is VILE

I have to invoke Godwins Law at this point, Mrsincommunicado

you lose