Ok, who's had child using a bottle for longest?

[Empress]

i'll own up to mine using a bottle at night at the age of 3. any higher bids?!

this is an interesting thread. My dd has a bottle morning nad evening at 2.7 and I do not plan to stop. We did give her a cup instead a few times but the net result was that she drank less milk. Milk is good for you so why inhibit their consumption by introducing feednig methods toddlers dislkie? Also, you can cuddle with a bottle and not so well with a cup (without a lid on anyway). So long as toddlers CAN sdrink out of a cup should they choose What is the harm? No one needs to know ...

Hooray! A guilt-relieving thread! 20 months, night and morning. Have cut morning bottle to half because he was less interested in breakfast, now chowing it all down again. Can see we'll have trouble getting rid of it as he is outraged at the idea of milk from anything else.

Wouldn't mind losing milk completely though, certainly after 3, if he were still eating cheese etc. But not going to sweat it.

dd2 is six next month, and still has one first thing and last thing. I forgot them when we went on holiday, and she said 'don't worry' after suggesting to H that we went back and got them.

I thought we'd cracked it. But do you know what the first thing she asked for when we got back?

dd1 was really late in giving them up, too. I think they eventually get to a stage where they realise they're not 'cool', despite still desperately wanting one. It's a comfort thing, isn't it?

DD (15 months) can cuddle perfectly well while drinking from her lidded cup. She has just as much milk from the cup as she did from the bottle, although it did go down a little during the initial changeover. Think she might be attached though like Cod's DS3. And DS's milk consumption has just gone up because he's started school and they have milk (I pay for it mind you) there.

fantastic thread - I feel so much better now. Was getting stressed about DS still having his "bockle" at age three but now I realise that it is just normal and I shouldn't stress about taking his little comforter away from him. Thanks ladies!

Funny how this thread hasn't attracted the same outrage as the breastfeeding till 4 one did?
I don't see any difference personally and believe children should give up their comforts in their own time.

urm - differences between male child's relationship with breast and bottle - well I dont see pictures of big bottles on Page 3 of the Sun...
(sorry, couldnt resist )

Carla, my DD2 didn't have her bottle on hols and was fine but like you soon as we got back she asked for it.

Can't pull the wool over their eyes that easily hey

Interesting, isn't it Roxswood. I don't feel the need to tell anyone they're abusing their child by giving them a bottle either

A breastfed male child will see nothing sexual about his mothers breasts. If you were still feeding when he was 18 then maybe that argument would hold water, but at 4 years they've no idea, and I'd prefer they didn't see oversexualised images of women like that at age 4.

sorry roxwood Im not rising

Sorry Nightynight, wasn't trying to get a rise! Was just responding to what I thought was a strange post from you before.

dd1 had formula in a bottle untill she was 3.3...who cares? life's too short!

DD is 2 1/2 and has a bottle of milk at bedtime, first thing in the morning and at naptime and shows no sign of giving them up. I can't even remember when my two boys gave up bottles but it was pretty late, with no damaging effects! As donnie and others have said life's too short - bottles/dummies/ comforters, if they work for your child and you're ok with it who cares what other people think.

I feel guilty,
My ds gave up his bottle at about a yr and had a tommy tippee anyway up cup, which didn't last long as he liked a normal cup within a couple of weeks. Mind you he looked silly with a bottle lol. he did go back to his bottle when my sister had her ds for a couple of weeks but soon realised he didn't like it.

A cup with a lid is very useful for late teens/early twenties. I always had one as a student, cos you fill it with water before you go to bed - perfect for when you wake up in the morning totally dehydrated but with your head banging so much that you can't lift it from the pillow!

Fisil,
would sure gaurentee that in your hung over state you dont spill anything lol.

Colditz, don't your clean your DS's teeth before he goes to bed ?

DD age 26 mths has a bottle & a stoty, then teeth clean & bed

Of course I clean my son's teeth before he goes to bed!!! What in God's name makes you ask that question? have I said, anywhere, that I don't clean his teeth? Why have you not asked anyone else this question?

Hey Colditz you do better then me then. DD (24 months) has a bottle morning and night of whole milk - 8oz in each one....but I clean her teeth before she has the milk and story....

Definitely need to change the order though...

Hi Colditz, you said you'd rather DS had milk cavities than a calcium deficiency. If teeth are cleaned before bed, there should be no reason for milk cavities ?

I saw a poster in the baby clinic with a picture of a bottle with teat held by a toddler with rotten teeth next to a toddler with a sipper cup with perfect teeth so is this not acurate so long as you cleaqn their teeth afterwards then. I just tried to replace DS's night bottle with a sipper cup he was not amused he just had MMR jab so have given up for now, don't wish to distress further. Ladies with older kids did it affect your childs teeth having a bottle till later?

It is the time the bottle spends in the mouth that causes cavaties, as opposed to the time a cup spends in the mouth. Otherwise, why would it make a difference which container was used, if you brush the child's teeth?

Morning ! I always thought that if they went to bed with a bottle, the milk pools around their front teeth & rots them ?

Mojomummy, please point out to me where I have said I allow my son to take his bottle to bed with him.