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Behaviour/development

Talk to others about child development and behaviour stages here. You can find more information on our development calendar.

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Original poster

14 month old still on bottles

25 replies

niccibabe · 23/02/2011 09:57

I'm concerned about the LO's (not my child) teeth. What age should they change to beakers - for milk and for water? What harm will the bottles do? Apparently LO has not tried beakers yet.

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CamperFan · 23/02/2011 10:01

Depends on how many bottles? I imagine at that age, not many? My DS1 had a bottle in the evening til he was 2. His teeth are fine. Easy enough to get them drinking water from a beaker though I would have thought. I wouldn't worry too much!

Original poster

niccibabe · 23/02/2011 12:39

3 or 4 bottles of milk plus all water in bottles - LO has a bottle for a few hours a day.

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triskaidekaphile · 23/02/2011 12:46

Introduce a beaker alongside.

Original poster

niccibabe · 23/02/2011 14:57

Can you suggeset how I could introduce the idea to the LO's parents?

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Tee2072 · 23/02/2011 15:02

My 20 month old drinks 3 bottles of milk a day. It won't kill the child to have a bottle. Many have bottles until they are 2 or older.

In the case of my son, he will just not drink milk out of anything else. He adores milk and will refuse it rather than use a sippy cup. He does drink water out of a sippy cup.

justalittleblackraincloud · 23/02/2011 15:07

My DD (19mo) still has her milk (bedtime & first thing, and often one in between) in a bottle.

She has her water in a beaker though.

triskaidekaphile · 23/02/2011 15:44

Why don't you get the kid a beaker as a present? Agree with everyone who's said that bottles for milk at this age won't hurt at all but it's good for them to use a cup too.

IcingOnTheCake · 23/02/2011 15:53

Most kids will refuse a beaker at first, you just have to persevere with it. Both my dc hated a beaker and sceamed about it. I persevered and a couple of weeks later the bottles were gone.

MickyLee · 23/02/2011 16:01

Maybe you should take a back seat on the matter. would been really furious if someone came on about my DC and my parenting skills.

ThePippy · 23/02/2011 16:09

My DD(18 months) has bottle of milk first thing and another before her evening bath. Both are followed by teeth cleaning and she gets them down pretty fast these days (so no milkly teat lingering on her teeth for ages) and definitely much quicker that she would manage milk from a beaker.

She also has water throughout the day in combination of beakers and sports style bottles, but doesn't tend to have long drinks on these, more frequent sips, so I would find it hard to transission the milk drinks to beakers and get her top down the whole lot in one sitting.

We kind of tried recently and it was met with screams, and to be honest I love the closeness of those bottle feeds - at 18 months those real close moments (when you feel like they are still your baby) are getting fewer and fewer so I intend to enjoy them while they last.

ThePippy · 23/02/2011 16:11

Oh and I completely agree with MickyLee - if this is not your child then I wouldn't get involved. Nothing worse for a parent to have someone offering unsolicited advise! I would personally not appreciate it and I suspect most wouldn't.

triskaidekaphile · 23/02/2011 16:18

Oh, is it a friend's child, not a mindee? Sorry, didn't realise. I agree re not saying anything in that case as it's no biggie really. If you were a childminder you could leave some beakers of water lying around. My daughter's nursery does this and the kids seem to like going to get their cups and having a little drink when they fancy it.

Firawla · 23/02/2011 22:40

who's child is it? i would just leave it really 14 months is not that old and i'm sure his parents will think about moving him onto a beaker when they feel he is more ready?
i would say the tommee tippee first beaker are a good one to start with, they tend to be very easy for the young babies, but agree with other posters that if you go in with all this "so concerned about their teeth, bad to drink bottles at this age" etc you may piss them off. pretty sure the majority of 14 months still drink milk from bottles fairly regularly, it's not that much of a big deal

MrsRhettButler · 23/02/2011 22:43

are you sure the parents aren;t trying to introduce a beaker? my dd didn't like any i tried her with until she was nearly two so she had a bottle for her water as well as her milk

Original poster

niccibabe · 23/02/2011 22:58

Thanks everyone. I'd no idea that it was quite common for toddlers still to have bottles. The child I mentioned is the only one I've come across who only has bottles. In my area, HVs and various dental health projects start giving out beakers at 4-6 months and there's lots of emphasis on getting rid of bottles completely before 12 months.

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ThePippy · 24/02/2011 10:50

Hi niccibabe. You are right general guidelines state that babies should be off the bottle by 12 months old but I don't know anyone who achieved this, and most I know are still on at least 1 bottle per day when they are 2 years.

Guidelines v's reality of bringing up a child are very different things and most parents do their best to do a good job for their children, but this doesn't always mean following guidelines to the letter. I think often guidelines are introduced to ensure those who are at the other end of the spectrum stop bad practices e.g. parents who shove a bottle of milk in the pushchair/cot with baby and let them suck on it in demand all day.

Same as the shift from moving to solids - used to be 4 months and is now 6 months, which I believe is all because of allergies in a very small % of people. In my case I weaned at 4.5 months and DD was VERY ready. Babys are all different and guidelines are just rough guides based on an average.

So I really wouldn't worry about the childs teeth if I were you, I'm sure they will be fine.

KenDoddsDadsDog · 24/02/2011 10:56

My DD drinks milk from her bottles and water from her beaker. Has 3 bottles per day at the moment at 14 months.
The dentist said that as long as we stuck to mealtimes rather than her sipping froma bottle all day then her teeth would be fine. (As long as we clean them obviously!)
It's just another guideline to get neurotic about and make us feel like bad parents!

mum2oneloudbaby · 24/02/2011 13:58

OP I wouldn't intefere it's upto the parents and it's not unusual.

ThePippy I disagree DD was completely off bottles by 12 months and had all drinks from cups or free flow beakers and I know plenty of others who were too. It's just a case of introducing early and being persistent.

MogadoredMemoo · 24/02/2011 14:01

Both my elder two DC had bottles until they where 2 and now they are 10 and 12 their teeth are fine.

Managed to get Dc3 off her bottle by about 14 months. She really surprised me because she wasn't remotely bothered by me taking it away. She still has milk morning and night but from a beaker.

ThePippy · 24/02/2011 14:09

mum2oneloudbaby not sure how you can disagree - all I said was "I don't know anyone who achieved this" which is true and not something you can disagree with, because I don't know anyone who did! At no point did I say it wasn't possible, just that I hadn't seen it myself. Just my view based on the small (in the grand scheme of things) set of parents I know!

I am almost certain that there are many that do get off the bottle by 12 months, and I am sure you are right that it is about introducing early and being persistent, my point was however that I didn't feel the guideline was so crucial that I was going to go all out to ensure it happened by 12 months.

Karoleann · 24/02/2011 14:54

DS1 was off bottles by 1. But DS2 wouldn't drink out of a cup at all until 16 months and wouldn't drink milk out of one - it took major perseverance too. I just binned all the bottles one day. Unfortunately he now won't drink milk at all which isn't great and I have to give a calcium supplement. I actually wish I'd stuck with the bottles.

DaffadownDilly · 24/02/2011 14:58

DD is 23 months and still has a morning bottle and an evening bottle, each of formula. All other drinks are from beaker or cup.

Her teeth are perfect.

DS self stopped bottles/formula/milk at 10 months and would only drink watered down juice. His front teeth are damaged from reflux/lack of calcium and he still at 3.7 takes supplements.

smk84 · 24/02/2011 21:13

My DS is 21 months and has 2 bottles a day. I don't plan to stop them until it feels right.
Not meaning to hijack your thread, but what's the difference? Am I being really thick - it's just that either way it goes into the mouth and probably swills around a bit, but with a bottle it would be more likely to squirt to the back of the tongue and miss the teeth? I also think that if a 2 year old was being BF, that no-one would say 'now you'd better start expressing and put it in a beaker !!'

monkoray · 24/02/2011 21:42

my twin sister had a bottle at bedtime until she was 12 years old. She has beautiful teeth as an adult so i find it hard to believe when people go on about the damage it can do to a babies teeth. maybe they fil it with full fat coke or something.

Original poster

niccibabe · 25/02/2011 17:39

Dilemma solved. This morning LO was visiting me, and saw my child with a beaker and tried to grab it. I asked the parents if it was okay to give the LO a beaker of water. I was told yes, but that LO had never tried a beaker, so they didn't know what would happen. I gave the parents a beaker so that they were in control but LO grabbed it straightaway and drank the whole thing - must have been thirsty.

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