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Behaviour/development

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Original poster

Can anyone recommend any books aimed at toddlers giving up bottles?

17 replies

KaraStarbuckThrace · 05/05/2011 09:48

I had a friend visit with her little boy who is 2, he still has milk in the bottle which she is trying to get him to give up but he is proving rather stubborn!
She asked me if I had seen any books aimed at little ones about swapping bottles for cups, there are lots on giving up dummies but not really the same thing (he doesn't have a dummy) but she does thinks the bottle is like a comforter for him.
Since she is a dental nurse she is well aware of the importance of switching to cups but she is running out of ideas!

Hope anyone can help? I have also suggested she contact her local Surestart for information as well, I know our local one had a "bottle amnesty" quite recently, where toddlers were invited to swap their bottle for a cup.

TIA

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Flojo1979 · 05/05/2011 12:46

Being a dental nurse i'm shocked she left it so late. I'm not aware of any books on this as most ppl get rid of bottles (before 12m) long before baby is in to books (2ish).
I suggest she just goes cold turkey, my lil one has a dummy and i'm planning on just throwing them all out, using Jo Frosts, dummy fairy technique. Maybe she should just do that and have done.
I assume a cup is used rest of time anyways so shouldnt be too difficult.

Pagwatch · 05/05/2011 12:48

tell her to buy this book

Throw the bottles away. By Pagwatch

bubbles12 · 05/05/2011 13:54

I would have thought that by the age of two they would be well up for a bit of bribary. Whatever it takes for a quiet life, you drink form this lovely cup and you can choose a .... packet of sweets/ new book/ trip to the swings / fruit shoot/ sausage roll etc

GwendolineMaryLacey · 05/05/2011 13:57

Well I can tell you that bribery doesn't work. DD is 3.3 and still has them. She'll hand it over and tell me she's too big but the moment she gets upset or tired it's all that will settle her. If she threw a tantrum I'd live with it but she gets so distressed, I've decided not to worry about it.

fluffyanimal · 05/05/2011 14:00

DS1 had morning and evening milk out of a baby bottle until he was 3. Finally managed to persuade him out of them when he saw new baby brother having milk in a bottle (I said "baby bottle" and he said "and they are for big boys too" and I said "no they aren't"...). We also bought him some regular drinks bottles with his favourite character on, he now has milk out of these instead.

I didn't stress about it by the way, because the dentist said his teeth were fine, but I did want him to break the babyish habit.

speculationisrife · 05/05/2011 14:08

Watching with interest, as my 2.1 dd still has a few ounces from a bottle just after she gets up and just before bed, with stories. Since 8 months old she has drunk water beautifully from all kinds of cups including open ones, and has milk from a cup at nursery in the afternoons from time to time, but her a.m. and p.m. bottles are close to being a sacred ritual at the moment, and I haven't really seen a good reason to deprive her of something she enjoys so much.

Is it really that bad for the teeth to have a five-minute bottle drink twice a day? That's a genuine question, and if it is I will do my best to knock it on the head.

Flojo1979 · 05/05/2011 14:17

I'm not sure its so much of a 'bad for the teeth' issue, as it is a who's in charge issue or maybe frowned upon for being too babyish for toddlers.
Personally it was drummed in to my by my mother that toddlers with bottles look ridiculous and i must say, its been so drummed in to me that seeing toddlers in prams with juice in bottles i think is awful and some times u even see something that looks suspiciously like tea or coffee! But a bit of milk before bed, surely?! I personally would stop all the namby pambying and just throw them all out (bottles - not kids!) and deal with the consequences, but thats just the type of parenting i do, i've very much an authoritarian with my kids.

speculationisrife · 05/05/2011 14:49

Yes, me too, Flojo - mostly agree with what you've said. For us bottles are definitely restricted to a morning and evening 'cuddle and story' time stiuation. I can't help thinking it's a small thing that she enjoys, and not a big deal, but I am very aware of the 'no bottles after 12 months' school of thought. She certainly isn't treated like a baby in any other way!

fluffyanimal - we do have one of those drinks bottles so might try that as a halfway house. Sounds like a good idea.

BornToYolk · 05/05/2011 14:58

DS had a night-time bottle (warm cow's milk, drunk in 10 mins while having a cuddle, then teeth brushed) until he was 2.7. He really needed it until then. However, he was starting to get a bit badly behaved with it and using it as a bed-time delaying tactic so we decided to get rid...

We called the Bottle Fairy. We left out the bottles in a bag and the Bottle Fairy brought a new Toy Story cup and Buzz doll. DS had his milk from the cup for a while, then gave that up too.

Original poster

KaraStarbuckThrace · 05/05/2011 15:35

So no book recommendations?

Thanks to all who have given some good advice, she has tried a lot of these suggestions already. Personally, I am surprised that she hasn't forced the issue especially with her being a dental nurse, but she is my friend and I am not in her shoes. Her DS has been mixed fed since birth where as mine was exbf and was a bottle refusnik, so I have never had this battle to contend with! So I did not feel that I can advise her on something I have never had to deal with. It was she who asked me about the books, probably inspired by me passing on some potty training books aimed at toddlers when she mentioned she had just bought a potty.

He does drink water & squash from a free flow bottle with a straw and uses sippy cups as well. I think she has been considering the cold turkey option though. Bribery didn't work either!

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GwendolineMaryLacey · 05/05/2011 17:21

It does throw you into a bit of a quandry. DD has been drinking out of every other type of cup with no problem for years. She is currently refusing to drink her water out of anything less than a wineglass. But as a comfort item, the bottle is in a league of its own. I even bought her dummies recently ffs but she wasn't interested. Her big cousin at 8 still has a muslin cloth and she adores her cousin, so I brought those out again and they were a passing wonder then back to the bottles.

If this current pg does result in a baby, their bottles will be gone within the year if it's the last thing I do!

joanneg20 · 05/05/2011 17:41

Would like to see someone with dental experience (!) answer the question of: is it really so bad? My friend's kids had a bottle of milk at bedtime until they were 5 (am not exaggerating) and they were/are absolutely and completely fine. Is ten minutes total of bottle usage a day really that harmful?

mossi · 05/05/2011 21:11

My DD loved her milk in bottles. Would drink juice or water from a cup, but not milk. She got ill with a virus at around age 3 and went off milk temporarily at which point I threw all the bottles in the bin.

She asked for them back when she felt better, but I just told her they'd gone. I think we had one hour of crying and that was it.

She slept fine. She still refused to drink milk from a cup so I gave her lots of cheese and yoghurt instead with meals.

Two years later, she will now drink milkshake or hot chocolate from a cup.

It seems horrifying and cruel but actually it's fine. Explain gently they're too old for a bottle now for a few days. Then get rid of them. It's not nearly as hard as you think it will be.

RossettiConfetti · 06/05/2011 09:37

DD, 2.4, still has a nighttime bottle of cows milk (like others, drank in 10 mins during storytime, then brush her teeth afterwards). She really loves this bottle of milk, and is very excited and comforted by it.

I did bf her for a year, but started giving her a nighttime bottle to wean her off the boob, and also to use on planes (we fly every month), as sucking milk on the descent stops the ear pressure pain, until she can suck hard sweets.

So, I'd also like to know what harm this bottle use is doing to DD? Otherwise she is developing wonderfully, and is confident, verbal, a good eater, semi-potty trained, able to semi dress herself, etc etc.

Original poster

KaraStarbuckThrace · 06/05/2011 09:41

Basicially, it is thought the milk pools around the teeth when the baby takes it from a bottle, since milk contains sugars there is a risk that this allows these sugars time to attack the teeth.
It is different from breastfeeding, as when a child is feeding from the breast, the nipple is pulled towards the back of the throat and so the milk doesn't pool around the front of the mouth.

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scarletfingernail · 06/05/2011 15:05

DS 2.4 still has a bedtime bottle. I spoke to our (unusally excellent health visitor) about our problems getting him to give it up. My DS will not drink milk from anything other than a bottle. I've tried everything, new cups with spouts, new cup without spouts, straws, old favourite cups. Health visitor said that the importance of him drinking milk outweighs the importance of him not drinking from a bottle (at his age). If that is the only way he will drink milk to go with it for now and to keep trying to get him to drink it from a cup every few weeks.

The concern about teeth is as Kara described. It's about the milk pooling around the teeth. As long as DS has his teeth cleaned well after finishing his bottle this should not be a problem. I'm confident we'll get there before he's 3 but in hindsight I would've gone cold turkey on his 1st birthday.

rach280485 · 15/01/2015 22:36

had a look on google books, two stood out to me

bye bye bottle
no more bottles for bunny

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