2 year old and bottles

[NeedlesCuties]

Right, okay, I think I know that this isn't great practice but I feel so stuck in a rut with it and I'm not sure how to break it.

Any advice, soothing or kicks up the backside welcome.

DS recently turned 2 and when he's at home his 'comfort' thing is to drink water, milk or sometimes dilute juice from a bottle. Sometimes he doesn't even drink what's in it, he just holds the teat in his mouth while he's playing or watching TV.

When going down for naps or nighttime sleep he falls asleep sucking the bottle and I remove it from his room when he's asleep.

When we're out and about he will happily drink from an open cup and straw or from a sippy cup, but at home he freaks if I give him a cup instead and screams and cries. I know that is manipulation and maybe I need to toughen up a bit.

He never took a dummy and I breast-fed him till 11 months, only moving on to bottles then as I didn't realise about sippy cups etc then.

I don't have a good HV so I don't feel I can ask her anything (also cuz I haven't seen her since DS was 14 months old) so I'm looking to you lot for experiences, wise words and tips.

Am I wrecking his teeth? So far they look fine and we clean them well.

Am I setting him up for a life of needing braces?
Am I a bad mum?
Is DS the only 2 year old who does this?

You are definitely not a bad mum!!

Sugary drinks should be avoided with this as dentists do say that is a good way to promote tooth decay, but so are other things, so provided you are doing the teeth cleaning etc that should mitigate this, at least partially, I would have thought.

I bet he isn't the only one.

The only really useful thing I have to say, is on the braces question. My nephew has been a dedicated thumb sucker all his life and does it a lot - he is going to secondary school in Sept and is still really keen and will suck whenever he can (despite parents best efforts). You can now definitely tell that he does this in the set of his teeth - However that was not the case when he was 6yo, so somewhere between 6 and 11 this has happened.

The point being that it is highly unlikely your DS will be doing this for that long as he will get to an age where he doesn't want to drink from a bottle and I bet it is before he is 6!!! Also he isn't going to be effecting the growth of his teeth doing this with his bottle as much as a dedicated thumb sucker does!!!

So while I'd be inclined to watch against tooth decay, I don't think it will cause a need for braces that he wouldn't otherwise have.

HTH

:)

Not good for his teeth, I'm afraid. Just arrange for the Bottle Fairy to come in the night, get him to parcel them up for the baby fairies and leave a small thank you present and note. Buy a super special cup that big boys use and remind him about how big boys use cups every time he wants a bottle. It won't be pretty, he will kick and scream but a few days, a new cup or to and he will forget all about it. Praise lavishly for every use of the cup, maybe even set up a sticker chart.

Good luck!

Seuss I am toying with doing that, but feel bad as I'm due DC2 soon and sort of think that the bottle is the only comfort thing he uses so I'd be a big bad wolf to remove it now...

On the other hand, I was thinking of having the birth of DC2 be the influence for DS to think of himself as the 'big brother' and to give up the bottle then. Sort of a 'bottles are for babies' idea.

Thanks for not flaming me so far! :)

1. You're not a bad mum.

2.hes not the only one.

1. It'll take a serious amount of sucking on a teat to harm his teeth. My ds1 had a dummy until he was about 2.6 or so. We just gradually weaned him off it until the dummy fairy eventually came.

What I would do, If I were in your situation is gradually wean him off the bottle, If he was asking for milk at home, I would put milk in the sippy cup and a small amount of water in the bottle and give him both, he then has to make the choice milk (which he wants) or water in the bottle, he will soon learn to break the habit of drinking from a bottle. I would also sit him down and chat to him about why he needs to drink from a cup etc while he's not asking for a bottle, they understand more than you give them credit for at that age ime.

Hope it goes well, and if that fails, chuck all the bottles in the bin andtough it out or get the bottle fairy to come and take them to give to the little babies who need them more :)

I personally think 2 is young to understand the bottle fairy concept (or is he nearly 3?)

Most toddlers regress a little when a sibling comes along and want to relive being a baby for a while, so I would think that the big brother thing could work but perhaps when he has adjusted to not being an only anymore rather than right away or it could unsettle him more.

I'm sure whatever you decide will be fine. :)

DD drinks milk from her bottle at bedtime and she is 2.4. Dentist said no issue as long as we clean her teeth. It's a tired/ comfort thing that she will grow out of in the end.

He turned 2 in February, will be 2 and a half when DC2 comes along.

would he tolerate water only from the bottle?

the thing with falling asleep with milk/juice is that the milk/juice pools around the back teeth, resulting in possible decay

good luck

He does take just water, yep. I think it's more the sucking that he likes for comfort.

I am sure then that you could let him be with the bottle of water

Nb congrats on pg