Toddler still drinking milk from a bottle - is this a real issue or not?

[Cotherstone]

Our 25mo still drinks her morning and bedtime milk from a bottle. She's happy drinking any other drink from a beaker, cup, with a straw, you name it, just she has big bottles of milk morning and night. In the afternoon she'll have some milk from a sippy cup but not much, not as much as she'll take from a bottle. She eats really well so the amount of milk isn't affecting how much food she eats, though I'm a little worried if we drop the bottles of milk she won't make up the 10oz of fluid throughout the day by water.

I tried her with a sippy cup of milk this morning and she drank some of it but drank it really slowly. This will sound like a really silly issue but many mornings we need to get up and out to the CM quite quickly, and a big drink of milk keeps her happy until she gets to the CM and has a proper breakfast. I don't think we have time for a proper breakfast before we leave the house (well, we would if we all got up earlier, but she sleeps happily until half an hour before we leave the house so I don't really want to wake her). She wants her bottle of milk as soon as she wakes up, she always asks for it. Same with bedtime, it's a comfort thing.

We tried to swap from bottles to beakers at 1yo and she wasn't having any of it so I didn't push it. But now she's over two I'm wondering whether I should make a fuss of it, even though it's something she likes. She drinks the bottles quickly, doesn't keep the teat in her mouth for ages, and has her teeth brushed straight after.

Would anyone else try and force the issue, even if it becomes a struggle and makes mornings difficult? Would you leave it? And if you did, when would you try and drop them again?

NannyOgg upthread I related my experience. DD was 4 and still having a bottle of milk at night, she would not drink milk from anything else. All other drinks from a normal open beaker, so was capable. DD went on holiday with grandparents and I forgot to back a bottle, she was a bit upset but when she cam back I told the the bottle fairy had been and taken the bottles and left her a present. She has not drank milk since, still refuses.

My DD had her bedtime bottle until her 4th birthday. She used to drink gallons of the stuff then before sleeping well. She drank normally through the day from a cup. She is now 7, eats anything and everything. Drinks water from a cup. Has no problems with teeth.

What about BFing? Do those who think they should be weaned off bottles asap also think they shouldn't be BFing when they're older?

Both mine gave it up around their third birthday so well beyond the age of a year. It never crossed my mind that they were too old or that we should stop because they were capable of drinking from cups.

What about BFing? Do those who think they should be weaned off bottles asap also think they shouldn't be BFing when they're older?

I don't get where this has come from. BFing is not a risk for their teeth in the same way bottles are. Ingesting milk quickly is also not a particular risk for their teeth (unless they don't brush them), so having milk when older out of a sippy cup is also not a particular risk. Older children AIUI are very efficient at breast feeding but bottles are designed for younger babies to get a slower flow (because they can't drink so quickly), while sippy cups are designed to flow more freely (she says, remembering what FUN DS has pouring water on the floor from his sippy cup, that he could never do with a bottle).

I don't get where this has come from.

It's a question which was raised in my mind by the posts advocating getting children off bottles much earlier than it is suggested that we stop BFing.

It sounds as though dentists aren't that bothered about toddlers using bottles as long as their teeth are brushed afterwards. I imagine toddlers would be using faster flowing teats so I can't really see that it's that different from BFing in terms of how quickly they drink.

I see the emotional benefits of the comfort they gain from sucking, either breast or bottle as being just as important as promoting independence, if not more so. Children do find it calming and pleasurable which is why they choose to continue long after it is the only way they can have a drink.

Do people see weaning children from the breast as promoting independence in the same way as weaning from bottles I wonder?

We didn't switch our DS to a cup because we wanted to "promote independence" and because we didn't want him to "gain the emotional benefits of comfort". We switched him because the advice is that teats on bottles are too slow flowing (even fast ones) for the teeth of babies over about 6 months. He still sat on our laps and had a cuddle while having his bedtime milk.

Maybe it does seem like teats are just as fast flowing and maybe it does seem like BF babies will be taking in milk at the same rate, but we decided to go with the NHS advice (and that's not one HV, it's the general advice confirmed by a lot of NHS sources) that for a bottle fed baby, it was better for his teeth. It does seem like there's enough evidence for them to give this advice, so we decided this was enough evidence for us.

Sorry drspouse, I didn't mean to put anyone on the defensive.

I haven't seen the NHS advice, although I'm sure it is securely evidence based, but I do notice parents feeling that they have to push their LOs to be as independent as possible in every way and I think sometimes children can benefit from being allowed to take some steps when they are emotionally ready which isn't always the very minute they become physically capable.

I was also interested in the difference between attitudes to extended BFing and stopping babies using bottles very early on.

OP back here after a name change.

My understanding was that it had very little to do with the milk, really, unless it is interfering with how much food they eat - it's to do with the teat and how it can affect their mouth and teeth.

Two bottles a day swiftly drained with teeth clean after at bedtime is I reckon a non problem.

it's to do with the teat and how it can affect their mouth and teeth.

How much time each day would you say she is sucking on a bottle? I'd expect several hours a day could have a negative effect but not five or ten minutes.

I know, I agree gold - my gut instinct said that a total of about 6 minutes drinking a bottle a day was nothing, but everyone always bangs on about it, which is why I asked.

My 25 month old is the same. Still has a bottle morning and night.
He's so independent with everything else including daytime drinks, I enjoy that he cuddles up for a bottle. At that age - they are still babies IMO. I drank milk from a bottle until I was 5 (only way I'd drink milk) and although my gran was horrified, my mum thought it was a great way to get calcium so never made a big deal of it, I gave it up voluntarily when I was good and ready. I have very good teeth and bones, so certainly did me no harm.

My DD has a BornFree bottle from Amazon

It's like a bottle...but not

She's 2.9 and still has a full warm bottle of milk at bed time x

I question why bottles are worse than cups for the teeth - I mean, I use straws to protect my teeth when drinking sugary drinks from a cup. So isn't it the same principle, the teat kind of bypasses the mouth and teeth a bit whereas sipping from a cup instantly bathes the teeth in the liquid? Am I missing something as to why the bottles are a problem for teeth?

Don't make life difficult for yourself! My first child had a bottle of milk morning and night till she was about three because she refused to have it in anything else - I couldn't bring myself to stress about what would have been a very slight difference in cup/bottle teat. She can talk and eat like any other five year-old now. My youngest (22 months) is still having hers.

What about a 360 cup? They don't leak unless dropped hard.

My DS doesn't drink any milk, but has diary so I don't think they need it , but I get the bit about getting fluids in quick in the morning.