toddlers and their bot-bots

[charlietangoteakettlebarbeque]

Hiya,

My 20 month old DS still has a full bottle of milk before bed (well, in bed), when he wakes up in the morning (he doesn't drink that much of a morning) and a half bottle at nap time.

I didn't really think about it until I read something on here there other day. Apparently its not good to be having a bottle at his age?

I can't imagine taking his comfort away from him . I don't want to take it away for no good reason, so...

What harm does it actually do? I don't know what I was planning to do long term - maybe wait until he grew out of it? He's never taken a dummy so this is his equivalent.

If I should be taking it away, what is the best way of doing this?

It's bad for his teeth. Some toddlers still have one a day often the night time one. Have you tried to replace with a sippy cup? He might surprise you and not mind, just try the morning one first when you're not trying to get him to go to sleep.

Its because of tooth decay. The milk pools in the child's mouth and can rot their teeth and presumably if your LO falls asleep with bottle, you can't brush their teeth afterwards.

Oh and possible problem with sleep association (ie will they sleep without it? I have this issue with my DD and her dummy - scared to remove it!!)

Lots of children have a bottle at that age I think but yes mind the toothy pegs and perhaps try a sippy cup and change routine so you brush teeth afterwards. Maybe get rid of day time bottle first?

Our HV discouraged them from 12months, so tried to encourage sippy cups etc before then to get used to them.

So long as he doesn't run round with it all day for hours and you clean teeth etc I'd relax a bit for a while. Give bottle, drink bottle, remove. Simples!

If you can clean his teeth before he goes to sleep I wouldn't worry.

DS had a bottle until 2.5 before bed. Only that one, everything else was in a cup.

We've tried with soppy cup but ds 21 mo has one in the morning one as part of bedtime routine ( not to go to sleep) I try with soppy cups in the daytime gave done for a year but he just teethe s on it or spills it!
I think ad long as he is getting fluid and not having it with squash in then I'm not a bad mum!

Another suggestion that I've read (but not tried) is to replace milk with lukewarm water in bottle. Obviously doesn't have the nutritional value of milk but there is no harm to teeth.

Ds is 2.2 and still has his nightly and morning bottle. He brushes his teeth after, but it's still a really important part of his comfort routine so we are keeping it for now. He has a cup the rest of the time.

Thanks all for replies. Maybe I will try and start off with no morning bottle. If he is hankering after it, I'll try the lukewarm water (maybe with a drop of milk?)

If that goes well I'll try the nap time bottle. I think I will wait until we do the big boy bed transition before I attempt to take the bedtime bottle!!

Oh and I will replace the bottle for sippy cup

Our 26mo still has a bottle morning and night. We've tried a few times to introduce other cups but while she'll drink any other liquid from them, as far as she is concerned milk comes in bottles. Like you say, it's comfort and routine for her.

I worried about it a bit, but now I can't be bothered. She drinks the bottles in one go with no mucking around. She's very good at having her teeth cleaned. She doesn't have a dummy. She's seen the dentist and her teeth are fine.

One of the reasons I'm not forcing the issue is because I think milk is good for them, if it's not interfering with the solids they eat. I'm not sure I get why they're not supposed to have milk as a drink when they're toddlers and people seem keen to drop the drink? So I'd rather she had a drink of milk from a bottle than no milk at all.

Over the past few weeks I have however noticed that even with cheap, large hole bottles she is really having to suck on them to get milk out. I think we're about ready to be able to explain a transition, so I'm going to try morning milk in one of those Tomee Tippee weaning cups as that's very fast flowing. Probably not the bed time bottle yet, as it's just too much a part of her routine.

Hi Thurlow (thanks for starting that's swap thread by the way, I love it)

I'm really not going to stress about it to be honest. I'll give it a go but if it doesn't work out I won't be making a huge issue of it.

Ds is great at brushing teeth, and although I haven't taken him to see dentist yet (should I?) He has beautiful white pearly teeth that I'm very jealous of!!

You're welcome - I've got some great things from that thread, it was started in a purely selfish manner .

If you or your DH are going to the dentist soon it might be worth taking DS along to register them, and the dentist will probably be happy to have a very quick peek at their teeth while there.

Good idea Thurlow. I'm due a check up anyway so I might just do that.

My 22 month old is the same. Her bedtime bottle of milk is absolutely the highlight of her day (doesn't say much about my abilities to entertain her, perhaps

I haven't tried her with a sippy cup of milk for some. Last time I did she cried. I am far too soft. She drinks 15-20oz of milk before bed, though. That's a lot of sippy cups full of milk!

I found dropping the bottle dramatically changed bedtime in that he started to sit on my knee to have a story with his sippy cup rather than just lying down chugging milk. I would leave the bedtime bottle to the the last one you drop and go on and on about what a Big Boy he is now etc. I would avoid dropping the bedtime bottle and transitioning to a new bed at the same time though. Drop the bottle first so if he does protest he can't get out of the cot. then transition to the bed after a few weeks.

Can I hijack a little?

What do you do with a nearly three year-old who drinks only milk or water but only from a bottle?

Will not touch any form of cup, beaker or straw. Just says 'No' and walks away.

She'll be all day at nursery/pre-school soon and she will absolutely refuse to drink unless it's in a bottle and they don't do that there...

I believe lying down driking can increase ear infections

NannyOgg - I only offer bottles nightime and morning and just hide them otherwise but leave sippy cup on the side and don't pressurise DS has realized if he needs a drink he has to go to the little table for his cup and that mummy won't offer. I don't even offer it just fill it up each morning.
But i feel comfortable that he is still getting a good amount of fluid with the two bottles.
PS i think its great she only drinks milk or water - baby juice shoudl be banned ;-)

Ok here goes. My 3 yr old still has her bottle of milk at bedtime but after over two years of no sleep (reflux) and several ops for her cleft palate, I really don't care.
She has it downstairs then cleans teeth and goes straight to bed, never wakes up and sleeps for 12 hrs.
I'm not disrupting that for anything.
She has only water to drink I the day from a normal cup.
She's not a sweet eater and loves fruit and veg.

Does anyone know why people are being advised to drop the amount of milk that toddlers drink? I see it all the time on here. I can get the bottle angst and sure, it's preferable for them to use something other than a baby bottle, but why do people feel they need to stop the actual drinks of milk?

Is it the calories? Therefore won't eat food?
If we gave extended bf a hard time there'd be an outcry!

The reduction in cows milk is because too much can inhibit iron absorption and also mildly irritate the digestive system, causing further iron depletion.

Between 300ml and 500 ml a day is supposed to be ok, and gives the recommended amount of calcium as well.