When to take bottle away?

[Siobhan8686]

Wasn't sure what thread to put this under... My son is 2.7 years old. He has his bottle first thing in the morning, nap time, bed time and when he's upset. I know he's using it as a comforter but what age is good age to take it off them? It feels like every week I'm buying new bottles because ds keeps biting the teats. Would you just go cold turkey and take them away full stop?

My dd had her botbot morning and night until she was just over 3. We only ever had a pack of 6 to start with as she was breastfed until 15 months (not sure why we started the whole bottle thing but it was her comfort). Gradually they got ‘lost’ (some genuinely disappeared, some had a helping hand) and eventually I just explained they had all gone. We started to phase it out. Ie. ‘Oh the only botbot is in the dishwasher, you’ll have to have a cup this morning’. There was no drama, no tears, we just eventually switched to a beaker in the morning and evening. It just felt a bit better than taking them off her all at once. Could this be something your LO might understand? I know he’s bit younger.

I think he would understand. Im going to try it today. We have a few beakers so think ill use your technique and give him the choice of what beaker he wants to use. Thanks for your advice

1.7 years ago.....

HV and dentists would say at 1 years old.

My dd is 16 months and has one morning and night. The hv said recently that this is fine as long as her teeth are brushed afterwards (which they are) and she isn’t left to go to sleep with one. Which she isn’t.

There’s such a wide range of normal for this. In an ideal world children would be off the bottle as soon as possible but it often gives great comfort to them for a few years!

My DC actually went off their bottles at a year old. Much to my annoyance as they refused milk from a cup 🙈 however, DS had a dummy until 3.5 and DD still uses hers a lot at 3.

Let me to tell your a secret.. I had a bottle until I was 5. Yes that’s quite old to have a bottle, obviously I cannot really remember having it. It hasn’t affected me in the long run. My teeth are fine.

Of course, I wouldn’t reccomened this and it’s definitelt worth a try to give it up but don’t feel guilty if it doesn’t go well.

Maybe try the way I got ds off his dummy?
Binned the broken ones, told him as they got less and less it was costing too much to keep replacing them now he was a big boy and didn't need one really.
Down to the last one and it broke, he really didn't mind.

My DD is 2 and still has a morning and bedtime bottle and I've been thinking we need to try and stop at least the morning one sometime soon. She dropped
her other bottles of her own accord so I sort of hoped the same thing might happen but not yet! I've tried giving her morning milk in a beaker etc but she doesn't take it. And I think it's good for her to take the milk so I've sort of got a bit stuck! So I'm also grateful for any advice. If I take away the morning bottle and she doesn't end up drinking any milk from a beaker, is that ok? Or is it better for her to actually get the milk??

@justcontemplatingsomething I don't think they need that much really - if they're eating a yoghurt or having cereal with milk or whatever then you needn't worry too much about not drinking any milk if they won't take it from a cup.

To answer OP, mine stopped bottles bang on 1 as I was just following the guidelines. I cut it down to one a day in the weeks beforehand, switched from formula to cow's milk then went cold turkey on the last one (replaced it with a cup of milk at dinner).

They don’t really need to drink milk after age 1, as long as they get the recommended amount of calcium containing foods (cheese, yoghurt, milk in cereal etc). It’s probably better at age 2 that the bottle is dropped than keep it just to ensure they drink milk which isn’t really needed (but obviously there is the comfort factor to consider as some toddlers do get a lot of comfort from the sucking still).

My son was down to one breastfeed a day at 14 months and stopped at 17 months and refused to ever drink cows milk from cup or bottle so it’s something I did research and ask my HV about and was totally reassured that it’s actually fine if they don’t like to drink milk & in fact too much cows milk isn’t very good as it can put them off food. I was quite worried at the time until I looked into it all so totally get where justcontemplating is coming from 🙂

If he's biting and breaking them it might be easier to get rid of them.

When ds was about 2.5 he started to bite the tip of his dummy off. Each time he decided he didn't like them anymore and put them in the bin. I didn't buy anymore and eventually he ran out. But he never asked for them as he knew he was a big boy with big boy teeth that would break any new ones I bought.

It might work for you.

Right ok, you've given me the kick up the backside I needed to get rid of the bottles! Going to try to stop the morning one this week. Think I'll see how it goes and maybe leave the bedtime one for another little while. Very glad I stumbled upon this thread! Thanks!

2233xylophone and justcontemplatingsomething

Toddlers need 350mg of calcium. That works out at three potions of dairy or dairy alternative a day. A glass or milk or a yoghurt are one portion.

They’re supposed to stop bottles by 1 year old and move to cups as bottles are incredibly bad for their teeth. That’s what I was told at oral health training at least! I know the reality is very different.