How bad is it to use bottles at nearly 2 years old?

[Cla7]

My nearly 2-year old still has a bottle of milk in the evening and when waking up. We brush his teeth after he had milk. I know that bottles are not recommended beyond 12/18 months, but he refuses a sippy cup / cup with straw or similar, I’ve tried different models. How bad is it really to keep the bottle? I’ve mostly read about tooth damage due to milk and the constant sucking on the bottle, but I brush his teeth afterwards and he only sucks on it for maximum 5 minutes, twice a day. He doesn’t use bottles during the day, he drinks water out of cups.
Is this still a problem, and if yes, what’s the damage that could happen?

My DD had bottles until 3.5 years. Felt so bad about it but she’s fine. Coming off them was also pretty easy so looking back I could probably have done it sooner.

Her teeth are great at 5 years. Only problem now is getting her to drink any milk at all!

The point is, try not to stress about it. Lots on here will tell you bottles are the work of the devil but you just do what’s right for you.

Well my child had a dummy until he was 3, by which time he was only using it for the ten minutes it took him to fall asleep at night. I would say the amount your child is using it is similar: just a couple of tiny moments of comfort and familiarity in the day. Really not the end of the world. He won’t be sucking a bottle at 16.

As he’s happy drinking from a cup the rest of the day, I would just start putting out a cup and the bottle every evening and let him choose. That’s what I did with breastfeeding. We were down to one short feed before bed by age 2 and I started putting a cup of milk out when we were doing bedtime stories. Eventually he just started taking the cup and breastfeeding was done by 2 1/2.

I wouldn't stress especially as teeth cleaned after. I would keep offering both bottle and cup at bedtime, even if he chooses bottle, it is giving exposure and hope it'll make the transition soon off his own choice.

My 2.5 year old still has one bottle before bed. He has it lying down relaxing while I read otherwise I would probably switch to a cup.
Honestly see no harm personally and it'll drop soon enough.

How come you give in the morning instead of breakfast? That would be my only concern that morning could stop him eating a fuller breakfast.

He happily has both. We do milk in bed when he wakes up at 6, and then breakfast between 7-7.30. My hope is that in winter he might sleep a bit longer and we can combine breakfast with a cup of milk, but at the moment he’s happy to have a little pre-breakfast snack.

If teeth are cleaned afterwards the risk is likely negligible. I suppose I would wonder if it's necessary given that they are getting interrupted afterwards to brush teeth, but OTOH not everything you do has to be necessary. He will probably grow out of it.

There's no major harm in it.

It's probably unnecessary though, unless he doesn't eat well/has a restrictive diet. At nearly two he can get everything he needs from food/drink and doesn't need bottles of milk.

It's not bad! - away with this unnecessary Mum guilt! Do what you are all happy with; follow YOUR instincts and ditch the blessed guilt!

My children are adults now and I have GC, and I did all sorts of things that went against the books and they are all fine - stick to basic safety rules then do your own thing - this is your child!

I’m glad that I’m not doing something terrible :) I think the bottle is just such a nice ritual for us. When I tell him “I’ll make your bottle now” his face lights up and he loves to get comfy with me on the sofa with his bottle while I read him a story. Other cups just don’t do it for him, I think it’s more the sucking for comfort than nutrition. I’ll keep the bottle for a little longer then as it works well for us.

When I looked after 2 of my grandchildren after primary school they would come in and cuddle up and have a "milky bottle" - they were far too old of course to need this but it was not about need - just a sort of ritual and a bit of a family joke with the blessing of their parents. It used to make us all laugh ...... but they loved it!

Good decision - it works well for us sums it up.

but he refuses a sippy cup / cup with straw or similar

He just doesn’t need two bottle of milk a day though, whatever the vessel looks like. You can just stop it, he doesn’t need to take it in a sippy cup.

This
Ditch the bottles, offer a special big boy cup, and say the bottles have gone to the baby fairies.
If he protests, no milk. Won’t take long to get used to it.
He won’t die from not having that bottle. At that age he should now be on proper meals.

He does eat proper meals. There’s a whole world of childhood before you get to him “not dying from not having a bottle”. It’s a moment of comfort for a 2 year old at the end of the day with his mother. Mine was still breastfeeding at the same age for goodness sake.

OP, you can ignore advice like this and forge your own path with your child. You’ll handle it just fine when the bottles do finally go.

Plenty of age appropriate ways to offer comfort. Cuddles, chats, stories, toys. The list is endless.

Of course there are. But for this family it’s a bottle of milk, a cuddle, and a story. The child isn’t even 2 yet. As I said, mine was on my breast until older than OP’s child. Why should mine have that comfort and not the OP’s? If her child was sucking a bottle through the day or it was filled with juice or tea and they were wandering around constantly sucking on it, my advice would be very different.

And which branch of the parent police decides what is age appropriate I wonder?
This is a happy little interlude with her child which provides comfort and closeness ... heaven forbid that should allowed!

I would if he's happy with it. Mines nearly 4 and is a restrictive eater so he has a good bottle before bed. He refuses to drink milk out of any other cup so I just roll with it. I don't care what anyone thinks about it