What's wrong with toddler still having milk from bottle?

[Sandrine1982]

Hi.

So I'm reading everywhere that babies after 1 year of age should be bottle-weaned. But what are the actuals reasons for this? Is bottle-feeding bad in the long term?

Our DD is 14.5 months old and we have a habit of giving her 4oz of warm cow's milk before the nap and at bedtime, in a bottle (for bedtime it's half cow's milk + half milk I expressed during the day while she was in nursery).

I'm not keen on discontinuing the bottles just yet because she hasn't been a great eater and also doesn't drink enough, in my opinion.
So if we relied on just the sippy cup she would have a few sips and that's it...

So what should we do? What's wrong with using the bottle for a few more months? Or is she not a good eater because she still has milk in a bottle? Are we also damaging her teeth?

Any tips appreciated, thanks

Teeth I think

Same as dummies usage, the shape of the teeth can be accepted and then speech development.
Also milk before bed - teethe should be brushed before hand.

We got milk in a bottle till very very late. Both have excellent healthy teeth. Brush, no problem. Keep the bottle.

Yeah it’s bad for their teeth for 2 reasons - the shape of the teat/sucking action affects the growth and shape of the mouth, and it also causes milk to pool around the teeth longer which causes tooth decay.

I’d trust your dentist on this over some random poster whose kids turned out with good teeth despite having bottles too long.

Could you just give breast milk instead of half and half in the bottle? My son still took am and pm feeds from me at 15 months so not really different.

Also could be she’s not hungry because she’s having a big bottle of milk she doesn’t really need at bedtime? Half it/just breast milk and eating may improve? It could be just for comfort she takes the milk?..and brush teeth before bed as you would anyway?...my 2 bottle fed babies didn’t have a bottle after a year (I can’t remember why) but my 2 breast fed babies fed until 16 months or so so she may self wean it’s worth trying a few things and encouraging fluid intake during the day if she’s taking less than you think she should