Give up the Bottle?

i honestly don't get it either. They say it's for teeth but I think the only kids truly affected by it are ones who have a bottle in their mouth 24/7 like a pacifier. OR if they're drinking milk all through the night and getting tooth decay from it. I don't think one bottle a day is going to do anything to his teeth

Hadn't thought about it that way, but that's a really good point/question about BF still being okay but bottles aren't! One of those "food for thought" things!

No clue over here why the "1 year" rule was set in place.

From what I've observed, the reason is because it's a heck of a lot harder to wean a 2-year-old off of a bottle than it is to wean a 1-year-old off. They get dependent on things like that for comfort. Why not breast feed her when you can and give her a sippy cup other times??

All these "rules" are socially constructed--babies don't come with instructions--and last I checked Moses didn't add "no bottles after the first year" to the ten commandments. As long as the bottle isn't being used in a way that will affect her teeth I wouldn't worry about it. My son weaned himself himself off the bottle at about 18 months after we lost the fast nipple for the bottle. No tears, no big deal, but we waited till he was ready.

I think a lot of it has to do with teeth issues. Including their teeth coming in crooked and tooth decay from the bottle, which would normally happen if children are going to bed or nap with a bottle, which your's doesn't. It's also a very hard habit to break the longer you let them have it just like with anything else.

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I just posted this for another mom ~
'You can start weaning your baby off his bedtime bottle between the ages of 6 and 9 months. "Six months is when many babies stop needing that before-bed feeding. Certainly by 9 months it's not a necessity," says Bradley Bradford, a pediatrician in Delray Beach, Florida, and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. Babies are good at self-regulating their feedings, so your baby may "tell" you when he's ready to drop that last bottle of the day by turning his head away or consistently not finishing it. (I have to agree, I did see cues earlier and ignored them.)
'If the bedtime bottle seems harmless to you, consider that prolonging this habit can affect your baby's ability to learn to fall asleep on his own. The longer you offer the bedtime bottle, the more attached your baby will become to it, and he won't be able to fall asleep without it.
'And once your baby has teeth, bedtime bottles of milk can also lead to tooth decay. Milk tends to pool in the mouths of sleeping babies, creating ample time for the natural sugars in the milk to attack your baby's teeth.
'It can be a tough habit to break, but rest easy knowing your baby doesn't need the calories in the milk. By 12 months your child should be getting all his nutritional needs met with his daytime meals. Try giving your baby other comfort objects at night, such as a favorite blanket or stuffed toy.'

So I chose to look out for my children's best interests in the long run and took away the bedtime bottle. I would rather be proactive and deal with 3 or so days of crying at bedtime than to have to deal with dentists, tooth decays, etc. in the future : )

I have never understood the big deal about getting babies off bottles by
1 yr. My kids had bottles what seemed like forever. They were 3, 2, 1 and
newborn. I just know that when the baby was two and the next 3 when they
got lost they were not replaced. Actually no one really had one at 3. I think
two was the oldest. I remember when the last blue evenflo bottle got lost
in the A & P. My sons faced dropped. He knew that was it. Never a problem. What would you do if someone took away your morning coffee?

no rush, extended bf is very beneficial, no need to force wean either, we seem to want to push them too much, they're babies

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If you do not want to spend thousands of dollars on Braces, get rid of it ASAP. Baby mouths are very moldable, the teeth could grow into the shape of the sucking face or around the thumb they are sucking. If it takes a month longer no big deal. Don't let them keep it forever. A little emotional pain now will not be remembered but braces will. cb

I say do what works for you. My DD will be 18 months in a few weeks and we still give her a bottle before bed. We cuddle with her to give it to her so she never has had it in her bed but we still give her a bottle and it works here for us so why not. Plus everyone benefits from the quiet cuddles
Good Luck

I have wondered about this question myself. My baby is 19 months and she still has a bottle at bedtime and naptime. She had all of her teeth except her 2 year molars by the time she was 11 months, so its not like her teeth haven't seen formula...and, she can't drink milk out of a cup or a sippy cup. She chokes on it, so if the doc wants her to get milk, it has to be in a bottle.

I was reading on here the other day and a mom breastfed her little guy until he was almost 5, so I think our kids should be able to have a bottle until they are 2 or 3. I understand the idea that they shouldn't carry it around and all that, and my daughter doesn't, its just for snuggles with bedtime and then its in the fridge for the day/night. She does have a sippy of water all day, but that's good for her.

i think it has to do with the bottle nipple and it shaping there mouth differently. you should ask your pedi about it. and why??? can you just give her a sippy when she is not on the breast? omit the bottle that way?? great question.

Don't stress about the bottle "rule". Really, it's fine. If she likes her sippy cup, cool. If she uses a bottle sometimes, that's fine too. Whenever I have these "but he still uses one" moments, I gently remind myself he won't go to kindergarten with it! :)

My husband just read an article to me last week about kids having a bottle past age one. It increases the chance of childhood and adulthood obesity.

Here is the link to the article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110607/hl_nm/us_bottle_feedi...

There is no good reason. My daughter had a bottle before naptime and before bedtime until she was three. Up until 11 mo, she was nursed at those times, but she self-weaned then. She never was put to bed with a bottle, at any age. Or ever carried a bottle around, at any age. At meal times she drank from a regular, open cup starting at 14 months. She never like sippy cups, so we didn't use them.

The constant contact of milk on teeth when a baby is allowed to have a bottle to carry around or to sleep with is an issue. It can cause serious tooth decay. A sippy cup is no better than a bottle if they are allowed to have it with them all the time.

Before her third birthday, I talked with my daughter about how three-year-olds didn't need bottles anymore, and she agreed. No problems, no crying, no tantrums. She is now 9 and has perfectly healthy and straight teeth.

I read somewhere that being on the bottle too long can cause more ear infections bc of the sucking. I too bf'd but by 6mo I got her started on the soft tip sippy and by 1yo she was on the regular playtex sippy. Just give her the sippy that has the mouth tip on it instead of the bottle. DD still wakes at night a couple of times a week and I just give her the sippy with milk in it (not in her crib) I cuddle with her and when she is done I put her back to bed. You never know your dd may not mind the difference.

I never understood that either, and I say do what works for you. If the bottle isnt causing any issues and everybody is happy, then keep it!

We are doing the same here at my house. Well without the nursing! Lol. My son drinks out of his sippy cup all day and then during the night he tends to still wake up one or two times, and we give him his bottle. He still seems too little to me to take it away from him, and it brings him comfort so we decided to keep it for awhile longer.

Do what you think is best, and not what the so called "standards and rules" are.