Anyone's toddler still on a bottle??

[Roseii]

Dd2 is 19mo and still has a bottle at BT and before naps (well usually one of those soft teet sippys but just like a bottle basically) She LOVES her BT one, it is sooo ingrained in her routine and when I have tried other cups she goes mad and our lovely BT routine is wrecked How bad is it that she still has one?? Someone tell me she'll give it up on her own soon?!!!
Oh she has a sippy or straw cup for all other drinks.

[HollyMummy]

My DS1 has just turned 3 and still has a bottle at BT! I have tried to substitute it in the past but he loves it soooo much and then it got me thinking... really not sure what the big deal is?! We are cutting it back now to try and keep him dry through the night, but really... I don't see the harm in a little comfort sucking? x

[Roseii]

I think it's not healthy for their teeth That makes me feel better though thanks I do worry the older she gets the harder it will get..Dd1 gave hers up no probs at 15mo...

[shivi]

Honestly, I don't see the big deal once they drink their milk and then have their teeth brushed.

If she brushes her teeth before bed and isn't walking around with milk (or juice, even worse) in it all day long, then what harm can it be doing to her teeth? I'd try brushing teeth before nap as well....

Emma never took a bottle, she was SUPPOSED to give up the dummy at Christmas but due to illness, I couldn't take it from her and the kidney thing then gave way to viral bronchitis so the dummy helped keep the cough at bay while sleeping....thinking we'll give it to the Easter bunny.

I think the bottle issue is more for those kids you see swigging it all day long, with something sweet and sugary inside. Or worse still, for those kids who get ALL of their nutrition through one. Not so long ago, when Oscar was a toddler, we had friends who gave their kids all their meals through a bottle teat - milk and cereal, liqudised soups and meats (!) followed by milk and cereal in the evening. Now that kid has underdeveloped oral muscles, not to mention texture issues.

S x

[Roseii]

Thanks Shivi, luckily it's nowhere near that bad! Confession though-she has her teeth brushed first. In my defence she didn't have ANY teeth til 14mo so the bottle routine was so ingrained by then. But if I do really need to start brushing them after milk, and at naptime is a good idea too, thanks (she now does them in the AM and at bath time/evening, the few teeth she has lol!) Oh and we've a long way to go before she gives up her beloved dummy I don't think anyone could take the dummy off E after what she's just been thru Hun! Easter bunny sounds like a good bet

[Lolly]

DS was like your DD - he still had a bottle when his sister was born, we had tried to switch to a cup a few times but he was. not. having. it.! A couple of months after she was born (so he was over 2.5) he had a bad cough and his bedtime milk made him sick two nights on the trot so we told him he couldn't have it because of the cough and just never gave it back after he was better (evil mummy ). To our surprise he accepted it and did have milk in a flip top cup for a while after but never asked for the bottle.

I really do think that if you are brushing teeth after the milk and they drink it quickly (so aren't sucking for hours on end) then it's not a big problem. I think my DD still sucking her dummy most of the night (and part of the day in the house ) is probably worse to be honest. She happily swapped her bottle for a cup around 18 months but still had the dummy for sucky needs .

Laura

[aisling]

Honestly, I don't see the big deal once they drink their milk and then have their teeth brushed.

If she brushes her teeth before bed and isn't walking around with milk (or juice, even worse) in it all day long, then what harm can it be doing to her teeth? I'd try brushing teeth before nap as well....
S x

Agree!  DS had his bedtime bottle--that eventually became an after supper "botbot" as he called it until he was 3 and a bit.  He BF'd until 18 months only drank water and that was out of a sippy or cup but milk came from boobs or bottles in his world.  So I was never concerned, he could drink out of cups/sippy's at an early age so that was not an issue.  He didn't walk around with his bottle, he was not drinking cocacola it was milk and then he always brushed after.  I let him stop when he wanted.  He always had a bedtime snack (food) so eventually he stopped asking for his "dessert bottle/botbot" after supper at 5pm.

[Tay]

DD had a BT bottle until she was 2 and a half (!!!) and very much because it was part of her BT routine. The only way we managed to get her off it was to add strwaberry flavour to the milk (but only if she too it on the cup - the bottle was only plain milk).

[We Three]

Millie was almost 3 before we gave up that bedtime bottle...it was the ONLY time she let us hold her...my so-not-snuggly girl. She asked for it a time or two once it was gone...she called it "cozy bobski"...(which is so cute when said with her little lisp!).  Teeth brushed after...so not a big deal for us.  She would have given it up sooner, but WE didn't even bring up the topic!

 I wouldn't worry too much.  It may have been easier to give it up later, because she really understood, yk?  Try to relax about it if you can...if in your heart it isn't a big deal, then it isn't.   

[koe2moe]

DS was the same.  After being told off by the dentist at 2yo check,  i switched the routine around, bottle first, brushed teeth, then bed.  I hated it coz it broken off the nice flow of the bt routine and brushing got sooooooo difficult, alwaoys a fight for over half year.  

Definitely  brush teeth after the bottle, then it is no problem.  We moved houses two weeks before DS turned three and i wasnt going to mess with the comfort he was geting.  Suddenly two weeks after he turned three, he just didnt want the bottle anymore!  He said milk made him puke  suddenly...  

Just had 3yo check and he dentist complimented on the teeth brushing

[MadisonC]

DS dropped the BT bottle at 14months and that was the last one to go.  He now drinks milk in the morning and before bed with a straw sippy.. I found the BT bottle easy to drop.. I just gave him his sippy and acted like nothing had changed and didnt fuss about it.

[<Catherine>]

DS was still having a BT bottle at this age Charli. He dropped it at around 2 I think - I had tried a sippy cup a few times and he was having none of it, but one day I suggested had a 'big boy cup' and he wanted to be a 'big boy' and has had it ever since

[~ Vik ~]

I can't believe I'm admitting this, but Dylan still has a bottle of milk now at 3y3mo At bedtime only, in the living room, teeth brushed after, then stories and bed. He still asks for it and really doesn't drink much milk otherwise so I've been hesitant to forcefully drop it. He downs it in a minute and it's the only one he gets. I should be working on that, I suppose

[flashgirl]

my little girl was weaned off the bottle two weeks ago.  she is 2 years.  when i first tried, she refused the cup, screaming for the bottle.  i did some research and found a book that suggested offering water in the bottle and milk in a cup.  she looked at me, took the bottle, gave it back to me and then took the cup with the milk in.  it really was that simple for her.  

my son was another story...he was 3 and a half, partly later because he's always been a milk monster.  when his sister started her bottle, i didnt feel like i could take it off him at this time, and when i did there were fights and screams etc... also he could down a bottle in 30 seconds, so i was never worried about teeth (??) then one day i simply explained that he was too big for a bottle and that he would have milk in a cup.  he replied, 'i'm a big boy now, i dont need milk anymore'.  so simple in the end! it was an amazing feeling binning those bottles!!

[*Liz*]

Megan still has hers Charli. Before nap and bed. Teeth before as teeth brushing is a major issue here. She goes beserk everytime  .