In article
,
dragonlady wrote:

In article ,
"dejablues" wrote:

From http://www.aap.org/pubserv/weaning.htm

"During this process you may be tempted to put milk or juice in his bottle
to help him go to sleep, but don't do it. If he falls asleep while feeding,
the milk or juice will pool around his teeth, and this can cause his
incoming teeth to decay--a condition known as nursing-bottle syndrome. To
make matters worse, drinking while lying flat on his back can also
contribute to middle-ear infections, since the liquid may actually flow
through the eustachian tube into the middle ear.

There's still one more disadvantage to prolonged bottle feeding: The bottle
can become a security object, particularly if your baby keeps it beyond
about age one. To avoid this, don't let him carry or drink from a bottle
while playing. Restrict the use of a bottle to feedings when he's sitting
down or being held. At all other times, give him a cup. If you never allow
him to take the bottle with him, he won't realize that bringing it along is
even an option. Don't relent once this decision has been made, or it could
prompt him to demand a bottle again long after he has "officially" been
weaned. "


My mother was unable to breastfeed (or at least believed she was unable;
since I'm 51 and my youngest sister is 33, it's been a while). But she
absolutly insisted that the BIGGEST advantage to breastfeeding was that
breastfed babies were never propped: they were always in contact with
another human being when they were being fed. So, in our house, any
baby being given a bottle was always also being held. She also never
let the baby hold the bottle without someone else's hand on it, too.
(Added bonus was that Mom had a good excuse to get off her feet -- and
with, at one point, four teenagers and a toddler and a baby, I'm sure
that came in handy.)

While this is different from the APA's position, it is consistant.

Oh -- and she also never put anything but formula in bottles; water and
juice were drunk out of cups or glasses -- and I don't think she ever
owned a sippy cup.

meh
--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care