Lady Penelope Creighton-Ward wrote:
Hi everyone,

I have a nearly-16-month old who now has a 12-week old baby brother.
Lately she has been insisting on getting a bottle of milk every time
she sees her little brother having his. Today she had a bottle in the
morning, one in the afternoon, and one for dinner. She threw such
tantrums for it, and I've been so frazzled with looking after the two
little ones that I had to give in. I'm kicking myself for it now. She
did have a proper lunch with me but wouldn't eat anything later.

Should I try to phase out the milk, and the bottle, or can I still let
her have this for a few more months?

It's always a tricky judgment call. Some kids
will just go through a little phase and then they feel
all better, so you might as well avoid the grief and
just indulge them. Other kids will spiral from bad to
worse, even adding more objectionable behaviors, and
you'll kick yourself later if you let the process get
started. Sometimes a good idea is to identify *why*
she's doing this one thing (almost certainly to get
your attention) and figure out a more acceptable way
to give her what she needs without indulging an
inappropriate expression of her needs, if that makes
sense.

Best wishes,
Ericka