Bottles past 1 year?

This is another cultural question of sorts (since the last one was so
much fun) - DD never liked bottles. It was hell to get her to take one
for daycare, and at 13 months she refused them for good (or so I
thought). But she also refused cow's milk. Not a big deal, she has
enough dairy and still nurses. When she got sick over Thanksgiving,
she wouldn't eat or drink, and shortly after she recovered she was
interested in cow's milk so I gave her some - she will drink it out of
a cup or a bottle, but not a sippy cup. So when out of the house I
give it to her in a bottle. It's the only time she has one, and she's
not attached to it, but it's the only way to give her milk without a
mess, so I'm ok with that (it's kind of ironic given the hassle we had
to get her to take a bottle at 3 months).

We saw her developmental specialist today (18 month check up) and she
made a bit of a fuss about the bottle. I explained the above, she
grudgingly said ok but insisted I really need to get her off of it
(she has one usually only in the am on the way to daycare). But
what's the big deal about them? I guess I could see if she refused to
drink from a cup, but she happily does that, I'm just not going to
give her a cup in the car, and it gets her to drink cow's milk (which
means less mommy's milk). And she does use a sippy cup, but only for
water (she won't tolerate anything else in her sippy cup).

However, in Switzerland (and I also noticed this in London and in
France), I've seen kids as old as 3 or 4 with a bottle. They even
have 'toddler formula' (which I tried giving DD but she hated). Our 4
yr old nephew has a bottle before bed (and uses a pacifier), many of
our friends kids drink from a bottle at dinner. I'm fairly sure all
these kids can drink fine from a cup, but they also use a bottle.
Sippy cups are sold, but I don't recall seeing a lot of kids with
them. Obviously, doctors there are not making a fuss about older kids
with bottles (or all the parents i've seen ignore such advice).

So what's so evil about the ocassional bottle?

cjra wrote in

oups.com:


So what's so evil about the ocassional bottle?

nothing.
it can be a problem if the child takes a bottle of milk to
bed, because that leads to tooth decay. some people think that
sucking on a nipple or pacifier past a certain age (which
varies quite a bit) will makes the teeth crooked, but that's
fairly unsubstantiated.
when Boo started therapy at age 2 for apraxia of speech, one
of the things his OT suggested was to try to get him to suck
on a bottle or pacifier (both things he never wanted anything
to do with since birth) to help oral muscle development.
how's that for a non-answer?
lee

cjra wrote:
This is another cultural question of sorts (since the last one was so
much fun) - DD never liked bottles. It was hell to get her to take one
for daycare, and at 13 months she refused them for good (or so I
thought). But she also refused cow's milk. Not a big deal, she has
enough dairy and still nurses. When she got sick over Thanksgiving,
she wouldn't eat or drink, and shortly after she recovered she was
interested in cow's milk so I gave her some - she will drink it out of
a cup or a bottle, but not a sippy cup. So when out of the house I
give it to her in a bottle. It's the only time she has one, and she's
not attached to it, but it's the only way to give her milk without a
mess, so I'm ok with that (it's kind of ironic given the hassle we had
to get her to take a bottle at 3 months).

We saw her developmental specialist today (18 month check up) and she
made a bit of a fuss about the bottle. I explained the above, she
grudgingly said ok but insisted I really need to get her off of it
(she has one usually only in the am on the way to daycare). But
what's the big deal about them?



I'd have asked her.


I guess I could see if she refused to
drink from a cup, but she happily does that, I'm just not going to
give her a cup in the car, and it gets her to drink cow's milk (which
means less mommy's milk). And she does use a sippy cup, but only for
water (she won't tolerate anything else in her sippy cup).

However, in Switzerland (and I also noticed this in London and in
France), I've seen kids as old as 3 or 4 with a bottle. They even
have 'toddler formula' (which I tried giving DD but she hated). Our 4
yr old nephew has a bottle before bed (and uses a pacifier), many of
our friends kids drink from a bottle at dinner. I'm fairly sure all
these kids can drink fine from a cup, but they also use a bottle.
Sippy cups are sold, but I don't recall seeing a lot of kids with
them. Obviously, doctors there are not making a fuss about older kids
with bottles (or all the parents i've seen ignore such advice).

So what's so evil about the ocassional bottle?


The development specialist has a hair across her fanny?

cjra wrote:

So what's so evil about the ocassional bottle?

I think the concerns are alignment of teeth/development
of the mouth and tooth decay, neither of which are likely a
big issue with very occasional use. My one concern would be
that it seems like whenever you carry something past the
usual developmental point at which it's dropped, it sometimes
turns into a fiercely held habit that becomes challenging to
change even after you get to the point where you'd rather it
disappeared. That probably wouldn't be enough for me to make
a scene about it and insist on dropping the bottle cold turkey,
but probably would make me keep nudging towards dropping the
bottle.

Best wishes,
Ericka

On Jan 9, 1:33 pm, "Stephanie" wrote:
cjra wrote:
This is another cultural question of sorts (since the last one was so
much fun) - DD never liked bottles. It was hell to get her to take one
for daycare, and at 13 months she refused them for good (or so I
thought). But she also refused cow's milk. Not a big deal, she has
enough dairy and still nurses. When she got sick over Thanksgiving,
she wouldn't eat or drink, and shortly after she recovered she was
interested in cow's milk so I gave her some - she will drink it out of
a cup or a bottle, but not a sippy cup. So when out of the house I
give it to her in a bottle. It's the only time she has one, and she's
not attached to it, but it's the only way to give her milk without a
mess, so I'm ok with that (it's kind of ironic given the hassle we had
to get her to take a bottle at 3 months).

We saw her developmental specialist today (18 month check up) and she
made a bit of a fuss about the bottle. I explained the above, she
grudgingly said ok but insisted I really need to get her off of it
(she has one usually only in the am on the way to daycare). But
what's the big deal about them?

I'd have asked her.

we were already there an hour and I had a lot of other more pressing
things to discuss. I didn't think much of it til after I left.

I also knew I wasn't going to insist on getting rid of the bottle at
this time, so I didn't feel like setting myself for an antagonistic
situation with the specialist when we had more important things to
deal with.

On Jan 9, 1:34 pm, Ericka Kammerer wrote:
cjra wrote:
So what's so evil about the ocassional bottle?

I think the concerns are alignment of teeth/development
of the mouth and tooth decay, neither of which are likely a
big issue with very occasional use. My one concern would be
that it seems like whenever you carry something past the
usual developmental point at which it's dropped, it sometimes
turns into a fiercely held habit that becomes challenging to
change even after you get to the point where you'd rather it
disappeared. That probably wouldn't be enough for me to make
a scene about it and insist on dropping the bottle cold turkey,
but probably would make me keep nudging towards dropping the
bottle.

Eh, I think DD could take it or leave it, so I'm not too worried about
an attachment problem. She's just as happy to drink out of a cup or
sippy (for water at least). She really likes drinking out of mommy's
water bottles.

Of course, now she'll about face on me and the bottle will become her
doudou....

I should also mention that though the specialist didn't use the word
'wean', she did talk about how I want to be encouraging her more away
from the breast now.

cjra wrote:
DD never liked bottles. It was hell to get her to take one
for daycare, and at 13 months she refused them for good (or so I
thought). But she also refused cow's milk. Not a big deal, she has
enough dairy and still nurses. When she got sick over Thanksgiving,
she wouldn't eat or drink, and shortly after she recovered she was
interested in cow's milk so I gave her some - she will drink it out of
a cup or a bottle, but not a sippy cup.

One thought: have you tried a sippy cup with a straw?
She might think that was cool with milk.

Best wishes,
Ericka

On Jan 9, 1:43 pm, Ericka Kammerer wrote:
cjra wrote:
DD never liked bottles. It was hell to get her to take one
for daycare, and at 13 months she refused them for good (or so I
thought). But she also refused cow's milk. Not a big deal, she has
enough dairy and still nurses. When she got sick over Thanksgiving,
she wouldn't eat or drink, and shortly after she recovered she was
interested in cow's milk so I gave her some - she will drink it out of
a cup or a bottle, but not a sippy cup.

One thought: have you tried a sippy cup with a straw?
She might think that was cool with milk.

hmm, she loves using a straw, but that doesn't solve the milk problem,
as she'll drink milk quite happily from a cup. The only reason *I*
prefer the bottle is because then I can give it to her in places i
don't have to worry about spilling. At home she usually drinks from
the cup, but it's ok if she spills it all over herself and the floor.
In the car or when out, I'd rather not. The sippy cups I've seen with
straws aren't leak proof.

Do some exist?

Of course, she's learning how to remove the tops anyway.

cjra wrote:
On Jan 9, 1:34 pm, Ericka Kammerer wrote:
cjra wrote:
So what's so evil about the ocassional bottle?
I think the concerns are alignment of teeth/development
of the mouth and tooth decay, neither of which are likely a
big issue with very occasional use. My one concern would be
that it seems like whenever you carry something past the
usual developmental point at which it's dropped, it sometimes
turns into a fiercely held habit that becomes challenging to
change even after you get to the point where you'd rather it
disappeared. That probably wouldn't be enough for me to make
a scene about it and insist on dropping the bottle cold turkey,
but probably would make me keep nudging towards dropping the
bottle.

Eh, I think DD could take it or leave it, so I'm not too worried about
an attachment problem. She's just as happy to drink out of a cup or
sippy (for water at least). She really likes drinking out of mommy's
water bottles.

Of course, now she'll about face on me and the bottle will become her
doudou....

Well, that's sort of what I meant--they do those sorts
of things at the darndest times! And it seems to happen most
often with those things they're hanging onto after the time
they're usually dropped (even if the initial reason for
continuing is very benign).

I should also mention that though the specialist didn't use the word
'wean', she did talk about how I want to be encouraging her more away
from the breast now.

Well, that would make me highly suspect in and of itself.

Best wishes,
Ericka

cjra wrote:
On Jan 9, 1:43 pm, Ericka Kammerer wrote:
cjra wrote:
DD never liked bottles. It was hell to get her to take one
for daycare, and at 13 months she refused them for good (or so I
thought). But she also refused cow's milk. Not a big deal, she has
enough dairy and still nurses. When she got sick over Thanksgiving,
she wouldn't eat or drink, and shortly after she recovered she was
interested in cow's milk so I gave her some - she will drink it out of
a cup or a bottle, but not a sippy cup.
One thought: have you tried a sippy cup with a straw?
She might think that was cool with milk.

hmm, she loves using a straw, but that doesn't solve the milk problem,
as she'll drink milk quite happily from a cup. The only reason *I*
prefer the bottle is because then I can give it to her in places i
don't have to worry about spilling. At home she usually drinks from
the cup, but it's ok if she spills it all over herself and the floor.
In the car or when out, I'd rather not. The sippy cups I've seen with
straws aren't leak proof.

Do some exist?

Well, depends on what you mean by "leak proof." They're
not as leak proof as the cups with the one-way valves, but
they're a lot less "leaky" than an open cup ;-) I'd take the
risk in the car with an 18-month old who was actually interested
in drinking the contents (rather than tossing them about).

Best wishes,
Ericka