bottles

Marie · #1 January 16th, 2008, 01:05 PM

I was wondering whose toddler is still on the bottle? i'm asking because the girls still take a bottle. I never really thought anything about it. They only drink milk and the sippy cup is for juice and water.

Yesterday a lady came over for their speech and she was asking me a whole bunch of questions. She told me that the girls need to be off the bottle and should have been off at 12 months.
Their teeth are going to rot.

We took the girls to the dentist on their 18 month check up and she didn't say anything. The girls don't drink a bottle in the crib (never have) only after a meal. The speech lady was surprised that the dentist didn't say anything and added that she (dentist) only wanted our money for a caps.

I was surprised that she even start to tell me that what i was doing was wrong.

#2 January 16th, 2008, 01:12 PM

We took Linz off the bottle at 12 months. I thought that the whole teeth roting thing was more for the people who give the bottle to the babies in bed and let them sleep with it and drink it all night? I'm a firm believer in NOT judging people and that each mom and child has to do things their own way, so I don't know a right or wrong answer here. I think as long as they are brushing their teeth twice a day that it shouldn't be an issue? Then again, I'm not a professional haha.

tricksy22 · #3 January 16th, 2008, 01:53 PM

We got Carson off his bottle around 15 months, he was then only needing the night time bottle, and really didn't want it then, so we just stopped it all together. I have heard about the rotting of the teeth, but like Jenn said, I only thought it was if you let them drink it all during the night or something like that.

isold2003 · #4 January 16th, 2008, 01:56 PM

This is a fscinating subject I think because here in Sweden almost all babys and toddlers and up to 3-4 year olds dring gruel at night (and many times in the morning too). Everyone drinks gruel in a bottle. So does Oskar. He goes to bed with the bottle with gruel, we go in as soon as he is finished and brush his teeth. In the morning he gets his bottle of gruel as breakfast and we brush his teeth like after any breakfast. And the Swedish children does not get rotten teeth

Anton had gruel in a bottle until 3� years old, his teeth are perfect. I have no plans on taking away the bottle anytime soon. As for toothproblems I think children that have pacufiers in all day long are in bigger trouble. But I think that is a bit more usual here than in the US. Here children often have pacifiers beyond 3 years of age.

bright future · #5 January 16th, 2008, 02:05 PM

As far as I understand it, the problem with bottles lies in the fact that bottles may be sipped much more slowly with the milk pooling in the child's mouth for longer periods of time. If a kid sits down to a bottle and chugs it back, is done, and has good regular oral hygiene there should be no more risk than a child who drinks from a sippy cup. The cup encourages more sip and swallow, gulping or whatever and the fluid isn't in contact with the teeth as long. That's the argument around here anyway. Kai still took a bottle for nap until 16 months, but never took it in bed... just right before.

I work with a woman who has a friend whose 2 year old had all his teeth removed

because they were all rotten... and that was from co-sleeping and letting him nurse all night long, so it's not all about bottles.

soninole · #6 January 16th, 2008, 05:41 PM

There are all kinds of old mives tales about bottles and paci's. I can understand a paci causing teeth problems cause of the constant presence. But a bottle given during the day shouldn't be a problem. I weaned Peyton from the bottles at 10 1/2 months because he crawled around with it in his mouth even after he was finished.

jellybeaninhk · #7 January 17th, 2008, 02:43 AM

Calleigh still has a bottle twice a day, once before her nap and one before bedtime. I guess I have a different attitude towards it although I do worry that it won't do her teeth much good.

#8 January 17th, 2008, 05:55 AM

I have heard it is because the bottle allows fluid to pool in their mouths too. With either of my girls the bottle was never an issue both dropped it when they were 12 months. Kenzie was the hardest to get to drink from a sippy cup though. she didn't want the bottle but she didn't want to drink from the sippy cup. Now she has the playtex cups that are the closest to real cups and she has been bringing them to me to take the lid off cuz she wants to drink out of it like a big girl. The only problem with that is that she lifts it too high and poors drink all over herself.

Rachel81 · #9 January 17th, 2008, 02:29 PM

We took riley off the bottle at 14 months. It was hard to let it go.. But when he turned 12 month he only had the bottle before bed with his milk in it.

ThatStaceyGirl · #10 January 17th, 2008, 03:08 PM

The speech lady sounds like she was kind of rude.
It's true that sleeping with a bottle at night may increase the risk of tooth decay. But other than that you can wean your girls from a bottle whenever you feel it's appropriate, not when that lady says you should.

charmed_mommy · #11 January 17th, 2008, 03:11 PM

We took Trinity's bottle away cold turkey last week. It was hard but she doesn't even notice it's gone now.

Chea.Mo · #12 January 17th, 2008, 03:37 PM

Morgan hasnt had her bottle since she was about 15 months. Her dentist told us that rotting of the baby teeth can happen literally within a week when their teeth will turn from white to brown and start hurting them until they get caps. SO im not sure, i also believe that every mom parents their own way, but in this case i deffinitly took his advice and got morgan off her bottle.

Marie · #13 January 17th, 2008, 03:45 PM

thanks ladies. The girls don't drink bottles in the crib so i don't have to worry about that. THey have another dentist appt soon so I may wait until then or start now.

how did you transition them over to a sippy cup? If I put milk in the cup they won't drink it.

Is it that they will just figure out that the bottle isn't coming. and How long did it take?

imcloudnine · #14 January 17th, 2008, 04:45 PM

Quote:

thanks ladies. The girls don't drink bottles in the crib so i don't have to worry about that. THey have another dentist appt soon so I may wait until then or start now.

how did you transition them over to a sippy cup? If I put milk in the cup they won't drink it.

Is it that they will just figure out that the bottle isn't coming. and How long did it take?[/b]

With Brandon, I started giving him a sippy of his favorite drink (juice at the time) once a day. He started liking the sippy more and more so I just increased the number of times that we used the sippy throughout the day. Brandon is pretty independent, so I just let things happen on his own time otherwise it would just be a battle of the wills lol. For us, it took about 3 months to switch, so it didn't really take too long. I've also found some sippy cups that sort of look like they have nipples on the top like bottles do, that helped make transitioning easier.

isold2003 · #15 January 18th, 2008, 04:14 AM

Oskar drinks from an ordinary glass daytime, he only gets the bottle for his gruel morning and night (and we take it away after the 5 minutes it takes him to drink his gruel). We had no problems at all switching to a glass daytime, did that when he was about 12 months old. Started out with sipy cup but after a couple of weeks he wanted a glass like everyon else in the family. I think you should just try ake the bottle away and they will understand that they won't get it and they'll try the cup instead. Good luck!

#16 January 18th, 2008, 05:56 AM

Quote:

thanks ladies. The girls don't drink bottles in the crib so i don't have to worry about that. THey have another dentist appt soon so I may wait until then or start now.

how did you transition them over to a sippy cup? If I put milk in the cup they won't drink it.

Is it that they will just figure out that the bottle isn't coming. and How long did it take?[/b]

Try the sippy cup with a straw. That was the only way we could get kenzie to drink after she decided she didn't want the bottle. She still is not a fan of the sippy cups with the spout. Do you know how much money I spent on spout sippy cups before I discovered the straw ones?