Bottle to sippy - the real story?

Calips

My son is 13 months and we are down to bottle only before nap and bed.  Just helps him wind down and he goes to sleep so easy!

I know many pedis say no bottle by 12 months (or 15). With my daughter we went cold turkey -- no issues.  My son loves his a lot more (and was much harder to get to even take it after BFing 6 months).

I just don't think I "get" the reasoining behind the need for the transition at 12 months (BTW my Mom and Gma think it is awful and cruel that I have even cut it back since he loves it so). 

I think I have heard that with bottles the milk pools and is bad for their teeth (at least that is what I heard).  Isn't that only is they lay down with a bottle?

So many sippies are so close to bottles (like Nuby and other soft top ones) - I guess I just don't completely understand the WHY.  Can someone enlighten me please?  Thanks!

kabarbanel

I personally wanted DS off the bottle by 12months, but my pedi didn't think it was a big deal, and many don't! My nephew was on it til 2+, and his pedi didn't have a problem with it.

mrs.larry

I think part of it is the teeth but if you're not putting him to bed with it then it's probably not a big deal. and part of it is probably that the attachment only gets greater as time goes on so do it now before he loves it even MORE.

That said, my son wasn't into the bottle and only had it during the day anyway so it wasn't hard to get rid of.  My friend's daughter was a different story so she went with her gut and waited till she felt like it was time. if it doesn't feel like time, wait a little bit. it's not going to be the end of the world.

I can remember my little sister singing a song about giving up her bottles (that my dad made up). She must have been two at *least* because she could sing all the words. And she has all her teeth and is now getting her PhD so obviously no serious harm was done!

slmcronelaw

Calips:

My son is 13 months and we are down to bottle only before nap and bed.  Just helps him wind down and he goes to sleep so easy!

I know many pedis say no bottle by 12 months (or 15). With my daughter we went cold turkey -- no issues.  My son loves his a lot more (and was much harder to get to even take it after BFing 6 months).

I just don't think I "get" the reasoining behind the need for the transition at 12 months (BTW my Mom and Gma think it is awful and cruel that I have even cut it back since he loves it so). 

I think I have heard that with bottles the milk pools and is bad for their teeth (at least that is what I heard).  Isn't that only is they lay down with a bottle?

So many sippies are so close to bottles (like Nuby and other soft top ones) - I guess I just don't completely understand the WHY.  Can someone enlighten me please?  Thanks!

I don't have an answer for you, but wanted to tell you your children are gorgeous!!!

shoeboxx

Aside from the whole issue with the teeth, maybe people look at it like this:

Bottle...baby

Cup...toddler. 

LO never liked bottles, so weaning him from them was a breeze.  We started with soft spout cups, but now we use straw cups. 

RachealKW

We are exactly like you -- except at 16 months!  The pedi has been all over us to get rid of the last couple of bottles.  My guys like sippy cups just fine, and drink most of their fluids from them.  It's just the extra comfort that helps them sleep at nap and night time.  

I think that with a bottle, the milk sort of sloshes around all the teeth, where with a cup it just drinks down.  My husband has all kinds of tooth problems because when he drinks, he fills his mouth and then swallows it.  I think it's the same principle.  Right now we're having sleep issues, so we have decided to wait on worrying about the bottles.  We just try to be agressive about keeping their teeth brushed.

I am starting to dilute the milk, in hopes we can gradually get them onto water bottles, which the pedi said would be fine.  For some reason, water doesn't have the same soothing effect right now.  Neither do pacis.  We actually considered a return to the pacifier to help sleep, but no dice.  Good luck! 

tabi_ja

I think the worry is about the teeth, but obviously, I'm not the expert.

I mainly wanted to make a suggestion.  When we were starting to wean Miles off of the bottle (around 13ish months, btw), we had a really hard time, because he hated sippy cups.  Straw cups, however, went over really well.  We started with switching one bottle at a time to a straw cup, until he just didn't use the bottle anymore.  When we tried to give him a sippy, he screamed and yelled and threw it.  I don't know why it made such a difference to him, but it worked.  

mjsweetgirl

We cut the bottle at 14 months and transitioned to a soft plastic sippy (nuby) after a month of that we went to straw sippy. Its a gradual transition and don't let people tell you that 12 months is a hard and fast rule. To cut out the bottle, we just put his milk/formula in the sippy cup, sat with him while he drank it and then put him to bed. It was one hard night/day but then its like it never existed. Do what feels best for you and your LO.