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South Florida Babies
no bottles after the age of 1???
I recently read an article in Parents magazine regarding transitioning to sippy cups and weaning babies from the bottle by the age of 1. I was also lurking on other boards and saw that some moms were discussing weaning from the bottle and some were concerned that their babies were not holding their own bottles/sippy cups yet (they were in the 9-12 month range).
Maybe this is a cultural thing, but what's wrong with babies using a bottle after the age of 1? Also, I thought the sippy cup was supposed to be used for introducing other liquids, like water, at least while they are so little. I'm all for fostering Elise's independence, but is it really necessary to get rid of the bottle completely? It would be great if she held the bottle herself, but is it a big deal if she doesn't? She likes to feed herself pieces of food and likes to hold her sippy cup, but she tries to grab the bottle by the nipple and has trouble tilting both the bottle and the sippy cup. So, I figured I'll keep giving her a sippy cup with water daily to practice. she actually prefers drinking water from a cup, but I also have to hold it.
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Re: no bottles after the age of 1???
Both girls were off daytime bottles by 1 for the most part. Neither one did well with the sippy cup, we went straight to the straw cup. Sarah still takes a bottle at night, but only because I know it's a comfort thing for her and she sleeps better with it. I'll probably start to ween her from the bottle before teeth brushing at around 18 months, no later.
S had trouble tilting her head back for a sippy until about 3 weeks ago. Now I can give her the sippy cup with no problem. Abby never tilted her head for a sippy until 2 years old lol But the straw cup was a life saver- plus, it was easier when we went out as a family, it was one less thing I had to carry. Most restaurants have cups with a top and a straw for kids, so it was nice not to have to worry about brining and cleaning an extra 4 parts of something.
Oh, and Abbs NEVER held her own bottle; S held her own bottle by like 8 months because she was her big sister doing it. Kids are all different, wait until she seems ready. Try offering her a straw... Dawn showed me how to do it the first time with Abbs- she would draw up some liquid into the straw and put her thumb over the top and then sort of just drop it in her mouth, after a few times, I would make the suction stronger and stronger til she was sucking the straw herself. I never did that with S because, well, she sort of just picked it up from Abbs. Benefits of having 2 lol, less teaching I have to do for #2!
Camryn Grace ~ July 6th, 2009 ~ 7lbs 9oz, 20.5"
Brayden Richard Drew ~ December 20, 2010~7lbs 9oz, 20"
So no, your kid will not start college drinking from a bottle but weaning is part of life and experience shows that the earlier you do it - the easier it is on the kid. The later you do it - the more chance you will have a 4 year old still requesting a bottle (or a pacifier for that matter).
We weaned daytime bottles at 13 months. And by 15 months, if not sooner, Sophia was through with her nighttime bottles. It was a non issue for us. No crying, no screaming. Honestly, I think most parents keep them longer because its just easier and faster for the kid to drink from a bottle than from a sippy cup. The sippy cup does take longer to empty out but once your kid gets used to it - again....its a non-issue.
I could not wait to stop with bottles and the first time around and am really looking forward to it with Isabelle, too. It goes along with whole milk in my opinion. I am actually going to try this time not putting whole milk in her bottles and instead moving straight to the sippy. Isabelle is a pro with water in the sippy already.
I introduced sippy cups with water some time after 6 months but, like others mentioned, my daughter never really got used to the sippy cups where you have to tilt your head back. Cups with straws worked like a charm. I use the same Take'n'Toss ones that Mari mentioned. Between the time she was 11 to 13 months old, I weaned her off her daytime bottles and would only give her whole milk cold, straight out of the fridge, during the day in the straw cup . Again, like someone else already mentioned (maybe Mari again), I wanted her to get used to only having whole milk from a cup during the day and never from the bottle. The daytime transition was luckily very smooth for us and she continued to drink milk just as well cold from the straw cup as she did warm from the bottle.
Now, nighttime is a different story. At 19 months old, I still give her a bottle of warm milk at night. My pedi has no problem with it. I have debated with weaning her off it (read it can lead to ear infections and tooth problems) but for the time being, I'm going to let it continue at least for the next few months. I don't consider her to be totally dependent on it (there are night where she'll fall asleep without it when she's really tired), but for nights where she is more wound up, it really helps to relax her and make her sleepy. As long as my pedi is okay with it, I'm okay with making my nights a little easier. I figure I'll re-evaluate in a few months as her 2nd birthday comes around and then decide about weaning then.
Emma also held the bottle on her own from a very early age but I don't see how that matters or really factors into anything. I'm sure even babies who prefer not to hold their own bottles will be just as capable of holding their own cups when the time comes.
Hi,I'm a speech-pathologist and although there's not much research out there to back us up we generally recommend discontinuing the pacifier and baby bottle at 1 year of age for several reasons.
1. Like others have said, the longer you wait to wean the more attached they may become and the more difficult it will be to wean.
2. After the age of 1, there is no physiological need for a child to suck from a nipple. Before age 1, their main source of nutrition is milk. After age 1, the majority of their nutrition should come from table foods, not milk.
3. The tongue pattern/movements during bottle drinking and sippy cup drinking are a repetitive back and forth, whereas in straw, open cup, and cup with holed lid (think starbucks) promotes a mature pattern of a stable tongue. This is important to understand b/c promoting the repetitive back and forth movements for an extended amount of time is believed to translate into other aspects...the child's articulation and specifically a lisp. I can tell you from experience, not all kids that use a paci, bottle, and/or sippy cup for a long time will get a lisp, but when we see a kid with a lisp they've usually used one or all of those past their expiration date. Now you got a kid with a lisp who likely also has an open bite (from the back-forward tongue movement or presence of the paci/nipple in his mouth) and you may get into dental issues. A lisp is not always a bad diagnosis, b/c there are circumstances where a lisp can be "normal."
Again, there's not much research out there on these links, but if you can prevent these issues earlier on with relatively easy measures, wouldn't it be worth it?
Here are some resources that discuss similar thoughts....
https://www.toddlerstoday.com/expertqa/health-concerns/will-tooth-damage-caused-by-a-pacifier-correct-itself-3017
https://mommyspeechtherapy.com/?p=12
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Jackie, itms definitely bittersweet! I've been giving her a sippy with water for a while, but she bites on it instead of sucking. She does like drinking water from a cup, though.
Laura, I'm glad to hear that. It's funny how reading too much can turn a non-issue into a concern. I'm not going to rush into getting rid of her bottles either.
I had to go yesterday so didn't finish the post. Mikey on the otherhand just plays with the cup and bites the nipple part. He is very intrigued with his brother and watches him very carefully, which I think will help "teach" him how to use the sippy cup.
Like Laura, I'm not in a huge rush to take away bottle as (like Mel said) I know they won't be in college drinking from the bottle! LOL However, they are growing up and weaning them off the bottle is part of life... but the last bit of baby left.
"If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane" -- Jimmy Buffett