When do you stop Bottle feeding?

[Seoul]

Hi,

My DD is 13 months old and she loves her bottle when ever she gets it. She eats solid foods just fine. I also use the bottle to settle her down at night for bedtime. I usually only give one or two bottles in a 24 hour period but if I am out a whole day I tend to give her a bottle in the middle of the day because it is much easier sometimes especially if I am on the subway or bus. I have heard after one they shouldn't have a bottle period but then they recommend breastfeeding until the age of two and some do it even longer. We also go on quite a lot of long flights and bottles really help with her ears. Is it that bad to plan on giving bottles until the age of two?

 

[MindUtopia]

Usually the recommendation is to only use bottles up until about a year and then switch to using a cup, but I don't think most babies switch to cups right at a year. We still use bottles (my daughter is 13 months) but will be switching to using a sippy cup soon, though I anticipate it will be a slow transition. I think it's the sucking motion, rather than slurping or sipping, which keeps the milk closer to the front of the mouth and can cause tooth decay. Breastmilk tends to have a lower sugar content and is antibacterial so causes fewer problems with tooth decay than formula or other drinks. So if you are giving formula, they recommend that you try to move to using cups rather than bottles after a year, but like I said, I don't think most people cease using them completely at the one year mark. But it's good to start moving in the direction of using cups so that your baby learns the skill, even if it doesn't happen overnight. I'd like to replace bottles with cups entirely in the next few months, but we're taking it slow. And yes, they should be getting about 2 cups or so of cow's milk or formula a day I think at least until they are 2-3 years, however you choose to feed it.

 

[wookie130]

I started weaning my daughter off of bottles at 11 months. We transitioned her to taking her formula from a straw cup, which is now recommended over spout cups/sippys. Now that she's a year old, she's off formula as well, and drinks whole milk from a straw cup.

 

[fides]

switched DS1 to a straw cup at 13 months; planning to start the switch with DS2 soon now that he's also 13 months. my pediatrician suggests no bottles after 16 months.

 

[GreyGirl]

My 15mo dd is still using bottles for her cow's milk. Any attempts to convert her to sippys or cups for milk have failed dramatically. She uses the others for water and seems to believe milk should only come from bottles. I'm not too worried at the moment, but I hope soon she'll drop down to 2 feeds a day and then want cups eventually.

 

[clever_blond]

My dd1 is 2.5 and just stopped having a bottle at Christmas, she has perfect teeth. She refused to take milk from anythimg else but still needed it. She now has no milk to drink, just yoghurts and milk on her cereal.

So ling as you dont let her have a bottle in her mouth all the time, you take it from her when she falls asleep and you regular brush her teeth my dentist said its fine to let her drop it when she is ready. Xx