Bottles at 14 months old

Are your kids still on bottles? If so how many and when?

My girls drink from sippy cups great, they even drink out of a straw. But they still get a nap bottle in the middle of the day (11:30)and a night time bottle (8:00). I give them a bottle to go to bed, and now I am concerned with the whole "tooth decay" milk ordeal.

My girls drink their bottle asap when I give it to them to go to bed, then I go back in their room and take the bottle out of their bed. So I am wondering is anyone else is doing this? Do I srsly need to be brushing their teeth before bed at 14 months? I brush them in the morning and then after naps, but not at bed time.

I am catching a lot of grief from relatives, and coworkers about letting my kids go to bed with a bottle. What are your opinions? I am just wondering? I would appreciate your comments.
Thanks,
Stacy

 

We dropped our morning and bedtime bottles cold turkey just before 15 months. They still drink a sippy morning and night (and meals.) I wouldn't be freaked out by the others - you are doing great! But you probably want to start thinking about getting rid of the bottles since they are already like sippies and straws. I would just let them have the sippy with the bedtime routine and take it with you once you put them in bed.

 

I agree with Betsy. My two were on bottles until 15 months, we took the nap time bottle away first, then the morning bottle and then the bedtime bottle. Both children did well with the transition. I did brush their teeth before bedtime at 14 months.

 

We dropped early, but a very good friend of mine dropped her twins at around 15 months and she said the transition was very smooth. I would drop the bottles and change over to sippies as well. It's a bit better on their teeth to drink out of draws. Yes, I would brush their teeth before bedtime because of the lactose in the formula that will be sitting on their teeth overnight. I'm a stickler for clean teeth in this house.

 

Eh, my rule of thumb is that if it becomes a disruptive behavior, ditch it. That being said, after 15 months, kids become attached to certain objects and it becomes harder to get rid of them (eg pacifiers/bottles). So, you need to decide for yourself when you want to do it. Mine surprisingly had no issue with us dropping the nighttime bottle.

 

I think inbetween our 12 and 15 month visits we started ditching the bottles to sippies. We left the night time bottle til last. By 15 months they were just doing the night time bottle and sippies for everything else. Shortly after our 15 month check i decided to go ahead and just drop the night bottle and they did totally fine with it. I was actually pretty surprised. It didn't change anything for them. I think it helped that we were on sippies for everything else for about a month before making the swtich, but it was really easy.

 

At 12 months I cut all bottles except one before bed. Then at 15 months I cut that one too and gave them milk in a sippy before bed. Now, Mary has almost forced me to stop that too, since she's taken to getting milk in her mouth, then letting it dribble out her mouth onto the floor and pajamas. {sigh}

 

I think between 12-15 months is the "ideal" time to drop bottles, after 15-18 months kids become much more stubborn, and it gets more difficult to take away their "comfort items".

My oldest ds was on sippy cups at 11 months, my oldest dd at 13 months, and the twins at 13/14 months. We dropped the nap bottle first (sippy cups before nap), then the morning bottle, and lastly the nighttime bottle.

I also would recommend you not putting them to bed with their bottles/sippy cups, I realize it's a personal preference, but there are studies that prove it does cause "baby bottle mouth". They finish their bottle or cup of milk and lay down, they still have that milk in their mouth and it settles in their cheek, right beside their teeth. If they sleep for 2 hrs without moving, that milk has a chance to work on those little teeth for 2 hrs. It'll increase their risk for cavities. A sippy cup of water isn't near as bad, especially if you are sure to brush their teeth before bed

 

My girls are also 14 months....we are going to start sippies only starting 10/1
They take 3 bottles a day 7,11, and 7. I cut the 3pm bottle and swapped it with a snack and juice...
My only issue is going to be that the girls still take the bottles warmed......how can i achieve that with sippies?

 

My girls still have 2 bottles a day, and they'll be 15 months old tomorrow. I've tried to go cold turkey once before and failed. I must've bought every kind of sippy cup there is, and my girls rejected milk in every one of them. They would only drink milk out of a bottle. I plan to try again soon, maybe this weekend, because they're much more comfortable with sippies now.

I don't think it's bad or even unusual to be giving them a bottle or two a day at this age. My pediatrician said to ignore the relatives who insist that all bottles must be dropped by age one or else. He said to just keep trying to eliminate them one at a time and not stress about it. I like his advice. So I'm following it. Giving bottles in bed, however, is another matter. That really is bad for the teeth. So I'd try to stop that habit as soon as possible if I were you. I give my girls their bottles while we sit in my bed and read a book. Then I brush their teeth and put them to bed.

To the pp who asked how to warm sippies full of milk, can't you just warm the milk before you pour it in the sippies?

 

We warmed the milk either in the sippy (just enough to knock the chill off, and well shook afterwards), or in a cup and then poured into the sippy. I warmed it in the microwave, and as i said, shook really well so there were no hot spots. I did that for about another month, just slowly knocking time off the warming time until I was no longer actually "warming" it. Cold turkey didn't work for me

 

Hi Stacy! I can't believe your dd's are 14 months already!!!

I never let mine do bottles. They went right from breast to cup for convenience.

I think the concern about a bottle of milk/juice at bed time is that some liquid remains in their mouth, sitting on their teeth and can decay the teeth. you may find THIS interesting.
If you are giving them something other than water, how about giving them water in their bottle instead. I think that's less harmful for the teeth.