I tend to be "relaxed" about these kinds of things. BEfore a year old my children knew that the bottle was reserved for "moms lap" As long as they wanted to sit and cuddle with me they could have their bottle. When they decided they were done cuddling....then they were done drinking. Both of my children weaned themselves gradually....and both at the same age 2.5 years. It wasn't a struggle, or a fight...it was their decision. Each one basically said the same thing...."I big boy/girl now. Put that away" and we did NEVER to bring it out ever again. They NEVER ASKED for it again. Sometimes I wonder if we rush our children out of childhood too quickly. As long as they aren't sucking on the thing all day day or night long what's the problem? Neither of my kids have teeth problems...shoot they didn't have the bottle anymore than they would have had the cup! ...and ear infections weren't a problem either because they were SITTING in my lap....not laying down. I'd much rather let my children decide for themselves when they are ready....you know in other cultures breast feeding until 3 years isn't unheard of. I fail to see the difference here.

Breastfeeding can go on well into toddlerhood, so why not a bottle...? Perhaps there would be information in the attachment parenting literature on it.

The current theory among the early childhood specialists (including my daycare) where I live in Europe is that it is bad to switch too early to a cup from a bottle or breast feeding - because it is bad for the child's character development. From what I could understand, they think if they drink from a cup it is too easy and they don't learn to work for a reward. I thought this was pretty strange, but oh well, who knows after all. And I just thought- what could the possible harm be in keeping the bottle for a few years.

Taking the child along on bank robberies is bad for her character development. Drinking vessels are not responsible for character development.

My god, some of this stuff goes a little far.

amy

My kid is now at the age where "we should be weaning her from the bottle." But, it ain't happenin'...

...then I did a forum search and found this thread. Good stuff!! Based on what was said, I just decided to go ahead and let my little girl continue to enjoy her bottle for awhile longer - without guilt. I started thinking...why do we put pressure on ourselves (and our babies) to give up the bottle by 12 months, or 18 months?

Teeth? No... 5-10 minutes with a bottle twice a day won't mess up their teeth. Especially when you consider pacifiers and thumb/finger sucking (which it would make more sense if there things are proven to disrupt tooth growth - and I don't think they have been).

I just don't get it...

...does someone know where this social pressure stems from...and why we should submit to it?

Just another update since Mya brought this topic back up...my baby (well, I guess toddler is more appopropriate because she runs everywhere now and can climb a full flight of stairs in the time it takes you to say your name!) has given up the bottle completely . She's 15 months and one morning I just didn't give her morning bottle (the only one she was getting), only a cup, and she didn't seem to care- or more importantly, miss it. Granted, she won't drink as much milk out of a cup, but I'm getting enough into her and I've started buying calcium fortified juice. Even better, she has started tolerating dairy and will eat cheese for dinner and yogurt for breakfast, so I figure we're doing OK. This week we're trying the transition off of the lactofree whole milk and onto whole cows milk. She drank the milk (regular) at several restaurants recently and had no difficulties, so I think it's even going to work this time! Yahoo :goodvibes: !

As far as the pressure goes, I have no idea where this comes from and I try really hard not to buy into this. I spend a lot of time telling my hyper friends that not walking at exactly 12 months does not spell disaster for the future. Not having a 10 word vocabulary at 15 months does not mean your kid will not have perfect language skills, as long as they appear to hear OK, and are trying to make sounds, good enough for now. It's funny though, I guess we must be comparison creatures by nature though...

Now for my next trick...weaning from the ever-present pacifier :weeping: .