A Parent's Guide to Easing Toddler Off of the Bottle

Executive summary about bottle feeding by Amanda Formaro

Did you wait too long to take the bottle away? There are so many questions and concerns regarding toddlers, bottles, tooth decay and nutrition.

If you feel it's time to help your child let go of the bottle, here are a few tips and ideas to help the transition go as smooth as possible.

1. Cold Turkey

In many cases, parents can remove the bottle from a child's life with little fuss. Here are a couple of ideas for removing the bottle cold turkey:

1. A few days beforehand, tell your toddler that bottles will be going "bye-bye". Prepare him by reminding him each time he gets a new bottle. "A few more days and bottles are going bye-bye!" Smile, and hand him the bottle.
2. The night before, have your toddler help you put all of the bottles into a plastic trash bag. "Bye-bye ba-ba!" Smile. Hug. Reassure your toddler if he appears upset. Put him to bed with one last bottle.
3. Just before the garbage truck arrives, head outside with your toddler and the bag of bottles. Wave "bye-bye" to the bottles and the garbage truck. Smile. Hug.

With this method, your child knows that the bottles are gone. He may ask for a bottle several times over the next few days. Smile, be sympathetic, but not pathetic, and say "Ba ba went bye-bye, remember?"

2. Gradual Weaning

a. Reduce bottles to only nighttime and naptime. During the day, offer your child her milk in a toddler or no spill tippy cup. If she refuses to drink milk from the cup, add some chocolate syrup and make chocolate milk.

b. Start putting water in the bottle at naptime. Eventually, start doing the same at bedtime, until she is no longer drinking milk from a bottle at all. Special note: One of the most common causes of ear infections is the build up of fluid in the ear canal. This is caused from the child lying on her back while the milk from the bottle slowly drips into the child's mouth. The fluid collects while the child sleeps.

c. Start using smaller bottles at nighttime. Use the four ounce bottles as opposed to the eight ounce bottles. Eliminate the naptime bottle completely.

d. Eventually you will remove the nighttime bottle.

3. Quick Tips

a. Buy fun and colorful sipper cups, let your toddler help pick them out.

b. Offer a no-drip sipper cup to satisfy your child's natural need to suckle.

Bottle-feeding with formula milk may risk baby's health

New mothers who bottle-feed could be putting their baby's health at risk due to mistakes with formula milk, researchers said. Errors include too high concentration of formula, changing brands and the timing of feeds, they said. Researchers found that a lack of information and support for bottle-feeding mothers was contributing to the problem.

A review of studies involving more than 13,000 mothers found many felt guilty for bottle-feeding and neglected by the health service. Some new mothers thought they were a failure for bottle-feeding or were angry about not being able to breastfeed. The researchers noted one UK study which highlighted how some midwives mistakenly thought they were forbidden from giving advice to bottle-feeding mothers, even after the baby was born.

It is well recognised that bottle-fed infants have an increased risk of subsequent obesity compared with those who were breastfed, and it has been proposed that bottle-feeding gives the parents more control and the infant less self-regulation, thereby potentially over-riding infant satiation cues. Mothers who bottle-fed their babies experienced negative emotions such as guilt, anger, worry, uncertainty and a sense of failure, reported receiving little information on bottle-feeding and did not feel empowered to make decisions. Mistakes in preparation of bottle-feeds were common.

Baby Bottle Tooth Decay

Executive summary about tooth decay by Elizabeth Pantley

Letting your baby fall asleep every night with a bottle of milk. formula puts him at risk for Baby Bottle Tooth Decay (BBTD). When your baby falls asleep with a bottle nipple in his mouth, the liquid continues to drip out and pools around your baby's teeth.

When milk, juice, formula and even breastmilk pool around your baby's teeth, the sugars these drinks contain combine with bacteria and create acid that attacks the teeth. Baby teeth are very important to your child's health and growth--too important to lose and more important than whatever need that sleepytime bottle satisfies. Check your baby's teeth frequently for any chalky white spots, white streaks, dark blotches.

How to prevent baby bottle tooth decay?

1. Don't let your baby doze off with a bottle of milk, and formula. If your baby needs a bottle to fall asleep, fill it with water.

2. Always be sure your baby's pacifier is clean.

3. Brush your baby's teeth at least twice a day--morning and night.

4. Ask your child's doctor if your baby should take fluoride supplements. If your baby drinks formula, he may be getting fluoride from this.

5. Inspect your baby's teeth frequently and have them checked by your child's doctor regularly.

Tooth Decay

Executive summary about tooth decay by Bethany Thivierge

Tooth decay, which is also called dental cavities, is the destruction of the outer surface of a tooth. The plaque bacteria sticking to tooth enamel use the sugar and starch from food particles in the mouth to produce acid.

Tooth decay is a common health problem, second in prevalence only to the common cold. Although anyone can have a problem with tooth decay, children and senior citizens are the two groups at highest risk. Baby bottle tooth decay is a dental problem that frequently develops in infants that are put to bed with a bottle containing a sweet liquid, also called nursing-bottle caries and bottle-mouth syndrome. The bacteria in the mouth use this sugar to produce acid that destroys the child's teeth. The upper front teeth are typically the ones most severely damaged; the lower front teeth receive some protection from the tongue. As decay progresses, the damage to the child's teeth becomes obvious.

Tooth decay requires the simultaneous presence of three factors: plaque bacteria, sugar, and a vulnerable tooth surface. When the decay reaches the center of the tooth, the resulting inflammation produces a toothache.

Tooth decay develops at varying rates. The dentist may suspect tooth decay if a dark spot is seen during a visual examination. Front teeth may be inspected for decay by shining a light from behind the tooth. Areas of decay, especially between the teeth, will appear as noticeable shadows when teeth are transilluminated. Dentists want to initially examine primary teeth between 12 and 24 months. Children still drinking from a bottle anytime after their first birthday are likely to have tooth decay.

To treat most cases of tooth decay in adults, the dentist removes all decayed tooth structure, shapes the sides of the cavity, and fills the cavity with an appropriate material, such as silver amalgam. In cases of baby bottle tooth decay, the dentist must assess the extent of the damage before deciding on the treatment method.

Lansinoh Double Electric Breast Pump

The Lactivist Says: The most affordable breast pump that you bet your supply on! Overall, the Lansinoh Double Electric Breast Pump to be a good option at an extremely affordable price. At under $200 retail it's nearly $100 cheaper than most comparable breast pumps. It would be a great choice for a mom that pumped occasionally, but maybe not for a mom that pumped exclusively. The first thing that impressed about the Lansinoh Double Electric Breast Pump was the size. Even out of the bag, PISA pump is pretty heavy to lug around. You could toss the Lansinoh pump in a large purse or tote bag and hardly even know it was in there. Another big bonus to the Lansinoh pump is that the pump itself has a compartment for six AA batteries. The Lansinoh system allows you to unscrew the bottle from the flange and to remove the valve, but that's it.

Next, let's consider cleaning. You see, the PISA has to separate because the suction system runs through the back of the pump. Finally, the valve that's used in the Lansinoh pump is just pure brilliance.

What they've done is create an air chamber above the flange that's designed to create the suction. The pump works by sucking the air out of the INSIDE of the rubber membrane which collapses and creates a suction effect for the pump. It works extremely well and in the dozen times I used the pump, I never saw a single drop of fluid in the tubes.

The bottles that come by default are a little on the small side. As someone with a pretty good pumping output I found that annoying. That said, the pump will screw on to quite a few standard size bottles so I imagine you could remedy that by simply pumping into something other than the bottles that come with it.

For pumping moms that find themselves losing parts fairly often...no need to worry. Lansinoh's web site has an online store that sells replacement parts. Overall, I'm pretty impressed with Lansinoh's first foray into the world of breast pumps. While you can buy it online, quite a few major retailers are now carrying the Lansinoh Double Electric Breast Pump.

It's Not About A Mother's Right to Breastfeed

Executive summary about The Lactivist by Jennifer Laycock

It's not about a mother's right to breastfeed. It's easy enough for people to tell a woman that they should "respect" other people. It's about a baby's right to eat.

Seriously. I've found that when you change the perspective from mothers' rights to babies' rights, you tend to win people over more quickly and more easily. While we've made this a battle for the women's movement, we need to be making it a battle for children's rights.

It's not that a mother has the right to breastfeed wherever she might be, it's that the baby has the right to EAT wherever that baby might be. The mothers' rights and needs that we should be campaigning for are the right to good information from health care providers, the right to access lactation consultants and peer counselors and the right to express milk during the work day. Do we stand to make more progress by focusing on the rights and needs of the child rather than on the rights and needs of the mother?

Nipple Shields

Executive summary about Nipple Shields by Barbara Wilson Clay, BSEd, IBCLC

Made of thin, soft, silicone that doesn’t interfere with nipple stimulation, the Madela nipple shield is worn during breastfeeding. Holes at the tip allow milk to flow to the baby. A nipple shield may help protect breastfeeding when:

1. The baby is premature, ill. A nipple shield may make feeding easier for a small baby. Because suction inside the nipple shield holds the nipple in an extended position, the baby can pause without ‘losing’ the nipple. As the baby gains weight and matures, the shield becomes unnecessary.

2. The mother has flat nipples. The Madela nipple shield provides sensation deep in the mouth that stimulates the baby to keep sucking. As the milk begins to flow, the baby discovers that breastfeeding works!

3. The baby has had many bottles and now refuses the breast. Drip milk into the corner of the baby’s mouth to reward the baby for trying. Some babies need only a few sessions with a shield to return to full breastfeeding.

Correct latch is important. The baby’s jaws must close on the breast, not out on the shaft of the nipple shield.

Chose the right size shield for the size of the baby’s mouth. If a shield is too big, the baby cannot adequately draw up the mother’s nipple. The Newborn Small size shield is best for most small babies. Madela makes several types of nipple shields, the Newborn Small, Newborn Regular, and Contact™ Nipple Shields in two sizes.

Milk supply is controlled by how much milk the baby takes. Pumped milk can be used to supplement the baby. Nipple shields are devices that are used to help babies who are not yet breastfeeding normally. Babies should have weight checks frequently to ensure baby’s health and good growth.

The nipple shield is a tool to help solve a specific latch problems. As the baby’s breastfeeding ability improves, remove the shield at various times during each feeding.

Genes behind tooth development discovered

Genes that influence tooth development in the first year of life have been identified by British and Finnish researchers. They noted that teeth and other organs have common growth and development pathways during early development. As soon as your child's willing and able, encourage him to brush his own teeth.

THRUSH

Thrush is the term to describe an overgrowth of yeast in a baby's mouth. This yeast, called candida, normally lives within our mouth, intestines, and genital area.

Thrush is not passed from baby to baby. It is an overgrowth of your baby's own yeast. Wash toys that baby frequently chews on in hot, soapy water every day. Gentian violet has been used for many years to treat thrush. Apply Vaseline to baby's lips before using the gentian violet to avoid purple stains.

Symptoms of nipple yeast infection:

1. sore nipples

2. red nipples

3. itchy nipples, even when not feeding baby

4. puffy, dry, nipples

Because of the possible severity of chronic yeast infections in the breasts, we suggest mom's nipples be treated along with baby's treatment.