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.

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