When to ditch the bottle?

Good Day! - posted on 11/19/2010

nope, not at all

Chatty - posted on 11/19/2010

Haha! Just for the record, the stroller is permenantly in the back of my SUV, just in case. Whenever Chad is with us, he insists pushing it just so he doesn't have to carry our stuff. LMAO! Sounds like you guys would get along great! ;)

Anyhow, I hope you don't feel like I'm judging?

Rosie - posted on 11/19/2010

i know sara, i love having a spot to put everything, lol!very convienent, especially at the amusement parks. you can smuggle all sorts of goodies in there, lol!

Good Day! - posted on 11/19/2010

We use the stroller for Eliza about twice a month, other than our walks which is 3-4x a week. So we use the stroller a fair amount. Even if she is walking, the stroller holds all our crap!

Rosie - posted on 11/19/2010

guess what dana, i use mine for lucas too, lol!! GASP!!! :) i use it for when we got to the mall (which is like twice a year, lol) and when we go to get vinnie from school (which is about 5 blocks away), and when we go to amusement parks or places like that (which, once again happens rarely, maybe every other year). i don't know if it's cause he's so little still (roxanne is bigger than he is and he's 3 1/2), but he does get really tired trying to keep up with us. i think both of my older children were about 4 before we stopped using it (they were little peanuts too).

Katherine - posted on 11/19/2010

How weird!!! We use strollers all the time here!!

Chatty - posted on 11/18/2010

Again, INTERESTING -- it's NOT commonplace where I live. The only time I would expect to see an older toddler in a stroller is if either parents were walking/jogging etc. I can understand an amusement park etc. also where you'll be doing a ton of walking but not for normal everyday. It's definitely NOT common here!

Bonnie - posted on 11/18/2010

Yeah i've seen many children around 3-5 years old in a stroller. Honestly, I don't know how you get them to stay in there lol.

Sherri - posted on 11/18/2010

Now rarely if ever. When he was three and younger we never went anywhere with out it. It always stayed in the trunk of my car so we always had it with us. The mall, shopping, traveling, fairs, amusement parks, vacations, walks, the airport, the train station. If he wanted to get out and walk he usually would just help us push the stroller.

It is very commonplace to have children 3 and younger in a stroller actually I would call it the norm especially in the mall or amusement parks or for walks.

Chatty - posted on 11/18/2010

Interesting. The most I've ever brought when we're out at places like that is a lil' umbrella stroller just in case she starts whining.

Just out of curiosity, how often do you go to places that require it?

Sherri - posted on 11/18/2010

As I said ONLY when we go on vacation to the enormous theme parks. We usually walk 10+mi a day and he just can't keep up. Plus we are usually there all day and will stay way past nap times (he still takes an hour nap every day) and bed times so he will just lay back and sleep in the stroller. However, just for normal every day no not anymore however, he was in it consistently till he was 3.

Teresa - posted on 11/18/2010

I just gave away my stroller to my cousin-in-law cuz I've used it maybe 3 times in the past year and a half (for my now 2.5 year old). Actually, now that I think about it a bit I think the last time I used it for him was when I had to renew my license almost exactly a year ago and needed him contained while I filled out the paperwork and had my pic taken. He walks w/ my mom and his sisters to the store and back just for fun. Sometimes they are gone walking for 2 hours straight. ;) Kid's got WAY better endurance than I've got. ;)

Bonnie - posted on 11/18/2010

Dana, both of my boys were out of a stroller by 18 months as well.

Good Day! - posted on 11/18/2010

My daughter will be almost three when the baby comes, and we just bought a double that converts to a sit/stand. Actually my mom bought it as my Christmas gift, but that's beside the point. I don't use a stroller day to day with my daughter. Today we ran about 6 errands, in and out of the car all day, and she did just fine walking. But at the mall, or a fair, or our walks around the neighborhood (which happens 3-4x a week) she uses a stroller. I can't see booting her out for the new baby, so we just got one they can both use. I think she'll really like the sit/stand feature!

Chatty - posted on 11/18/2010

WOW! Sherri, I'm surprised your 4 1/2 year old still uses a stroller? I haven't put Roxanne in a stroller since she was about 18 months.

Anika - posted on 11/18/2010

The strolller one I really think depends on the situation. I know I get a bit bothered here when its obviously used because the parent doesn't want to waste any time. And that's there prerogative I guess. I just wish people would give their kids the time to do something, but needs must in most situations I guess.

Jennifer - posted on 11/18/2010

I guess things differ wherever you go. We were encouraged to walk as soon as we could. Obviously we'd have the buggy to go out in but when we were out we'd be allowed to walk. Personally I think a 3 or 4 year old is fully capable of walking around. Each to their own though and I can see your point of using one in Disney World but here we don't have theme parks as big as that really =]

Sherri - posted on 11/18/2010

Really Jennifer. My son has been off the bottle at 11mo's, potty trained by 26mo's, and off a sippy cup by the time he was 18mo's. However, he is 4 1/2 and we still use a stroller for him. Especially if we are in a huge amusement park or something his little legs just can't keep up and he still naps every day so when he got tired he would nap in his stroller. I just can't see him having to walk 10 miles a day in a place like Disney World etc. Actually his stroller is brand new I bought it when he was 4 yrs old when we were getting ready to go on vacation and his old one broke after going through 3 kids.

Jennifer - posted on 11/18/2010

I see plenty of 3 or 4 year olds with dummys where I live. Basically what I meant by my comment about when children go to nursery here is that they aren't allowed to be in nappies or have dummys and the people who still allow their children in a buggy at the age of three are the ones who have others gawping at them. I had my own preferences for when we cut the bottle and dummy and everyone else has theres but there comes a time when it has to go. Actually I can remember when I firt met my husband his sister who was 7 or 8 at the time had a dummy, she hadn't had it since she was little, her mam had cut it at 18 months, but she had decided one day randomly to buy one....very odd!

Meghan - posted on 11/17/2010

My son stopped using it when he was good and ready. I did stress about it but he was using sippy cups primarily by 7 months and was able to drink out of an actual cup by a year. At 13 months it was just before bed and the morning, 15 months just in the morning and 20 months he was done. Clearly he didn't need it for nutritional reasons, it was a comfort object for him.and who am I to tell him he doesn't need something?

Chatty - posted on 11/17/2010

That's crazy, Carol -- maybe I just don't get out enough?!

Johnny - posted on 11/17/2010

I see way too many 4 year olds with pacifiers and bottles, and I NEVER shop at Walmart. Well, once last Christmas, but anyway. The little girl across the street is 4 and she still runs around with a bottle of formula and if not that, a pacifier. I know she doesn't have special needs, her brother does, and her mom is too busy with him to wean her younger child. Last week, I found her napping in the playhouse in the playground (her mom was there reading a book) sucking on a bottle. I just got a little shiver down my spine.

I get the night-time or nap-time thing, it's really hard to wean them of their little crutches (lucky for me, my daughter's is hand holding-but she'll still have to be cut off at some point). I don't have any brilliant suggestions for that stuff. That's why there are all those books for parents I guess...

Anyway, I do see lots of kids way older than my daughter still carrying around bottles of milk or formula. In the mall, at the play palace, etc. There comes a time...

Sherri - posted on 11/17/2010

I disagree you can definitely have a goal date and definitely work slowly weaning them off it so that when that goal date arrives they are weaned. I am not saying it works for everyone but I will say I had 3 kids and had all 3 weaned off the bottle by the time they were 11mo's, had 2 off the pacifier by a 4mo's (1 never took one) and had all 3 off sippy cups and onto regular cups by the age of 2. So it can be done and because we started about 8 wks before we were ready to get them off of whatever it was we never had any tears and no stress was placed on them either. We just made changes slowly and it worked for us. I am not saying it will work for every family and every child just saying what worked for our family.

Georgia - posted on 11/17/2010

Yeah, some kids just like the bottle for some reason. It seems weird to me, but then he still asks for a drink just before going to bed... so maybe that has something to do with it?

Both of my boys used cups (not sippy cups, just plain old tumblers) from age 7 months just as the ped said they would, so it wasn't like they couldn't use anything else.

Seth is also one of those that does things in his own time. It sounds like Syd is a bit the same.

Katherine - posted on 11/17/2010

That's all she get's. Water.

Georgia - posted on 11/17/2010

I disagree, Katherine. You CAN have a goal date for stuff. Just don't be surprised if you get a few more grey hairs when that date comes... and goes. And wrinkles are our friends... aren't they?



The first time around I didn't know that you were "supposed" to get baby off the bottle by 12 months. He'd only just weaned himself off the boob at that age and used the bottle only for sleeps until he was 2. I freaked out when I read some forum that said the magic number had come and gone for us, so I started forcing him to give it up. BIG mistake. He gave it up himself at around 28 months. The bottle only contained water from the time he was 25 months, he just liked it.



Now #2 will be 2 yrs old next month and he still has a bottle too. Who cares what "they" say? Neither of my boys had a dummy. I hate the things and refused to let them have one. They have beautiful teeth, but then brushing twice a day probably has a little to do with that too.



As for the state of their teeth, as in straight or crooked, do you know that that is mostly predetermined BEFORE they even have their first tooth? I was worried about my eldest's lower teeth, because they are a bit crooked (like mine were before braces). Our dentist told me that whatever position they are in now is what the adult ones will be in when they come in, of course.... AND the position of the teeth as well as the likelihood of caries is mostly genetic!



I ate tons of sugar as a kid and have very few cavities. Didn't have my first filling until I was 24! Whereas my husband was a sporty, healthy sort who doesn't care for sweets and has had heaps of filling starting from age 7.



So I wouldn't lose sleep worrying about whether having a bottle at naptime is making baby's teeth crooked or will give them caries (unless the bottle is full of cordial or juice of course). Take precautions, but try to go with the flow. No need to make the poor kid stress if he really wants a bottle for sleeps after age 1.

Katherine - posted on 11/17/2010

Yes, I have basically told them that.

Actually, you CAN"T have a goal date to get rid of something like that. It isn't very realistic. We're talking about human beings here, not training an animal.

Good Day! - posted on 11/17/2010

Katherine, I agree with Dana! Without the profanity. I'm not a potty mouth. But I'm not offended by it...lol...couldn't help mentioning that. 2/5 Love you DMak!

Chatty - posted on 11/17/2010

Fuck the asses around you! ;)

Katherine - posted on 11/17/2010

She's wicked smart, has perfect teeth, articulate as all get out......it's all the asses around me.

Chatty - posted on 11/17/2010

Besides the pacifier, is she developing normal? Teeth? Speech? If she's doing well in those areas then I'm curious why you want to break her of it? Perhaps society's idea of normal is making you feel guilty?

Good Day! - posted on 11/17/2010

Just pray that her stubbornness/steadfastness will be used for good things when she's grown!

Katherine - posted on 11/17/2010

She's too freakin' smart.

Nikki - posted on 11/17/2010

Have you tried bribing her Katherine? Find out something that she really wants, discuss the plan and see if she is willing to co operate?

Sherri - posted on 11/17/2010

Dana you should go to the local mall which is about 20mins from where I live. I constantly see 3 and 4yr olds occasionally getting bottles but so many of them are screaming for their pacifiers and mom pulls it out and gives it to them. Then you have these beautiful children having conversations out of the corner of their mouths because they don't take the pacifier out of their mouths to speak. My gosh it makes me simple crazy and I hold back but what I really want to do is walk over and pull it out of their mouths and throw it away.

Good Day! - posted on 11/17/2010

I have a nephew that would find his fingers in his sleep...it wasn't a daytime issue. Socks taped to his hands would just get soaked...lol.

Katherine - posted on 11/17/2010

I'm soooo gladyou said that. Sara because my daughter (says in 2pt font) just turned 5 and WILL NOT GIVE UP her night time pacifier. I have tried everything under the sun.

I hid it, told her it broke..... well that doesn't work with the older ones. I threw them all out and she made me go buy her a new one at midnight after screaming for 4 hours.
Now my 20mo and her damn bottle.

Sherri - posted on 11/17/2010

Kati how I broke the little girl I watch of the same habit is I would watch her like a hawk all day I would remove them and say out of your mouth everytime and I mean everytime she sucked on her two fingers. She used to suck on her fingers so bad she cause abscesses on them. She would cry but I would just advert her attention to something else. It took a good solid month but I will say to this day she still does not suck her fingers here and her fingers have all healed completely. Trust me it can be done but it takes a heck of a lot of time, patience and resolve.

Good Day! - posted on 11/17/2010

I too have only seen ONE older toddler with a pacifier. She was 3 or 4 and had the thing on a string around her neck. It's obviously not the norm, and most kids will eventually let the bottle/paci go.

Katherine - posted on 11/17/2010

HEY!


That was MY kid!

Bonnie - posted on 11/17/2010

Dana, oddly enough I believe Walmart is usually where I see 3 and 4 year old with either a bottle or pacifier.

Nikki - posted on 11/17/2010

You should have taken her photo for people of Walmart!

Chatty - posted on 11/17/2010

Oh, that's not true -- one other time I saw a mom give her screaming toddler (probably 4) a pacifier in the line-up at Walmart. I might not have agreed with it but fuck me, I was glad.

Chatty - posted on 11/17/2010

If Roxanne is using at pacifier still when she's 3 it won't matter to anyone because she only uses it a naptime and bedtime. How would a nursery/preschool know?



You guys (everyone, generally speaking) can't tell me that you OFTEN see an older toddler (3-5) cruisin' around with a pacifier or bottle hanging out of their mouth? Not OFTEN! I know I've only seen it once and the same girl was also probably 5 years old, still in diapers, alternating a bottle and pacifier in her mouth, sitting on her, what I assume to be grandmother's lap? in the waiting room of a doctor's office. OBVIOUSLY there were issues and who am I to judge?

Jennifer - posted on 11/17/2010

I think the main thing here in the UK is that age at 3 childrne go to nursery. It isn't compulsory but most children go and they have to be fully potty trained, and can'r have dummys whilst they're there. I think sometimes peoples opinions differ because there's possible a reason why they must be off the dummy or potty trained at a certain time.

Nikki - posted on 11/17/2010

What a sardonic mood I am in today!

Nikki - posted on 11/17/2010

Just chop it off Kati! His teeth are obviously more important that one finger, he has 9 more. lol

Chatty - posted on 11/17/2010

Is that an argument FOR pacifier use, Kati? *giggles*

Melanie - posted on 11/17/2010

My son had a bottle at nap/bed time until he was 2 & continued to use a dummy until he was 3&half..he gave it up when HE was ready..he is now 10 with perfectly straight teeth & only 1 filling
my daughter was breastfed until 19mths, had never had a dummy (i was her comfort for nap/bed so she started having sleeptime bottles at 19mths!) sippy cup rest of the time tho, she gave it up at 3..beautiful straight teeth & she's 5
my baby girl (7mths) has a dummy & bottles & will do so until she is ready to give them up, as soon as she can hold her own bottle i will give her a sippy cup during the day
none of my children have been allowed a bottle in their cot/bed they sit on my lap or lay on their own little kiddy couch to drink their bottle then brush teeth & go to bed, my older 2 still have a drink of milk last thing before bed!
i think bad teeth, jaw & speech issues have more to do with thumb suckers, genes & the individual child than dummies & bottles
i must say tho IMO kids should NOT still be wearing nappies, suck their thumb, have a dummy or drink out of a bottle when they start school (unless they have medical issues)

Rosie - posted on 11/17/2010

at least you guys can take things away from your children, my 3 year old still sucks his fingers when he's sleepy. he also has to have a blanket, or sock, or dirty underwear, lol, and cuddle with tthat whilst sucking his first 2 fingers on the hand that is cuddling the blanket. i CAN'T take his fingers away.