awwww
There was an asinine ‘article’ in the Vancouver Sun that suggests parents should start weaning the bottle at 9 months of age. 9 MONTHS. The first paragraph reads:
A note to confused parents everywhere: at nine months, it’s time to start thinking about taking away that baby bottle.
I’m sorry, but at 9 months of age, babies should still be breastfeeding. And if they can’t be breastfed, for whatever reason (no bottle bashing here) then yes, they should be taking in formula.
It goes on to say:
The reason, researchers say, is that the older a baby gets, the harder it is to get them to give up the bottle. By two years old, bottle-feeding could have already introduced a variety of long-lasting health problems into the baby’s life.
My main point of contention with this article is the focus on the delivery method of food and not on actual nutritional requirements of babies. Should parents be weaning baby from the bottle and a source of nutrition at nine months and not replace it with a suitable or healthier replacement? NO. Should parents be feeding their kids high fat or high calorie products, from any vessel, in early childhood? NO.
Last I checked, I was the parent and when my child refuses to do something that is healthy for her I stand fast until the situation is resolved. My child is a very picky eater and it has nothing to do with taste or texture it’s purely a battle of will with her. She wants to be in control. All the time. Newsflash kid…veggies are good for you and you’re going to eat them. You’re not going to eat desert, or fill up on bread. Simple.
I don’t see any difference between dealing with a picky three year old and a toddler who resists weaning from the bottle. As a parent, I take away things that aren’t good for her. End of story.
Suggesting a parent remove nutrition at such a young age just because it can be hard to do it later is irresponsible. Sometimes the most important things in life are hard to do but ya know what? Suck it up and be a parent.
What do you think? What age did your child give up the bottle? Would you consider taking it away at 9 months old?
image credit to Picture Taker 2
wow. Both my kids weaned themselves from the bottle. I did breastfeed, but had problems both times. Lauren was 13-14 months and Jillian was closer to 18 months, but they both did it themselves. I think 9 months old is too young to be taking away their one MAJOR source of nutrition, yes, they might be taking solids by then, but definitely not enough in the way of nutrition to keep them healthy and growing.
I think letting kids decide when they are ready is a great way to go….provided they are eating a nutritionally balanced diet and not forming an unhealthy emotional attachment.
I dont think they are saying to take away their major source of nutrition, just the way the obtain it. Some parents force their child to drink a whole bottle – and like the article said, other’s “misuse” the bottle by putting high calorie drinks in there. In those instances they are setting the child up for obesity. But I think it has more to do with parenting, overall, rather than bottle vs. sippy.
I don’t see any difference in the way food is delivered. If a parent is filling a bottle with formula or juice or soda at 2 or 3 years old….there is no difference between that and if they are filling a sippy with the same liquids. Maybe they could have provided some actual nutritional information here instead of randomly suggesting that a specific delivery method be removed.
I agree about that. I don’t think they looked at the whole picture – KWIM?
I don’t remember what age my daughter was when we took her off the bottle. My son was 10 months. We completely took him off the bottle, because he had trouble breathing when drinking. We switched to a sippy cup, but continued giving him formula.
I agree with some of the other comments! I don’t think it was referring to breast milk or formula, but the bottle itself. We start sippys at 6 months and wean from the bottle when they are super comfortable with the sippy (usually 11 months).
Yet 9 month olds are supposed to take 32 oz of formula per day? Was the article saying the formula should be taken from a sippy cup instead? I kept my son on formula until 12 months then switched him to cow’s milk. He became more and more interested in “real” food and by 15 months he was down to one bottle a day (bedtime.) One night I put it in a cup for him and the switch was done, it was never an issue.
We did the same as you Shannon and that’s what most doctors (ones I dealt with anyway) recommend. The article didn’t mention anything in the way of nutritional guidelines and that’s the part I find irresponsible. Never mind that there was no mention of what do consider for a breast feeding mom.
i say no study can replace good old common sense and knowing your child.
I think that it is a suggestion, but you know what is best for your child. With my first son, we didn’t take away the bottle until 18 months. He turned out fine.
We didn’t have a bottle with our 2nd, but I nursed him until 13 months and he still has a paci at 2 1/2. I think it’s funny how much people worry about bottles, pacifiers, potty training, etc. I don’t know any successful adult still on a bottle, or scarred from having one too long. I learned a little bit the hard way to be informed but make your own educated decision on what is right for you and your child.
That’s very good advice! I think it’s so hard for parents today with so much conflicting information out there. One day they say to do one thing and the next day they tell you you’re a horrible parent for listening to that advice. It’s so important for moms to listen to their guts and their children and base their decisions on what works for them.
I agree the article was poorly written. They included a tiny bit of facts with no thought about other parts of the story. Obviously this writer was not a mom.
If I read between the lines of the article, I don’t entirely disagree with what they are saying. However, their delivery was horrible.
The issue is not that babies who are not breastfed should no longer be getting formula at 9 months (they should be). The issue is more with the way bottles work. I’m really bad at explaining this, but essentially when you take a sip from a bottle, it makes you keep sipping and sipping until it is gone. A baby that is really full can push it away, but often they just keep drinking.
This is one reason that formula fed babies tend to be more obese than breastfed babies. Their parents will fill the bottle up, to be sure that they have more than enough, and the baby gulps down the “more than enough” even though it was full much earlier. This is also a challenge for moms who work and pump breastmilk at work. If the caregiver is using bottles and putting large amounts in (e.g. 5 or 6 oz instead of 2 or 3oz), then the baby will chug it all down and the mom just can’t keep up with production. Plus that baby isn’t that hungry at night (due to eating so much during the day), so that mom’s supply suffers because she isn’t nursing much when she is with her baby.
So the argument for getting rid of bottles at 9 months is that a baby at that age is capable of drinking from a sippy cup and can get the nutritional requirements that way, without the mechanism (bottle) that forces them to keep gulping. Also, babies are often put to bed with a bottle, which can cause cavities.
So there are good reasons for trying to get rid of a bottle at an early age.
However, I think it can continue to be used as part of the child’s feeding. I pumped breastmilk at work until my son was 12 months old and until my daughter was 18 months old. Both of them got their breastmilk in a bottle and were “bottle nursed” by their caregiver when drinking it. However, as we introduced other liquids (water, juice, cow’s milk), they drank that from a sippy cup rather than a bottle.
You explained it just fine for me
What you’re saying makes perfect sense and it also would have made a much more informative article. I think it all comes down to parents taking responsibility for their child’s nutrition.
Good nutrition revolves around much more than merely the method of delivery and as you said, just because a child older than 9 months is fed with a bottle doesn’t mean they’ll end up unhealthy. There are a lot of other factors at play. Thanks for your input Annie!
I’m so glad you posted this! It has really got me thinking about how much my 9 month old drinks! I think I am going to try to lay off the 8 oz bottles (especially now that she is eating more baby food). Thanks Heather!
Thanks for coming by Shasta! Although, the article I referenced was pretty poor – it managed to spark a great discussion. Best of luck with your little one!!
My daughter CHOSE a sippy cup before she was a year old simply because her brother used them. We still got formula in a bottle, but some juice and water in a sippy cup.
No kid is going to kindergarten drinking from a bottle and there are things a bottle provides. If for some reason you can’t breastfeed (I tried but my daughter had SEVERE allergies) it is a form of bonding and imitates the soothing and comfort that they would get from their mother. What else are we going to take away from them at 9 months?
Somehow I didn’t finish my thought….
My point was that it really depends upon each child. Because my daughter had allergies she didn’t start solid food until almost a year old.
Nutritionally she needed more bottles than the average 1 yr old.
But in the end, I don’t think parents need to set about with that goal in mind….
I think that this article is in response to a big problem many parents have in our society — saying NO to their kids and letting them grow up. I can’t stand to see a two-year-old with a bottle or a three-year-old with a soother. My first was bottle fed from six months or so on (my second NEVER took a bottle), but I took the bottle away once we switched to Homo milk. To me, that is the perfect transition point. The problem isn’t the bottles, or the type of milk in the bottles, it’s that the PARENTS can’t say no to their child. YOU are the Just because a child WANTS something doesn’t mean you should give it to them, especially if it’s not the best thing for them. but recommending to stop bottles at 9 months is not the answer, either.
My second DD is 2 1/2, and she just lost her soother. I had told her that when her last soother got a crack in it, it was over, she wouldn’t get any more. There were some rough times for the first day, and now she is completely over it. My kids also didn’t have their soother outside of their bedrooms (my second very rarely had hers in the car if she was going to sleep or had just woken up). Again, I decided when it was time for her to lose the soother, NOT her. I am the parent, and I believe that I have better judgement than a two-year-old!
I get so annoyed when people try to push their beliefs off on other people. With four different children I’ve had four different experiences. My oldest used a bottle for the first six months to eight months then used both a sippy cup and a bottle ’til about a year. Both with formula. She had no trouble transitioning from a bottle to cup and both to solids or whatever. I don’t think there’s an ideal age, but I firmly believe that by one year children should not be drinking from a bottle regardless of what they’re consuming. I nursed my middle daughter for a year and she never used a bottle. Right to cup at about 8 months. I nursed my son for about 5 or 6 months then bottle fed. The youngest was nursed for six months then bottle fed with formula ’til a little earlier than a year. I think the younger they are to transition to a sippy cup makes it a little easier, but in no way should they not be drinking formula as part of their “diet.”
Asinine is one of my favorite words! LOL… I knew I was going to enjoy the post when you used that world.
Actually I would consider giving it up at 9 months IF my child was so inclined. Both of my kids self weaned from the bottle at 11 months and I was fine with it. I have a friend whose kids were weaned by 7 months, they just preferred sippy cups. Another friend’s 2 year old still uses a bottle for bedtime. Whatever works for your child should be what is best.
I agree, 9 months is far too young to wean a child. I can understand not allowing a child of that age to fall asleep with a bottle in their mouth due to bottle rot…but I think just about everyone knows that by now. Taking away their nutrition at such an early age is just not ok and should not be suggested.
I wean her when she wants to be weaned. We have bottles and sippy cups and give her a choice. At 9mos. she still prefers the bottle but occasionally tries the sippy. She’ll get there when she’s ready
Absolutely not. I weaned my last baby at 18 months…give or take.
Yeah, there is no way I would have weaned my boys from the bottle or breast at 9 months. Maybe have handed them a cup to play with and get used to, but not completely weaned them.
Blake hated the bottle and at 7 months had a sippy with formula. Nate love his bottle and was weaned at 13 months
Were they saying move to a sippy cup with formula are get rid of formula all together – That is crazy! Poor babies!
My guy just stopped taking it at 13 months. I felt like it was the right time for him. He still takes his milk but from a sippy!
It’s funny because we’re are actually dealing with this very issue right now! With all of my children it has been different ages and methods, but with our youngest (she’ll be 2 in Oct.) it has been a nightmare. She had colic for the whole 1st year of her life and it has always been difficult getting her to sleep so I am having a difficult time getting her to sleep without it. Right now I just play it day by day, but when 2 yo rolls around I am going to have to suck it up and take it away.
My son is 9 months and NO WAY would I take away the bottle just yet. People get too up tight about that. I think it’s different for every baby, but 9 months is ridiculously early.
As I said in the MomDot forum, I am all for parent-encouraged, child-led weaning. I think THAT is the best thing for kids. You encourage them to do things, but you let them decide when they are comfortable with it.
I always think it’s ridiculous when people try to tell you to do “such-and-such” by “such-and-such” age with some kind of authority. Unless it’s a matter of life or death, does it really matter if they are drinking from a bottle as a toddler. When my milk supply suddenly dried up (due to antibiotics) my youngest, who had been exclusively breastfed wouldn’t take anything -no bottle, no sippy. Nothing. He ended up in the ER with dehydration. If someone had told me not to give him a bottle (or not to give him watered down juice) once we finally got him to drink something, I think I might have punched them.
I don’t agree at all. I breastfed until around 15 months when all my children decided they wanted to quit