My 21 Month Old Baby Still Drinks Milk From Bottle

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The American University of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that parents wean their children off the bottle betwixt 12 and 24 months of age. Like and so many aspects of a child's development, it'due south important to wait at your child as an individual. Full general guidelines can helpful, only when inside that time period your kid weans is unique to them.

That's not to say there isn't a good reason for phasing bottles out in your child's 2nd year. Research shows that prolonged use of bottles can crusade tooth decay. Using bottles may also atomic number 82 toddlers to drink too much milk, which tin can lead to imbalanced nutrition as milk replaces other foods in your child'south diet. And if milk is replacing a diverseness of foods, your child isn't getting exposure to the flavors and textures that tin can aid expand their palate. So helping your child get to the betoken where they are fix to say "adieu-bye, bottle" is important.

When to First

Although many parents don't offer a cup until later on their child'south first birthday, the truth is that you can introduce a cup (with or without a lid) in the second half of the first year. It can be a really expert time for a baby to experiment. Just remember that if you put water in the cup for them to sip with a meal, it's just for practice. The bulk of their fluid intake should all the same come from breast milk or formula.

The nigh important sign of readiness for a cup is being able to sit up straight. If your child has strong motor skills and is already holding a bottle on their ain, they may be more probable to take to the cup right away, but those skills aren't necessary to beginning.

How to Phase Out Bottles

There are two common ways to transition a child from a bottle to cup. Which approach you have depends on your child'southward zipper to the canteen and whether or not you experience that they are ready to drop the canteen all at once.

For the Permit's-Get-Ho-hum Child

Introduce a loving cup every bit a supplemental source of liquids for several days. Offer a footling scrap of h2o and allow your kid to play with the empty cup as they get used to it.

Next, replace a bottle for a straw cup once a solar day for a calendar week and slowly build upward to replace all daytime beverages with cups. Your babe doesn't need to be able to drink out of an open up cup al past themselves to transition to a straw cup. They only need to be able to swallow a small-scale amount of water from an open cup.

Remove bottles from view so your child won't ask for them in identify of the cup. Consider getting a straw loving cup that features one of your child'southward favorite animals or characters. If your child is older, yous can endeavor explaining that it'southward time to say farewell to the bottles. Have your child assist you pack them up and ship them away. This tin can assist with the transition.

Nighttime tin be a challenge for a kid who is very attached to the bottle. The key to helping your child drop the bedtime bottle is consistency, forth with figuring out what the bottle offers (comfort, for example) and offering that in another style (such as with extra cuddles or stories). Remember, each kid is different.

Creating a bedtime routine with stories, snuggles, and a lovey can build a warm, comforting ritual that makes the transition easier for your child.

For the Set up-to-Get-What'due south-Next Kid

By 12 months, many toddlers will have no problem relinquishing the bottle. If your child takes to the cup from the start, consider taking a few extra steps. Introduce an open cup every bit early every bit possible and offering straw cups for instances when you lot need to avoid big messes (similar in the automobile).

Utilise a loving cup for liquids, including milk, as presently equally your child is developmentally ready. Contain a harbinger cup or open cup with meals to assistance kids learn to sip along with their food. Having children sit or stand in one place to drink as well establishes a more than mindful habit and tin can reduce injuries caused by falling with a bottle or cup at their mouth.

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Verywell Family uses simply high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts inside our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-bank check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

1. American Academy of Pediatrics. Discontinuing the canteen.

2. Avila WM, Pordeus IA, Paiva SM, Martins CC. Breast and bottle feeding as risk factors for dental caries: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS I. 2015;10(11):e0142922. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0142922

3. Peterson KM, Volkert VM, Milnes SM. Evaluation of practice trials to increment self-drinking in a child with a feeding disorder. Behav Anal Pract. 2017;10(two):167-171. doi:10.1007/s40617-016-0147-vii

4. Sealy PA, Farrell N, Hoogenboom A. Caregiver self-report of children's utilise of the sippy cup amidst children 1 to 4 years of age. J Pediatr Nurs. 2011;26(three):200-5. doi:10.1016/j.pedn.2009.eleven.001

5. Keim SA, Fletcher EN, Tepoel MR, Mckenzie LB. Injuries associated with bottles, pacifiers, and sippy cups in the United states of america, 1991-2010. Pediatrics. 2012;129(6):1104-10. doi:10.1542/peds.2011-3348

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Source: https://www.verywellfamily.com/helping-your-toddlers-give-up-the-bottle-289808

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