Here is my dilemma. Maeve loves her bottle. She gets one two or three times a day, with eight ounces of warm soy milk in it, before naps and bedtime. I always hold the bottle, she doesn't run around with it or drink it in her crib. All the baby books say you should not give a baby a bottle after they are a year old, or at the most, fifteen months.
I have tried to find out why, and as far as I can tell it has to do with dental hygiene and iron deficiency. Now I'm not worried about Maeve's iron, as she gets iron-enriched oatmeal every morning and she eats it all up. And as for the dental issues, I'm kind of torn.
I have awful teeth - had a cavity every time I went to the dentist when I was a kid. I have 2 root canals and will no doubt have several more in my lifetime. I have weak enamel despite lots of fluoridation when I was a kid, and having bad teeth is not a good motivator to work very hard at dental hygiene. If you're going to have cavities anyway, even when you work your hardest to keep your teeth clean, why work so hard? So Maeve may not inherit fantastic teeth from me, but I do want to spare her every possible minute in the dentist's chair, so we're trying to get started on keeping her teeth clean.
But the AAP recommendations for toddler dental hygiene read like they were written by a person who has never even met a toddler, let alone raised one. You should wipe their teeth with a wet cloth after they have a bottle in bed? The whole point of those few sips of bottle is to get them back to sleep, not wake them up with a wet washcloth! You should floss your kids' teeth for them until they are ten? In what universe does a ten year old let you floss for him? You should take your baby for her first dental visit at age one? Are you kidding me? The child only has 8 teeth, and they aren't even touching each other yet! There is no way in a very, very hot place that my child will open her mouth for a stranger in white gloves, considering that she cries when her pediatrician listens to her heartbeat with a stethoscope.
It's hard to take an organization seriously when they recommend such nutball practices. And Maeve loves her bottle, not to mention the fact that her sippy cup has a silicone nipple, so it's not exactly a far cry from a bottle. So weigh in, if you have an opinion. Will I damage the child by letting her have her bottle until she decides she's done with it? Should I have a cutoff, like 2, or 18 months? I would love to hear from you all.
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| My teeth are strong enough to bust into the Chex... right? |
The dentist visit at around a year is mainly for the parent and to educate them in how to make sure you're doing what you can to keep their teeth safe :-) I would suggest taking her to a pedatric dentist. It also start her off early to show that it's not a scary place. The one year visit Is a quick one and usually doesn't involve any kind of in depth examination on their teeth. Let her play with the toys there and have fun on the moving chair get some advise as far as the bottle and teeth cleaning. Some of the books are just ridiculous in what they think can happen but it's very important to help them out until you know they can do a good job on their own. I've seen some very sad cases of parents who didn't think it was a big deal and the kids come in with extremely decayed teeth and that's when they become afraid of the dentist. Good luck! All you can do is educate yourself and make your decisions from that and what you feel is right for your baby! You're a great mommy :-)
ReplyDeleteUm...I don't have kids, so you probably don't want my advice. But from an early childhood educator perspective I would say you need to do what you feel is right...but I would say maybe wean her off little by little, when you feel the time is right. Set a goal for when you want her to be done with the bottle and stick to it! A lot of parents just get upset because their child is upset and they give up, DON'T GIVE UP! They can't cry forever, and they'll still love you :) From the child nutrition classes I've taken they say it's not good for their teeth to have a bottle past one, it also has to do with the their bite I believe too, but that's just if you are letting them sleep with one or carry it around all day which you aren't doing. But I'll just say nothing annoys me more than a child who is far too old for a bottle wondering around with one... the same can be said for pacifiers.
ReplyDeleteOh, do I have an opinion! My mother and mother-in-law work in the dental field, and say it's not necessary to take a child to the dentist before the age of three. My own dentist, just the regular kind, not a pediatric one, says that three is fine as well. I've taken all four kids to the "regular" dentist without incident - they did fine - the hygienist let me sit in the room, they gave the kids sun glasses to keep out the glare of the lights, and they get a toy when they're done - what more could you want? Even Josh, my neurotic child (and I say that with the utmost affection)has no problem at the dentist. So my opinion is to take Maeve to your own dentist. As far as flossing goes...I must say I can count on my left hand the time I've flossed my kids' teeth and with the exception of orthodontia at some point in time, their chops are fine.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I happen to be interviewing a pediatric dentist on my blog in a couple of weeks - maybe I'll ask her to do a question/answer sort of thing - stay tuned!
I would not stress about it. Do you brush her teeth? It's good to start good habits, but you gotta do what works sometimes. Maybe start working on using a cup with a straw for meal times. Or practice taking sips of water from a real cup. These are skills she'll have to learn eventually anyway, and you don't have to go cold turkey in one day. My girl stopped taking a bottle at 4 months old, we've used sippy cups since then! (although nursing was her primary source.) But I know kids who still use sippy cups at 4 years old! I don't want to go there! Just take it like any other step, move on as she's ready, practice with the new things slowly, and make it easier on all. There's not a "bottle patrol" to chastise you for using one beyond the set time. You're the mom, do what's best for you and Maeve.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you posted about this as I've been trying to find a middle ground with all of this business about teeth and drinking from what and whatnot; I only recently started brushing Sammy's teeth, which is right around the same time that he finally figured out how to drink from a straw. I still give him bottles though, and plan to, until he's completely weaned from formula and onto whole milk. Like you, bottle time is when he and I get to cuddle and bond a bit. I figure as long as he's happy and I'm happy, we're fine. :D
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