Does your baby only calm down when she gets a bottle of milk? Or, out of habit, do you always take it along when you leave the house, too? Try to wean your offspring from the bottle, especially if he is already several years old.
Drinking through a pacifier is fine, but it’s appropriate for infants – but when your child is much older, he or she can successfully part with it. Using a bottle and a pacifier for too long can have an adverse effect on e.g. toddler’s bite
When is the best time to part with a bottle? According to many experts in the field of pediatrics, the best time to say goodbye to the bottle is when the child turns one year old. Then he is more agreeable than a two or three-year-old. Such a toddler willingly cooperates with parents and definitely tolerates changes better than an older child. Besides, such a toddler also has a shorter memory and his bottle habit is not yet firmly established
A one-year-old toddler can be extremely preoccupied with newly acquired skills, such as walking or babbling, becomes curious and easily distracted. That is why you should slowly begin to accustom the toddler to the cup. The best way to do it is to play together. For example, first let your toddler drink from a cup together, you can also play with a cup while bathing. Pour your kid’s favorite drink into the cup and show her how to drink from this new device. The child will certainly be very interested.
How to accustom the child to drinking in a cup? Regularity is important, so try to give the toddler a cup to drink with every meal. Of course, it’s not recommended to suddenly give up the bottle- give up such feedings gradually. Children are used to going with a bottle, try to wean them from this habit
Not every toddler will react to this with enthusiasm, there may be crying, screaming and protests, this is normal. But do not give in and give the bottle again to calm down, then the child will think that he gets it after each attack of hysteria
And what kind of a cup is the best to replace the bottle with? It’s best to start learning to drink from a mug with a spout; this model is the most handy for a one-year-old toddler. At the beginning show the child to try to drink after a small sip. Pour him water or tea
However, it is worth remembering that the learning of drinking from a mug is best started only when a child can eat from a spoon. There are parents who want to wean a baby from a bottle when it is already several months old, but it is too early. Let’s assume that a good moment for changes is the above mentioned one year old. The next stage, after introducing a cup with a spout, may be learning to drink from a bottle with a straw.
Children who often use a bottle may have their meal times disrupted. It results from the fact that they often replace a full meal with drinking milk from a bottle. In addition, toddlers also start to treat a bottle with a teat as a self-soothing device, which is not good. They often walk around with the bottle in their hand, which can also make them choke on their drink easily.
Moreover, prolonged use of a bottle with a pacifier also has a negative impact on a toddler’s developing bite. Why? Because it distorts the teeth, deforms the speech apparatus and may even lead to caries.
Many scientific researches carried out by speech therapists and physiotherapists show, that the period of drinking with a pacifier should end just after one year of age. Unfortunately, prolonging it has a very negative influence on the development of the speech apparatus, but also on the formation of eating habits.
