[Oka-san]

This is something I've been wondering about since my mom asked me about it a few days ago. Whenever my mom watches my 12-month-old DD (usually for about 3 or 4 hours) I pump a four-ounce bottle of breast milk for DD to have. My mom loves giving it to her!

The last couple of times she stayed with DD, my mother said that she continued to play with the bottle for a long time after finishing the milk. She seemed to want to drink more. So my mother asked me if it would be okay for her to put some soy milk in the bottle so DD could drink that. I said I wasn't sure if it would be a good idea but that I'd get back to her on the issue.

For some reason I have the sense that the only thing DD should ever drink out of a bottle is breast milk. I don't know why I feel that way, though, and I'm not sure if I'm right or not. It's just a gut feeling, nothing more.

DD does drink out of a sippy cup, usually water but also diluted juice on special occasions, so we could just give her that, but my mom seems to think she'd love drinking out of the bottle. What do you think? Would it be okay to put soy milk, or diluted juice, or even water in a bottle and let DD drink that after she finishes the breast milk?

 

[cielle]

I wouldn't. At 12m it's better to get her on the sippy cups, esp. if she's only away from you for 3 or 4 hours. Getting an older child off the bottle can be really, really hard. I don't give my guy anything but mama milk and water. To me it's just a matter of making my life easier, no worries about overdoing juice or weaning from the bottle (which I had to with my older one and it was awful).

 

[ellacy]

My 13 mo. dd gets only bm in a bottle. She drinks water out of a regular glass. I suppose we could offer the bm in a cup, now that she's older, but the bottle somewhat replicates the 'nursing' side of things. Oher liquids in the bottle would not represent 'nursing' to me.

ellacy

 

[Oka-san]

Maybe that's why I feel like I do - that the bottle is for "nursing", and drinking soy milk or juice out of it doesn't qualify. That seems like an explanation my mom might accept; I don't think she'd have felt satisfied with "um, I don't think so", you know?

Thanks for your replies!

 

[tysonsmommy]

The best advice I ever had was to only put formula/breast milk in the bottle. Then, when Tyson made the transition to juice, he drank it only out of the cup. When it came time to stop the formula, we simply took the bottle away too. There was no struggle, because he had his apple juice in the cup like normal, and milk was not a problem in the cup. Trust me, it worked, no crying for the bottle ever!

 

[lilyka]

first of all I don't think there is any dofference between a "sippy" cup (which, since the invention of the spill proof cup about 10 years ago, kids don't sip, they suck) and a bottle. just a dfferent nipple but when it comes right down to it it is the same thing.

So if you give her something in a cup why not give it in the bottle. if you don't want juice or soy milk there is certainly no harm in water. it also won't give her extra calories if all she wants to do is suck.

 

[jessitron]

I give my daughter cow milk in a bottle. For some reason to me it seems that juice and water belong in a cup and milk (any kind) in a bottle. She drinks it sometimes. I'm trying to cut back on nursing for TTC, and this helps occasionally.

Go with whatever you feel is right for her.