Battle of the Bottle

I can see your delima with the baby around, to some extent. Have you tried giving her water instead? My BIL is a dentist. He says that patients with bottle rot are heartbreaking to him. The milk sitting on her teeth all night can lead to tooth decay. The milk pools in the mouth. If there is damage it may mean that she needs her teeth capped later...which can be painful and requires going under anesthesia.

My son was a thumb sucker. You can't take a thumb away. It took a while to break that habit. And now we are dealing with the consequences of that behavior. My son is getting fitted for an expander this summer. You'll hear stories of babies using a bottle past two and being fine. I heard those stories about thumb sucking too. But not every kid is fine. It's hard to hear baby cry. But it's time to do what is best for her. In the very least, take away the night time bottle mama.

The only thing I would break her from at this point is the nighttime milk. That REALLY is not good for her teeth, especially if she tends to suck on it all night. I would wean her to a bottle of water instead.

BTW most dentists and orthodontists HATE (or shall I say LOVE, because it ensures future business) sippy cups. I have had several people in the field tell me to NOT get my DD on a sippy. They will manage to use it for comfort just as much as a bottle and instead of a soft, pliable latex or silicone nipple they suck on a hard plastic spout - way worse for their teeth! Many kids also walk around with their sippies in their mouths and end up breaking teeth because of that.

So I say she loves her bottle - SO WHAT. Give her a bottle, let her drink out of it, when she is done, take it away. At night fill the bottle with water.
No biggie.
Good luck!

I would put water in her bottle. Babies get formula or breast milk in their bottles, big kids get water or use a cup. I would also ditch the sippy cups and teach her to use a regular cup or glass. Why teach her that gravity doesn't matter and then teach the real lesson again later. Yes, letting milk sit on her teeth from the bottle is a big dental issue. The bottle it is most important to get rid of (or substitute water) IS the bedtime one. We got down to just a bedtime bottle by 12 months and went cold turkey on that one day. We substituted a bedtime routine of stories and a cup of milk followed by tooth brushing. I am sure it was easier for DS that there was no baby in the house. DS spontaneously gave up the bedtime milk probably at age 3. I didn't really notice, it just happened on its own (probably DH or I just forgot to get the milk and DS didn't care).

If she is laying in bed all night with milk in that bottle it is constantly dripping milk on her teeth. That's an issue.

IF she is drinking it and then putting it aside she's fine. Our dentist said that our saliva rinses our mouth all the time. The milk is gone in a little while. If our saliva didn't do it's job every person in the world who drinks milk at any time day or night would have milk rot teeth.

So don't battle over the bottle. She will decide one day she's done.

You can start by battling during the day. Take it one time during the day and insist she use the tippy cup. She can get used to drinking from it more often when it's less stressful.

Again, if she drinks the milk then puts it down she's fine. If she is holding it her mouth with milk dripping on her teeth all night then she's at risk of tooth rot.

Genetics actually play more of a role in tooth decay than anything we do. Brushing is fine, flossing too. BUT if you gave her weak enamel or hubby did there's not a lot you can do to stop the rapid decay no matter what she is drinking or eating or doing for dental cleaning.

Honestly I wouldn't worry too much about it. My daughter was very attached to the bottle and breast (BF until she was 3!). Try to cut back the bottles to just sleep time. My daughter never took milk in a sippy cup. Try a regular cup or one with a straw. You may have a slight decrease in milk intake while you make this transition but for us it was only for a short time. We finally broke our daughter of the bottle at around 2.5 yrs. It was cold turkey from 2 bottles a day. We told her the bottle fairy had to come, she was a big girl now and little babies needed the bottles. She understood and wanted to help. It was much easier than I imagined. Oh and her speech is awesome and no cavities :)

I don't think it is a problem for her to have a bottle-she is still very young (and adjusting to a new sibling)! I would ditch the bottle in bed, though. Can u give it to her while you snuggle and read stories, and then brush teeth? What if you gave her an empty bottle or one with a little water in bed to ease the transition... Good luck!

She's 17 months old, she is plenty old enough to cry it out, and she will be fine in a couple days' time. Throw the bottles away.