Battle Over Bottle
Penny has never been a big eater. Food does not hold her interest, and at daycare she has refused such things as angel food cake with strawberries, mashed potatoes, and even a cupcake during a classmate’s birthday party.
There was a month or so last winter when after a couple of colds and the flu, mom and dad got a bit concerned when Penny’s weight dropped and then plateaued. So it’s understandable that our worry over her calorie intake, coupled with our desire for sleep, led us to giving her a regular bottle before bed time.
This isn’t unusual, of course, but this summer mom and dad made a crucial and conscious error. When transitioning Penny from the bottle to sippy cup, we didn’t take away the bedtime bottle. And after a pretty painless switch, we were feeling good about our success.
Good until about a week ago at a 15-month well-care visit when our pediatrician asked about Penny’s bedtime routine. Well then, POW, there it was; that lingering doubt, or was it a pang of guilt, that our decision was not-so-wise. Not only was the pediatrician unimpressed with our ability to transition our daughter to a cup, but we were strongly encouraged to forgo the bottle altogether. So we have begun the painful transition; battling over the bottle. It’s not going to be easy, and the only solace we’ve found is the hope that it wasn’t easy for our pediatrician either.
Help assuage our guilt over our rookie mistake!
There was a month or so last winter when after a couple of colds and the flu, mom and dad got a bit concerned when Penny’s weight dropped and then plateaued. So it’s understandable that our worry over her calorie intake, coupled with our desire for sleep, led us to giving her a regular bottle before bed time.
This isn’t unusual, of course, but this summer mom and dad made a crucial and conscious error. When transitioning Penny from the bottle to sippy cup, we didn’t take away the bedtime bottle. And after a pretty painless switch, we were feeling good about our success.
Good until about a week ago at a 15-month well-care visit when our pediatrician asked about Penny’s bedtime routine. Well then, POW, there it was; that lingering doubt, or was it a pang of guilt, that our decision was not-so-wise. Not only was the pediatrician unimpressed with our ability to transition our daughter to a cup, but we were strongly encouraged to forgo the bottle altogether. So we have begun the painful transition; battling over the bottle. It’s not going to be easy, and the only solace we’ve found is the hope that it wasn’t easy for our pediatrician either.
Help assuage our guilt over our rookie mistake!
posted by New Parent @ 10:37 AM
4 Comments:
I think ped's and parenting don't always mix. Hey, Suri Cruise still takes a bottle! Babyhood & childhood are so short, if its comforting for her, I think that pays off more than a certain timeline. Unless the dr is sleeping in your house, and it doesn't bother you, do what feels right to you, there are plenty of big battles coming. :)
p.s I actually gave a bottle to one of my boys at 2 just to get him to sleep peacefully & he never carted around a bottle, so nobody ever knew he had a little secret trip back to babyland every night. I think its sweet that she has a nighttime bottle, the important thing is the calories, not the delivery--she's right on track.
Good grief--who remembers stuff like that!! Now trips to the emergency room are still pretty clear! G'mom
Don't sweat it. At some point she will just not need it any more and it will be her decision. Emma sucked her thumb until she was 5 and then quit cold turkey because the dentist told her her teeth would rot out. Mikey just stopped using his pacifier a few months ago and it was a natural break. We only gave it to him if he asked for it and then eventually he stopped asking. We did give Jack a bottle before bed and then trasitioned it to a sippy cup at bedtime (at age 2). We were happy about the transition, but not about the bedwetting once we were potty-training as a result of the drink. The bigger hurdle was taking away the night time drink - not taking away the bottle...
I feel your pain with regard to caloric intake. We worried, too, as I expect you might also, about hydration. It seemed to us that (our now 22 month old) Catherine ate very little and drank even less. We, too, worried about dropping that nighttime bottle--those last few calories and precious liquid. However, we also knew that Catherine was phyically capable of sippy cup drinking. The off-the-record recommendation from our ped. nurse was to place a sippy cup of water in her crib. Initially this served more as a comfort to us, but Catherine ultimately figured out the routine. Now I think it's more a comfort to her, and we frequently hear her slurp away in her crib a couple of times a night. Like another poster notes, however, we fear we may have created a monster when the time comes for potty training.
Christine
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