[JoshGuat]

How long did your child bottle feed for after you brought him/her home? My son came home 6 weeks ago at 12 months old and our pediatrician wants to try and wean him from formula to milk and off the bottle. I am thinking that maybe he should be on the bottle for a while since that is his security and the only link to his past. I know this is not typical of the protocol here in the US but my son just started eating solids a month ago, and is still learning new foods, and very attached to the nap and bed time bottle. Any thoughts or comments?

[dac_cincy]

keep him on the bottle as long as he wants it. this is for bonding, you ped should know that. I would push back and allow your child to have their bottle as long as they want it.


My ped is a aprent of shild who was adopted internationally, and she never said a word to me about Bug going off the bottle. Bug was 21.5 months when he came home, still on 6-8 bottles a day. i had him down to 2 within a few weeks, and he just recently gave those both up- a year after he came home.

[Saya]

I agree - keep him on the bottle. He may be 12 months old, but in terms of integration into your family he's just a newborn! Use it as an attachment opportunity. YOU hold the bottle while cuddling him. Anabel finally gave up her last bottle a month ago at age 2, after being home over 18 months.

[luv2teach2]

My DD came home at 12 months and my ped wanted her off the problem at 15 months. We had no problems with that.

[gwenrenee007]

My ped said the same thing and I smiled and nodded. DD is still on 1 bottle a day in the am when she gets up in the morning. She is almost 2 and I do it more for me than her, she is really hungry in the am when she gets up so a bottle of milk tides her over until I get breakfast made.

If you want you can switch to whole milk but I would keep him on the bottle a while longer.

[lou0728]

I let AP give the bottle up when SHE was ready..... She was 18 months old. Essie will be 15 months old when she comes home in the next few weeks. We use her bottle as a bonding experience, and I am going to let her have it as long as she needs it. Do what YOU know is best for your child...... You are the one who knows the best.

[DPline]

I agree with the others that it is a bonding opportunity and you should not be in a rush to get him off the bottle.

My daughter came home at 11 months old and had bottles with formula and then milk until about 15 months old and from then until she was 3 years old with water at night. It was a HUGE security/soothing thing for her.

My son came home at 20 months old still having several bottles a day. Interestingly, he took bottles at the hotel, but refused one the first night home and never wanted one again. Never have figured that one out.

My bio son had a bottle at night until 18 months when he gave it up on his own.

[StefB]

My daughter just turned 2. She came home at 9.5 months. She still gets 3 bottles a day. She LOVES them. I'd love to get her down to 2, but I'm not pushing it. She changed the text of a book from "goodbye bottle. hello sippy cup" to "goodbye sippy cup. hello bottle!"

[Tamiswaiting]

My son still takes a bottle of mild or water at nap time and bedtime. He uses a straw cup the rest of the day, but he is not ready to give the bottle up when he's going to go to sleep. I wouldn't push getting rid of it already.

[mevertin]

Our little guys are the same age and he still gets about 3 bottles a day (whole milk). Our ped. mentioned the weaning at his 12 month check and I told him we were working on it. I would do what you feel is best for Joshua. It's nice to have a few minutes of snuggle time with my little one each day (otherwise he is in perpetual motion). By the way my husband is a dentist and he said the attachment issue is more important than the teeth issue at this time. Our 3 year old was on the bottle until about 18 months and my husband was the one giving it to him at the end. I took him to a pediatric dentist this spring and found out the dentist had 2 internationally adopted kids and his hygienist told me he had his kids on bottles until 18 months.
Mary
mom to Bobby 11, Bridget 9, Angela 8, Eddie 3 (home from Guatemala in 2005) and Naldo 14 months (home since Feb.)

[DDAmasa]

My son came home at 10 months and I started weaning him off the bottle at 12 months and he was off totally by 15 months. There are much better ways to bond than through food and oral satisfactions, ie bottles. Current theory is its the first step to possible eating disorders and/or obesity later on. I'd start weaning him off it now.

[skiouro]

My little one is still on a bottle also. She's down to two a day. She's 14 months old and has been home since 9 months. My babysitter insisted that I take her off the bottle right after a year. (She is experinced and been doing this like 30 years with all her children she has had in her care.) I said ok, but when we get home she gets a bottle and one at night. She goes to sleep after getting a bottle and I am thinking she's not going to give that up easily. She doesn't care what's in it, just wants a bottle. My Dr. also said 15 months, but I'm in the process of changing Dr's so I don't go by what she says anyway!

[CEB]

We too kept Curtis on the bottle for longer than conventional wisdom in hte U.S. as it was comforting to him in a time of much change. I simply nodded when some friends would say "you know you should not have him on a bottle now that he is past one" as everyone who said that had not been through the adoption epxerience. He came home at 8.5 months and was bottle fed until 19 months. I cannot really explain, I just felt he and I were both emotionally ready to give up the bottle after he was home 10 months.

[Dawnb93]

At Madelyn's 15 month check-up, the pediatrician said she wanted her off of the bottle by the time she was 18 months. She really had no big attachment to the bottle, so I switched her over to sippy cups immediately. That being said.....we still do our "bottle" routine every night. I hold her and rock her the same way I did before and I give her a sippy cup of milk. The routine is exactly the same, just the type of "bottle" is different. She is still reclined in my arms, I'm still holding the "bottle" and we're still getting that mommy/daughter bonding time. Does that make sense? She is 19 months old and has been home for 8 months.

dawn

[2xaround]

DD came home 4 1/2 months ago and is still on the bottle. Her ped wanted her off at 15 months and although we've cut the number of bottles she gets in 1/2, IMO she isn't ready yet. Attachment and bonding has gone well, but it's still a work in process. Bottle time is cuddle time and we both enjoy that closeness and she feels another level of security during that time. As a result, she is now starting to cuddle with me during other times of the day without the bottle and is realizing more and more all the time that she's not going anywhere and neither are we. There are many tools that we can use to assist with attachment and bonding, so I'm pulling them all out of the box to make sure it's successful and bottle feeding is just one of them and it's working.