Xero

Honestly, he really likes his cups. I use the Nuby kind, with the soft spout. Not quite the hard, unwelcoming cup, but still not a bottle either. I'm not too concerned about that. I've seen too many kids go crazy because their parents waited too long to take the bottle away. NO thank you. I don't think I'm gonna move my ideal time of getting him off the bottle up any farther, but thank you for the advice anyway. The 5 year old little girl across the hall has all her top front teeth missing because they had to pull them because they were rotten from being allowed to be on the bottle too long as well, so I'm just not interested in that idea. He's been drinking every day out of the cup once a day with juice in it, and he's always liked it. All he has to do is get used to having a cup all day instead of once. I think to begin with I'll still let him take a bottle to bed (that's one of my downfalls, I will admit I let him sleep with a bottle), but have a cup the rest of the day. Not long after that he'll have cups the whole day. I don't really relate the cup to his nutrition problem. I just wish he would eat more food.

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mom2many

I really wished I could find the articles I used to have about tooth decay in toddlers, Some of my kids have really strong teeth and some of mine didn't, one had MAJOR dental work at 3 years old, but all were bottle broke at the sametime, just over 2 when they were ready.

Here's what I learned, and if I can find the sites I will post them, it might be helpful to others. Most people are predisposed to tooth decay from the moment they are born, and believe it or not passed down from mother to child, especially in the early days of development in utero. Looking back I discovered that my kids with the bad teeth were concieved during a period where my teeth weren't taken care of as well as I should have, of course it hasn't been until recently that pregnant woman were encouraged to go to the dentist. SO although there is a lot of hype about bottle mouth, routine daily care of the babies teeth will almost always take care of the problem, and that is the problem, a lot of little ones aren't good about letting mom or dad take proper care. My dentist recommends that after the child has there last bottle to take a little flouride on the finger and rub the teeth, and brush morning and night, when possible. So far this has worked with my last one, I just wish that there wasn't so much confusing info out there.

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Jennifer, mom to some wonderful kids!

Nikita

My doctor recommended putting the vitamins in his milk or juice, so there would be no taste to worry about.

Xero

Oh, thank you. I'll check that out too. Right now he still gets one bottle of formula at night. I figure I'll do that until all my formula is gone (I have quite a bit left from WIC), and then see where he's at then. I don't see any reason for him to NEED a bottle. It's just a shape of something to drink out of. His cup will be fine. I don't want to go through the awful ordeal of taking a bottle away from a toddler. It's much easier at this age and there's nothing wrong with doing it, it wont hurt him in any way possible. Thank you for the info though. I'm more concerned about what he's eating than what he's sucking it out of.

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chars24

Xero, first i must say that your boy is too cute!!! And don't get too stressed about the eating part. They cry for it if they are hungry and feeding an infant or toddler requires much patience. I recently got a high chair for my daughter so that she develops the habit of eating properly. Good luck!

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mom2many

I tried that and I swear my kids could smell it a mile away! I though it was could they could see it, so I strated doing it when they were occupied and they would still know. No matter what I put it in.

He will eat Zero when he is ready, some kids just take longer then others, of course their are those who eat like a bird all of their lives.

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Jennifer, mom to some wonderful kids!

AmyBelle

The thing about toddlers is that they only eat when theyre hungry, they dont eat because theyve been told to or because its a set time or for emotional reasons like us grown ups do.

The thing to note with vitamins is that they dont replace natural ones, in order to be absorbed the vitamin must be there in natural form, the supplements just 'hitch a ride' so you get more. So if he's really not eating that day, the vitamins will just come out the other end.

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