Nightime feedings

[sunnydays]

I have had kids that age who were being fed at night and it had little effect on them at daycare...I taught them to nap well for me and they did. And, while it is easier for me if they are on a cup instead of a bottle, I do not feel it's any of my business what they do at home. As long as the child isn't going to bed with the bottle or sucking on it over and extended time period, it isn't going to effect their teeth or harm them in any way. I know you are all going to jump on me as I know most of you feel strongly about bottles, but my middle son drank from his bottle until he was two. He did not ever have it in bed or in the night and he did not carry it around sucking on it...he just drank his milk in the span of five minutes or so just as he would have from a cup. I could not get him to drink milk in a cup and my pediatrician advised me that he still needed about 20 oz of milk per day to build strong bones etc. At that time he was in daycare and at one point just before the age of two I had to find a back-up provider as my normal provider was going away for a month. I had an interview with one caregiver who rolled her eyes at me when I told her he was still drinking milk in a bottle...it angered me and I chose someone who didn't make a big deal about it. Having been in this position, I try to be careful not to judge other parents for doing what they believe is best for their child. By the way, around the age of two, my son finally started drinking milk from a cup and we got him off the bottle very easily. He is not damaged in any way because he drank from a bottle longer than the current norm. I breastfed my daughter until she was two (not during the night past about a year old)...she is not damaged in any way and is healthier for it. I just think people are too quick to jump on the bandwagon or "current norms"...instead of doing what they feel is right for them.