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From: kp@hlwpc.UUCP (K Pearson)
Newsgroups: net.kids
Subject: bottles
Message-ID: <654@hlwpc.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 17-Jan-86 11:55:27 EST
Article-I.D.: hlwpc.654
Posted: Fri Jan 17 11:55:27 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 18-Jan-86 07:37:18 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Short Hills, NJ
Lines: 30

(You can send mail to me,
but keep in mind that I am posting this for a friend)

In response to the question, how do I get my
child off the bottle, I say leave him or her alone
and the child will eventually give it up with some gentle
encouragement. I have a two-and-a-half year old boy
who I tried to force off his bottle when he was 18 months old.

  My husband and I were very firm about his not having it
anymore. He had no problem drinking from a cup or a straw,
bebut he just wanted the comfort of his bottle.  He would
request it over and over again, andwe would tell him that he 
was too big, or that he did not need one. We tried
giving him a bottle (sans nipple) with a straw in it.
Finally, last month, we let him have it back. What we
discovered was, that for him, the bottle was a comfort
object. He does not have a "cuddly" like most children--a
blanket or a stuffed animal--his bottle is his cuddly.
In the last month since he has had his bottle back, he has
become less obsessive about it, and I believe he will give
it up voluntarily before too long.  He only takes it to bed
with him and is not interested in it during the day.

  I know all the arguments against giving a child a bottle
in bed, but I think I would rather have a well-adjusted
boy with a few cavities than a whining, insecure pre-schooler.

			   Marianne Carlton
			   AT&T-BL