When do you think a parent should take the bottle, nipple and pacifier away from an infant?

Question

I have seen children as old as 4 years old with bottles and pacifiers in their mouths. The parents act like they are afraid to say no.

Answer 1

I got my son completely off the bottle at about 14 months.  Before he was 12 months old, though, we wouldn't give him a bottle (he drank from a sippy) until right before bedtime.  As for the paci, that lasted a little longer, as he was expecting a new brother and we didn't want to take that comfort object away just then.  Now, he's 2 1/2 and completely off both of them, even at bedtime.  That is until he steals his brother's and I find him hiding behind something sucking on it.  Then I say very sternly, "Give me the paci." and he usually gives it to me and I thank him for being a big boy.

I've seen kids suck on paci's (but not bottles) as old as four.  While I don't agree with it, it's not my place to say anything.  Unlike the old woman at Walmart that started tugging on my son's paci when he was a little over a year old telling him he was too big for it.  I contained myself and got out of there before I plugged her for talking to my son like that much less putting her hands that close to my son's mouth.

Answer 2

I think by age 2 at the latest, but I really think it is their business not mine.

Answer 3

doctors recommend taking the bottle away at a year, same with breast feeding. I have a 2 year old still using a pacifier but she only uses it at night time for my sanity. I am working with her and plan to have her off within the next few months...I DONT want her to be that 4 year old with the d**n thing hanging out of her mouth.

Answer 4

at a year old. vvhen both my children turned one then I took the bottle avvay completely and they just used a sippy cup. and as far as pacifiers they need to be taken avvay at 1yr at the latest, I throvv all pacifiers avvay at 10mths because my kids had quite a bit of teeth by then and I didnt vvant them messing up there teeth vvith a pacifier, luckily my kids vveren't attached to them anyvvays so they didnt even care that they vvere gone, but i vvasnt one that shoved a pacifier in my kids mouth everytime they made a sound, they only had them at night vvhen they vvent to bed vvhen they vvere babies.

Answer 5

Doctors say to start transitioning at around 10 mos of age, so that by the time they're 1 year old, everything can move over to a cup and no pacifier.

Answer 6

The bottle def. at one year, as long as the child doesn't have medical problems.  Most kids are ready for a cup at 6 and 7 months.

Answer 7

In my opinion i hate to see children sucking on a pacifier when they are WALKING.  I think parents are just lazy and dont want to hear their kid cry so they dont take it away.  I took the pacifier from my son at 7 mths, the bottle at 11 months.  I saw a 5 yr old girl once with a paci her mouth.

Answer 8

omg 4 is way to old.thats just lazy and pathetic.parents who do that have no will.

i say by a year old.

Answer 9

it is recommende to transition from bottle to cup around 1 year old. I personally did the transition at around 10 months with both children.

Answer 10

You have to start early my 3 oldest children were between 9-10 months when the stopped using a bottle and binkies were gone long before that. If you do as your doctor advices and only give formula in a bottle, your child should be used to a cup, long before they turn 1. In my opion a pacifier is just that to pacifi a new born, and strangthen there sucking ability, I took the binkie away around 3 months. I say my 3 oldest because I have a 2 month old who clearly still drinks a bottle and takes a binkie while I am making his bottle.

Answer 11

I think you should start weaning them off it when they become mobile, just make it less accessible to them, until they get used to not having it around. I was once at a picnic where a little girl kept on dropping her pacifier then her dumb dad would pick it up, suck on it to 'clean' it then would stick it back in her mouth. Cripes.

Answer 12

That's because they're afraid of hearing their child throw a tantrum.  I nursed my son for 11 months and then went straight to a sippy cup instead of a bottle.  He did use a pacifier as a baby, but only because I gave in to all the crying!  I gradually took it away around 6 months.  I'd only give it to him a bedtimes and then only at night.  It was tough each time for about 2-4 days.  The longer you wait the harder it will be.  4 years old is ridiculous. It really makes the parent look (for lack of a better word) out of control.

Answer 13

after their 1 they should be taken away

Answer 14

Well, dont take everything away at once.  When my daughter turned 1 I cut her pacifier in half and gave it to her.  She spit it out and looked at it... then she cried that day...THE WHOLE DAY, but never after that.  She asked for it once after that and i handed it to her, she looked at it and threw it on the floor.  End of that.

As for the bottle,  i started doing bottle int he morning, sippy cup in the day then bottle again at night.  Then bottle in the morning, and sippy cup in the day and at night... u get the picture... I dont know if lucked out, but these things worked for me.

Good luck!!

Answer 15

12 months...once a baby is no longer on formula or breastmilk they don't need the bottle anymore. It is recommended that you introduce a sippy cup at 6 months old to encourage the switch over so that by 12 months the bottles are no longer there.  I know the daycares I worked for had a cutoff at 15 months for bottles and pacifiers because the longer a child is on them the more risk for choking (they can chew the nipples and such) and it pushes their teeth forward causing over and under bites.  There is no reason for a child to have either after 12 months.  Some parents let their babies keep them because it keeps them happy and quiet, that isn't a good reason at all to continue the habit.  So I say 12 months is old enough unless they have a special need requiring them to continue to use them.  By 2 years old they should be using regular cups and no daycares that i know of will allow a child over 18 months to have a binky/pacifier or bottle.  I know my sister drives me nuts because she lets her son walk around at 2 years old with a binky in his mouth, he don't need it she just lets him have it because he will throw a fit if he doesn't have it.  Just another way of letting the child control things to me.  My boys lost their binky at 3 months and their bottles were gone by 9 months.

Answer 16

12 months for all. A lot of people wont agree with me on that however both of my daughters stopped at 12 months with little fighting and I have seen children 3 years old with pacifiers and that is just ridiculous. And its harder for them to give them up the older they get.

Answer 17

I took my child's bottle and pacifier away at the same time. It was just before he turned 1. I figured if he is big enough to drink out of a cup and eat solid foods he doesnt need either of those anymore, he was good with it.

Answer 18

A year to fifteen months is when I got all my children off of them. Four years old is ridiculous

Answer 19

It's a rough couple of days for some kids when you take any of those things away. But early on I set a date with both of my kids for those things, 1 year for the bottle with both of my kids and 1 1/2 for the pacifier, worked out well both times. There wasn't much crying or misbehaving, and after a day or two they forgot about it. I think seeing a 4 year old with a pacifier or diaper is aweful. There are only two reasons that's happeneing, the child has something wrong with them like they have issues, mentally or something tramatic has happened to them, or the parent is lazy and doesn't want to put up with a child who is going through a transition....that's just wrong.

Answer 20

I can't stand to see pacifiers and bottles in a four year old's mouth!  I worry about their teeth and their need to rely on the bottle or paci by that age.  My first daughter was off the bottle 8 months old and the paci at 5 months.  (She refused to take her pacifier anymore and I tried her on a sippy cup at 8 months and she took right to it.)  My other daughter gave up her pacifier and bottle both at a year old.  I just stopped giving them to her.  It only took 2 nights and she was fine!  She still had her blanky to sooth her at night, and even that she gave up before the age of 2.  Parents just have to stand their ground and not give into a screaming toddler.

Answer 21

they say around a year. I didn't ween him off the bottle though. I just made them disappear. If they aren't there you don't cave in and let them have either one.

Answer 22

My son is 8.5 months old.  He's been using a sippy cup for juice since around 7 months old.  When it's time to introduce whole milk to him, that will be introduced in the sippy cup... And the bottles will magically disappear from my house.

He still uses a pacifier, but it's just a night time for bed.  I'm thinking around a year old the pacifiers will 'disappear' as well.  :)