This very informative article recently posted on CNN claims a simple, 5-minute talk with parents during their baby’s 9-month checkup can actually help their kid stop bottle-feeding. The results of the new research released on Monday are simply amazing and encouraging, as such an important decision is not always made easily by mothers and is very often put off until a later date.
Dr. Jonathon Maguire of St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Canada, in charge of the research, says that it is possible to change the “health trajectory of a child” in just five minutes, and all it takes is an informative motivating talk about the child’s health.
Maguire and his team followed 201 children until the age of 2 and found a 60 % decrease in prolonged bottle use when pediatricians made a point of raising the subject at the 9-month checkup.
The doctors started off giving the children’s parents standard health information during the visit. Half of the parents also had the five-minute conversation about the risks of continued bottle use. These parents were given a sippy cup and step-by-step instructions on how wean the child off the bottle and on to the sippy cup within a week.
(…)The study authors said the 9-month checkup is a good time to schedule this consultation because no routine vaccinations are scheduled, allowing for the time to have a conversation about nutrition in the second and third years of life.
The reason behind this motivation is the effect prolonged use of bottle may have, such as tooth decay and nutritional deficiencies in young children. The longer you wait, the longer it might take to make this transition and the harder it is to correct this behavior, doctors warn.
When a baby latches on to the bottle, breast or sippy cup, the tongue covers and protects the bottom front teeth, resulting in the decay pattern (…) in which the top incisors are decayed and the bottom incisors are not.
This type of decay occurs between 1 and 3 years of age, when a baby’s teeth start coming in. It develops rapidly and can cause severe dental pain and infection, according to the American Dental Hygienists’ Association.
This is why the pediatricians group recommends babies be weaned off the bottle and sippy cups by the time they are 1. Another reason for weaning babies is that they should be getting most calories from solid foods, to ensure proper nutrition.
According to the AAP, by the time a baby is a year old, the toddler needs to eat food from the same four basic groups as adults do: meat, fish, poultry, eggs; dairy products; fruits and vegetables; and cereal grains, potatoes, rice, breads and pasta.
It’s understandable why parents hesitate. Using a bottle is pretty convenient. It doesn’t spill and at a certain point babies start managing to hold it without any help. It also soothes them and helps them sleep.
However, allowing this to happen is not acting in the child’s best interests, and hopefully more doctors will be using educational talks to get this message through.