Stigma around baby bottles

There's a risk to teeth is most of it. There baby bottle syndrome which refers to cavities happening on the front teeth, as the bottle nipple stops saliva from cleaning them off. I think there's also possibly a risk to their gums and the alignment of their palate, similar to pacifiers or thumb sucking, as it applies pressure behind the teeth and can cause them to be pressed in odd ways, and change how the teeth sit or grow in.

@Elizabeth thank you for explaining! My nephew used one until he was 2 so I had no idea x

@Abbie no worries it's the kind of thing that doesn't happen to everyone but it's more likely to happen with bottles. There is also a lot of muscle development that happens from drinking some regular cups or from straws, and that's beneficial for learning to speak. So it's the kind of thing where it's not a problem that she is still drinking from bottles but there are also a lot of benefits to moving away from them at some point

Any tips on how to move from bottles to beakers? My LO will drink water from sippy cups and tommee yippee beaker but refuses milk from them :(

@Rhiannon have you tried some of the soft straw cups/bottles? My oldest loved his ezpz baby cup (small enough for his hands and it didn't hold a lot so we didn't have to worry about spills as much) but my youngest didn't like cups early on and because he saw all of us drinking from our water bottles he wanted to drink from straw bottles as well. So that was how we were able to bridge the gap. I'd recommend cheaper ones because they do tend to chew on the straws and if they like some you'll probably need to replace them semi-frequently

@Elizabeth we’ve tried a munchkin transition cup and nuby straw cup with soft straw but she won’t have it! I was fine giving her bottles until I read it could damage her teeth :( She won’t even let me brush them! We are lucky if she chews on her toothbrush for a while each night when she is in the bath x

Was the Nuby a big straw kind? I find that can sometimes be a bit much for their mouths https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tommee-Tippee-INTELLIVALVE-Leak-Proof-Shake-Proof/dp/B09KP16NM7/ref=mp_s_a_1_9 Tommee tippee have a few styles like these and the smaller straws might be easier? I'd also recommend this account from IG for brushing tips https://www.instagram.com/the.dentistmom?igsh=MWI3aGh2cmk4eXZjaQ== Sometimes they really don't like it and you might need to give them a cuddle hug so that you can brush without them fighting you on it. It feels mean but it helps them get used to it and the way we always explained it was that it's a health and safety matter and we can't negotiate on h&s matters. It's similar to how if they fight a nappy change - you still have to do it, and just talk them through it. I'd also suggest maybe getting a different toothpaste as we realized ours stopped fighting when we got the aquafresh strawberry flavored, turns out they both don't like mint 😅