What could be bad about a water bottle?

amother

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 3:21 pm

My toddler loves her bottles and she only gets water in it.
She walks around the house with it, goes to sleep with it, drinks while she plays, reads, eats etc.
She has one at her morah and she can go through 3-4 refills a day there.

She does have some sippy cups but she doesn't like them nearly as much.

My mom tells me it must be taken away from her and no 22 month old still has a bottle and I'm a crazy mother. Crying

I admit that she definitely uses it for comfort, but so what? Let her enjoy. It's only water; that's good for her, no? What else could be wrong?

amother

Blonde

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 3:23 pm

If she eats fine despite having a bottle, it's totally fine. Let her be. Just make sure she doesn't have too much water, that's not healthy for the kidneys. How many ounces a day does she have? A toddler shouldn't drink more than 4 cups of water a day.

amother

Jetblack

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 3:25 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I admit that she definitely uses it for comfort, but so what? Let her enjoy. It's only water; that's good for her, no? What else could be wrong?

I agree with you, let her enjoy. It's only water.

Please, your not a crazy mother.

I think the better question is what kind of mother tells her daughter she's a crazy mother for giving her (almost) 2 year old a water bottle?

FranticFrummie

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 3:29 pm

There is such a thing as "water toxicity". Kids don't automatically know when they've had too much, especially if they are using it for comfort.

A 22 month old should be using a sippy cup or even a regular cup by now.

Too much water, especially at night, is going to wreak absolute havoc on your toilet training. Your child won't be night trained until very late, and will be having accidents all day long from being so waterlogged. If she's used to constantly going in her diaper, she'll take a long time to figure out when she needs to run to the bathroom. Needing to pee 24/7 doesn't give her body a chance to develop those cues.

When she wets at night, does she soak through her diaper and all over the pajamas and sheets? If so, you know you have a problem on your hands.

I'm not crazy about starting older kids on a paci, but in this case if she has a strong need to suck for comfort, it's the better alternative. It's best if you only give it towards evening so help her get sleepy. A paci during the day will interfere with speech development, as she will try to talk around the paci and develop odd tongue patterns in an attempt to be understood.

You can start weaning her off the paci around 3 to 4 years old.

keym

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 3:30 pm

I will say that some therapists and development specialists told me to try to avoid letting your kid have the bottle or cup constantly.
If their holding it in their hand, it can interfere with proper two hand play.
If it's dangling from their mouth, it can create oral and jaw problems.
If their constantly drinking from it, it can prevent speech.
I was recommended to leave it on a low table, encourage my toddler to sit at the table, drink as much as he wants, then go play.

amother

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 4:36 pm

Thanks for all your responses.

Her speech is very age appropriate I think. She express herself beautifully, kah, although she's a bit hard for others to understand, but she's so little. I don't think the bottle has had an effect.

FF, you're scaring about water toxicity! How do I know if she's drinking too much?? Has anyone had this actually happen to their child?

And she can and does drink from a straw or regular cup, she just doesn't like them and will nag constantly for her bottle.

amother

Orange

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 4:42 pm

My kids drink from a bottle until 4\5. Why because I hate spills remember "Who ever said don't cry over spilled milk never had to clean it up". Sippy cups cost a lot more $$ then bottle and my kids did not like them. I hate hate hate cleaning up spills so they use bottles until they stop spilling.

FranticFrummie

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 4:46 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Please ask your pediatrician how much water is safe for your child to drink each day.

I like the idea of limiting drinking to "only while sitting at the table". It helps prevent "mindless drinking", just like if you're on a diet you can only sit down to nice china and a cloth diet, instead of sitting in front of the computer and noshing. (It also helps promote good table manners and prevents spilling on the carpet.)

As for the speech issue, at almost 2 years old she should be much more articulate. DD was enunciating perfectly by that age, and everyone understood her. People called her "the little professor"!

Trying to communicate with a bottle in her mouth is not helping her development. I've found that if you take away the bottle, and only give the child a paci at night, their speech improves by leaps and bounds that you can't even imagine. Not only that, it decreases tantrums because the child can tell you what she wants or why she's frustrated.

amother

Blonde

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 4:53 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Yes. I know of 2 toddler that had kidney problems from drinking too much. Toddlers shouldn't have more than 2-4 cups water a day.

amother

Indigo

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 4:55 pm

FranticFrummie wrote:

There definitely are articulate 22 month olds, but I wouldn’t say it’s the norm. At 2 years old, the average child should be intelligible to strangers about 50% of the time. It sounds like her mother understands her, but strangers might not know her words. Completely normal for this age.

I am a speech therapist (who also has a 2 year old Smile

)

amother

Cyan

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 5:05 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

My friend let all her kids have bottles thru age 6 they're all functional adults with good teeth. Don't worry about it. Nothing wrong w water

Frumme

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 5:16 pm

Maybe try to encourage more sippy cup and straw cup use. She might just be very comfortable with bottles and needs help transitioning. Make it a slow transition, but offer a sippy cup or straw cup first whenever she says she is thirsty. If she says she wants her bottle, don't make it into a fight. Just keep suggesting the preferred choice first.

Other ideas:

1) get a special cup with her. She might be more inclined to drink from a "big girl" cup or a "princess sippy," especially one that she got to choose with Mommy at the store.
2) dilute some OJ or apple juice with water-- and only offer it in the sippy or straw cups. She'll be more interested and might begin to favor those cups more, with or without diluted juice in them.

By the way, I would discuss it with her pediatrician before withholding fluids from her.

ChanieMommy

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 5:21 pm

amother [ Blonde ] wrote:

I think that's a misunderstanding. What causes damage to the kidneys is not drinking enough... Overhydration can happen when drinking huge quantities of water without electrolytes at a time, and this could lead to electrolyte imbalace.

But I don't think you should restrict a child from fillig their bottle a few times a day... Excess liquid will just be evacuated with urine... you should not educate children who want to drink that it's not good to drink water... the contrary is true...

Just: don't forcefeed a gallon of water at a time, that's when overhydration can happen...

FranticFrummie

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 5:25 pm

amother [ Cyan ] wrote:

My friend let all her kids have bottles thru age 6 they're all functional adults with good teeth. Don't worry about it. Nothing wrong w water

WHY???

When I was a kid we didn't have seat belts or bike helmets, that doesn't make it OK either. Banging head

SixOfWands

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 5:49 pm

There's a huge difference between a 22 month old drinking from a bottle, and a 6 year-old doing so.

IMNSHO start offering her water in regular cups and in sippy cups, and move her away from the bottle slowly, at her own pace. But don't worry now. I know plenty of babies still nursing at that age, so why not a bottle?

As to water toxicity, sure, its possible. But I don't think its a huge risk. Use a 6 oz bottle, don't fill it all the way, and only fill it twice a day (maybe 3 times if she's very active or its very hot).