Once your child has been weaned, you may have thought you could put away all those old bottles or organize a secondhand product sale. But suddenly, all your plans fall apart! Your little one is now asking to drink from one of those old bottles again.
In this situation, what should you do?
It is essential to understand the reasons for this request in order to adopt the best approach. Let’s look together at how to respond appropriately to this rather unexpected situation!
SUMMARY
How to react if your baby asks for a bottle after weaning is complete?
Understanding why your baby is asking for a bottle again after the weaning process is done
When should you avoid giving a bottle again after weaning?
Consequences if bottle use continues and weaning does not occur
Understanding why your baby is asking for a bottle again after the weaning process is done
On the surface, your child was weaned. At least that’s what you thought. Your baby drinks from a glass, a bowl, or uses a sippy cup. They no longer ask to breastfeed and have lost much of their previous interest in milk.
So how do you explain that, seemingly overnight, they are asking to drink from a bottle again, just like the good old days?
First of all, labeling this as “acting out” is incorrect. Instead, try to identify the context in which the request is being made.
It is perfectly normal for your baby to need comfort at certain times in their life.
- Are they sick or tired?
- Did they just find out a little brother or sister is on the way?
- Are they away from home, for example on vacation at their grandparents’?
- Or did they see their bottle stored away, sparking nostalgic memories?
Every situation is different, and a one-time request does not mean your child isn’t fully weaned. By responding to this need and offering a bottle, you are not “giving in,” as you might believe, but instead showing attentiveness to their emotional needs.
When should you avoid giving a bottle again after weaning?
If the request for a bottle is just occasional, it is then acceptable to respond to it.
Perhaps something happened that you are unaware of, such as a significant event at daycare or with the babysitter? It’s also possible that your child choked while drinking from a glass and was scared, so they associate the bottle with comfort.
Regardless, weaning does not always mean the bottle is permanently out of the picture.
In the types of situations previously mentioned, your baby may simply feel the need to suck again, as a reflex, because it was once the only way to calm down for them.
However, if the request seems to intensify and become more regular, we suggest you take the time to talk with your child, obviously adapting your language according to their age, to try to better identify the source of this sudden urge.
Stay alert to repeated requests
A baby who regularly asks to drink from a bottle should make you pause for thought. If there’s no external event that may have influenced this behavior, perhaps your child was not actually fully ready for weaning?
Or was the transition too fast for them?
In this type of situation, a sippy cup is a good compromise. Far from suggesting a step backward, it provides your child with reassurance by using a vessel similar to a bottle in design, without bringing back the habits of sucking.
Offering this alternative to your child will help you avoid spending long evenings negotiating, at the expense of bedtime. 😉
Weaned baby = no bottle in the evening!
With a view to protecting your baby’s dental health, we recommend limiting bottles at bedtime and during the night. Giving a bottle with a sweet drink right before sleep may lead to troublesome attachment and bad falling-asleep habits.
See also: Bottle syndrome: should we talk about it?
Consequences if bottle use continues and weaning does not occur
If your child keeps asking for a bottle despite your efforts to understand and substitute it with a sippy cup, this can create challenges for your child’s future, especially when entering preschool or in a group setting (daycare, cafeteria, afterschool programs, or field trips).
It is generally not allowed to bring a bottle to such locations, and your child might struggle to adapt to a different way of drinking if they haven’t practiced it at home.
To sum up
It is absolutely possible for a baby to ask for their bottle again after being weaned. Instead of seeing this as a failure in weaning, it is important to understand the reasons behind the request.
- If the request is occasional, responding kindly is recommended.
- If the request becomes frequent, it is essential to search for the causes and encourage using a sippy cup as an alternative.
