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Giving 6-year-olds milk in baby bottles isn't OK

Beth Whitehouse | Parental Guidance

February 25, 2008

My twin grandsons will be 6 years old in June, and their mother still puts them to bed with whole milk in baby bottles. Is this OK?

"It's definitely not OK to be doing that, for a number of reasons," said Dr. Sara Fitzpatrick, a pediatrician at Grello Pediatrics in West Islip.

Her opinion was echoed by Dr. Ron Kosinski, chief of pediatric dentistry at Schneider Children's Hospital in New Hyde Park. Kosinski couldn't contain a groan when the question was posed to him.

"The first thing is the bottle," Fitzpatrick said. "Children should be weaned off the bottle by 18 months. It can significantly affect the alignment of their teeth if they're using the bottle much longer than that."

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By 6, children are starting to get their permanent teeth, and that's when using the bottle will have an even bigger effect. They shouldn't even be using a bottle during the day, Fitzpatrick said.

"There's no need for a 6- year-old to be using a bottle," Fitzpatrick said. "They should be using a cup."

Second, being a grandparent, you've probably heard the old-fashioned term "baby bottle rot." That's what doctors and dentists used to call what happened to children's teeth when they were put to bed with milk in bottles. Now, dentists call it early childhood caries.

More complicated name, same unhealthy result.

"The milk lays on the teeth. The milk has natural sugars in it. The bacteria in the mouth feed on the sugar, and that causes tooth decay," Kosinski said.

If the children's mother can't stop herself from this bad habit, at least she should wipe her children's teeth with a wet washcloth immediately after they finish a bottle, and not let them fall asleep before she's done it, Kosinski said.

Juice is not OK in the bottle at bedtime, either. Nothing is OK at bedtime except water, no matter what the age of the child, Fitzpatrick and Kosinski both said.

Incidentally, the children also shouldn't be drinking whole milk at their age, Fitzpatrick said. You should encourage a change in that habit as well.

"Heart health-wise, kids over 3 should be drinking a lower-fat milk, either 1 percent, 2 percent or skim," she said. "It's good to start kids on a heart-healthy diet from a young age."

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