Once your child has weaned, perhaps you thought you could put all his old bottles in the cupboards or organize a sale of second-hand products? Yes, but suddenly all your plans fall through! Your blonde head is asking you to drink from one of those old baby bottles again .
In such a situation, what to do?
Understanding the reasons for this demand to adopt the best approach is essential. Let's see together how to react adequately to this unexpected situation, to say the least!
SUMMARY
How to react if baby asks for a bottle after weaning is over?
Understand why baby asks for a bottle again when the weaning process is over
In which case should you avoid giving a bottle again after weaning?
Consequences of a bottle that lasts forever and weaning that doesn't work
Understand why baby asks for a bottle again when the weaning process is over
A priori, the weaning of your child was recorded. A priori. Baby drinks from a glass, a bowl or uses a training cup. He has not asked to drink from the breast for a long time and his attraction to milk had significantly diminished.
So how can you explain the fact that from one day to the next, here he is asking you to drink from a bottle again like in the good old days?
First of all, know that talking about “whim” is not correct. Instead, try to identify in which context the request is formalized.
It is indeed normal that your baby needs comfort at certain times in his life.
- Is he sick or tired?
- Has he just learned of the arrival of a little brother or sister?
- Is he away from home, like on vacation with his grandparents?
- Or did he see his baby bottle stored in a cupboard, awakening nostalgic memories in him?
Every situation is different and a one-off request does not mean your child is not weaned. By responding to this need and offering him a bottle, you are not “giving in” as you might think, but you are actually being attentive to his emotional needs.
In which case should you avoid giving a bottle again after weaning?
If the request for a bottle remains occasional, it is therefore acceptable to respond.
Perhaps an incident happened that you weren't aware of, such as a significant event at daycare or at your nanny's house? It is also possible that while drinking, the baby swallowed sideways from the glass and frightened himself, thus creating an association with the bottle to reassure himself.
In any case, weaning does not always mean stopping using the bottle for good.
In situations like those mentioned above, it happens that the baby feels the need to suck again, out of reflex, and because it was once the only way for him to calm down .
However, if the request seems to be intensifying and becoming regularized, we suggest that you take the time to discuss with your child, obviously adapting your vocabulary according to their age , to try to better understand the source of this sudden desire.
Stay alert to recurrence of demand
A baby who asks to drink regularly from a bottle should cause you to question yourself. If no external events seem to have influenced his behavior, perhaps that means he actually wasn't quite ready to be weaned?
Or was the transition too fast for him?
In this type of situation, the learning cup represents a good compromise. Far from indicating a step back, it allows your child to reassure himself thanks to the use of a container close to the bottle in terms of design, without falling back into the pitfalls of sucking.
Offering this alternative to your baby will save you long evenings spent negotiating, to the detriment of bedtime. 😉
Weaned baby = no bottle in the evening!
In order to preserve the baby's dental system , we recommend limiting the number of bottles at bedtime and at night. By offering a bottle containing a sugary drink just before going to sleep, you risk triggering attachment and harmful falling asleep habits.
Read also: Baby bottle syndrome: what if we talked about it?
Consequences of a bottle that lasts forever and weaning that doesn't work
If the request for a bottle persists despite all attempts to understand and replace it with the learning cup, this could pose difficulties for the child's future, particularly when entering school or in within the framework of community reception (crèche, canteen, after-school activities, extra-curricular outings).
In fact, it is generally forbidden to bring a bottle to these places, and your child may experience difficulty adapting to an imposed consumption method with which he has not been familiarized in his family environment.
In summary
It is entirely possible for a baby to ask for a bottle again after being weaned. Rather than seeing this as a failure to quit, it is important to understand the reasons behind this request.
- If it is occasional, responding to it with kindness is advisable.
- If the request becomes frequent, it is essential to seek to identify the causes and encourage the use of the training cup as an alternative.
