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Question
My son is 16 months old and still has a bottle before his nap and before bedtime. My daughter had a bottle until she was about 20 months old. However, I have been getting a lot of “input” from my in-laws and other family saying that my son should have been off the bottle months ago. He has no issues with his teeth or speech. He is a healthy weight and eats his meals. When should I wean the boy from a bottle, and how should I go about it? My daughter just quit using it one day.
Answer
I understand your frustration at receiving unwanted advice from relatives. Such advice can be particularly difficult to hear when those relatives are right.
Yes, many kids safely drink from bottles until they are long past a year old. But babies who continue using bottles in their second year are more likely to have trouble with their teeth, and more likely to drink when they should be eating. You mentioned that your son has no problems with his teeth and eats solid food. That’s good, but it doesn’t mean you should keep giving him bottles.
Realize that the older a child gets, the more difficult it can become to wean him from a bottle. Your daughter just stopped one day, but your son may require some coaxing. The experts disagree on when to wean a baby from a bottle, but few advise continuing bottle-feeding much past 18 months. Once a child is old enough to sit up, grasp a cup, and sip from it, he no longer needs a bottle.
Start by moving him to a sippy cup, so he can learn to drink without using a nipple. But once a boy is coordinated enough to drink from an open-topped cup, begin getting him used to the concept. You need not do the weaning cold turkey. Just cut down on the bottles gradually to get your son accustomed to other ways of drinking. In addition, try serving him his food first, before the bottle. He’s eating solid foods, but perhaps not as much as he should. Let him eat his fill of healthy, age-appropriate foods for a few days to gauge his appetite. The bottle may be having more of an effect than you realize.
Question
My pale-skinned teen-age daughter doesn’t like using sunscreen at the beach, particularly when the sky is cloudy. She maintains that during periods when she isn’t receiving direct sunlight, she needs no sunscreen. Is she right?
Answer
No. The American Academy of Dermatology advises everyone to wear sunscreen all year long. That stance sounds harsh and impractical. And unfortunately, it causes many people to simply dismiss the advice, which at its core is wise counsel. Even on cloudy days, up to 80% of the sun’s ultraviolet rays can reach people on the ground.
Tanning may be cool, but decades of research has shown us the danger of taking in too much sun. More than 2 million people get skin cancer every year, and sunburn has been shown to be a cause. To be safe, anyone with light skin should wear sunscreen over their exposed skin outdoors. Some people burn more easily, and they should take the most precautions. The AAD recommends that everyone wear sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 30. However, those of a paler hue should probably use a substantially stronger blend.
As a rule of thumb, if your daughter would normally wear sunscreen on a sunny day, she should also consider it on cloudier days, particularly at the beach, where people tend to wear skimpier, less-protective clothing and where the sand reflects 25% of the sun’s rays.
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