A new study claims that bottle-feeding toddlers to try to get them to sleep faster could come with a variety of health risks that parents should be aware of.
Experts warned parents and caregivers to avoid using a bottle to put their young ones to sleep after it has been linked to dental cavities and overweight in early childhood. The research in question was published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health and led by the University of Sydney.
Effects of Bottle-Feeding Toddlers
Researchers used data taken from more than 700 toddlers involved in Western Sydney University's Healthy Smiles Healthy Kids (HSHK) study. The latter is a cohort study that followed children from the moment they were born and recorded various data and information.
The team behind the study analyzed the results of a survey of mothers as well as dental checks and body measurements. They then considered several other factors that could have influenced dental hygiene and weight among the toddlers, according to Medical Xpress.
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The study's authors then discovered that more than 30% of the children involved were still bottle-fed to sleep even when they were already two years old. They also found that children who were bottle-fed to sleep at that age were nearly two times as likely to be overweight in early childhood.
Furthermore, the researchers found that toddlers who were bottle-fed to sleep at three years of age had twice as many teeth with tooth decay in early childhood. Heilok Cheng, the University of Sydney lead author and a Ph.D. candidate in the Susan Wakil School of Nursing, expressed concern about the findings.
Recommended Time for Weaning
Parents in Australia are recommended to start weaning their babies off bottle feeding by the time their kids are 12 months old. The reason for this is that extended use of a bottle to feed toddlers can lead them to drink more milk than they actually need, ABC reported.
Cheng added that the study provided sufficient evidencebased on local data rather than simplyn international research to benefit Australia's national dietary guidelines. The lead author noted that similar studies were done overseas but could not be fullyconsideredt given the country's access to fluoridated water.
On top of finding that bottle feeding could lead to toddlers drinking more than they need to, it found that tooth decay was a result of the added sugar that these products usually come with, as per 9News.
